Reverend Bernard Randall, former chaplain of Trent College, Derbyshire, England

By the year 2018, Rev. Bernard Randall, a minister of the Church of England, had been serving as chaplain at Trent College in Derbyshire, England for five years. Derbyshire is an independent Christian school for K-12 students. He became concerned when Trent College decided to team up with Educate and Celebrate, an organization from outside the school that had as one of its stated goals to “smash heteronormativity” while inculcating queer theory in the school’s curriculum. Rev. Randall said, “I objected to [it] at the time it started, and tried to discuss it with the senior leadership, [but] they weren’t interested.”

The next year, Rev. Randall was asked by a student why those attending Trent College were expected to accept LGBTQ ideology at their Christian school. Rev. Randall took that question to heart, plus the comments and questions made by other students at the school regarding the same matter. So, Rev. Randall decided to get up one day in his pulpit during service and remind the students gathered that they could, indeed, hold to a traditional, biblical, perspective on the matter of marriage – that marriage was a covnenant relationship between one man and one woman. They were also reminded that they were free to hold to a Christian and biological correct position that there are only two genders. Finally, he emphasized that all were to treat others with respect, regardless of their beliefs. That was it. No condemnation of LGBTQ persons. Not even a condemnation of the idea of same-sex marriage or of gender ideology. Just a simple reminder that Christians may hold to a Christian worldview when it came to marriage and gender.

Soon enough, Rev. Randall was called in to a meeting with the administration. He was questioned, suspended, and informed that an investigation would commence over his behavior. Oh, and he was also reported to local law enforcment and to Prevent. Prevent is the counter-terrorism program of the United Kingdom’s government. Consider that: a minister of the official state church of the UK was reported to the counterterrorism organization of the UK government for giving a sermon at a Christian school that claimed that Christians were allowed to believe what Christians have always believed about marriage and gender! Did the school administrators really regard Rev. Randall’s points as akin to terrorism? Happily, Prevent judged that Rev. Randall did not represent a terrorist threat.

That good news, however, was tempered by the fact that Rev. Randall was blacklisted by the Episcopal Diocese of Derby, which described him as a potential danger to children. Huh? How is it that a chaplain is considered a safety risk to children on the basis of his giving a sermon that reminds them that, at their school, they are allowed to believe as Christians believe? Trent College eventually fired Rev. Randall for gross misconduct. Rev. Randall challenged the ruling, but to no avail. Finally, an Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled in his favor. A new trial was ordered and Trent College was instructed to pay Rev. Randall 20,000 pounds. At that, he and the school came to a settlement. Rev. Randall got his position back, but his services were strictly limited in terms of what topics he was allowed to preach on, and he was obliged to have the school administration pre-approve his sermons. Furloughed during the COVID pandemic, Rev. Randall no longer works at Trent College.

I am glad Rev. Randall was able to negotiate a settlement deal with Trent College. But he never should have been put through the ringer like that in the first place. I understand that Europe doesn’t have the same free speech protections we enjoy in the United States. But to fire a Christian minister for informing his Christian students that they are not obliged to embrace the radical social agenda of the secular political left (or, the political right, for that matter) is a great injustice. Basically, Trent College is telling their teachers that they must embrace the LGBTQ agenda in all its manifestations or they are not equipped to teach. They are also telling their student body that they must embrace the LGBTQ agenda in all its absurd conclusions, or they are not fit members of society. This Christian school is instructing its Christian students that they must abandon the Christian tradition, as well as basic biology, and embrace a corrupt morality and an ideology of fantasy that has been holding Western thought hostage for twenty some-odd years now. Two thousand years of Christian wisdom is to be surrendered, turned in like a flip-top cell phone, in order to make room for the latest model, the new fashion. And woe be theyd who don’t acquiesce!

This war is being waged on two fronts: freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

Re: freedom of religion, Rev. Randall did the only thing a sincere Christian could do: he resisted. He did not surrender his Christian faith or morals. He did not acquiesce to the demands of those who have held in bondage the culture, institutions, and even so many of the churches of the West. The Diocese of Derby has also reinstated Rev. Randall’s good standing. For seven years, Rev. Randall was not permitted to preach at a Church of England parish or participate in any ministry that involved children, because the sermon he gave was somehow interpreted as revealing him to be a potential danger to children. That has been resolved, but why did it take seven years? More importantly, why did the Episcopal Diocese of Derby blacklist Rev. Randall in the first place? Has the Episcopal church in England surrendered all of its Christian integrity? Has it been reduced to simply another manifestation of the secular will? I’m afraid the case of Rev. Bernard Randall recommends that it has.

As for Rev. Randell, will anyone want him now for their parish work, or will the stigma wrongly placed on him be a continued hindrance to his being accepted back into full-time ministry? I can see a scenario where the Church of England warmly welcomes him back, with confidence that both the church and the state have found no evidence of wrong-doing on his part. On the other hand, I can see a scenario where parents and people responsible for the safety of children at church events will be ever wary and suspicious of the young priest who was identified as a potential danger to children, and who don’t know why.

Re: freedom of speech, I recognize that free speech may not be breathing as regorously in Europe as it does in The United States, or as it once did in the not-too-distant past, because it is not cherished so much in Europe as it is in the United States. But we must be willing to stand for this right. If the freedom of speech were the only right possessed, it would be worth our lives and fortunes to maintain it for our posterity.

The people of England, in particular, and of Europe, in general, have a lot to think about in terms of what direction they want to go in as a country, a continent, and a culture. The Church of England, as do the other churches in Europe, may have to make some counter-intuitive decision in the near future. Whatever anyone decides, for the devout Christian anywhere in the world, Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox, it might be best to prepare one’s self for the kind of opposition Rev. Randall stood up against. It is likely coming our way.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.