UK: Christian teacher may be banned from teaching for his views on transgenderism and same-sex marriage

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Christian teacher in England may be permanently prohibited from teaching in the UK after referring to a female transgender student as a “girl” and telling another student he is opposed to same-sex marriage, the Christian Post (CP) reports.

Evangelical teacher Joshua Sutcliffe was suspended from his position at the Cherwell School in Oxfordshire in November 2017 for violating the school’s equality policy by “misgendering” a pupil: the teacher allegedly said “well-done girls” to a group of biologically female students among whom was a transgender pupil identifying as male, CP reports. Sutcliffe has stated he believes people are ordained by God to be male or female.

In addition to the allegation that he had “misgendered” the student identifying as male, school officials further accused Sutcliffe of sharing his view on same-sex marriage when asked about it by a student during a Bible study, CP said.

The allegations against Sutcliffe were discussed by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) professional conduct panel last week, CP reports. The TRA is also considering allegations from a different school that Sutcliffe described the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a “false prophet” on his Youtube channel. 

According to the UK’s Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which is representing him, Sutcliffe may be banned from teaching in Britain if the panel finds against him.“The TRA is targeting an exceptional teacher because his Christian beliefs do not fall in line with the prevailing secular orthodoxy, which cannot tolerate any dissent,” CLC Chief Executive Andrea Williams said in a statement. “With critical shortages of teachers in the profession, why are the TRA so determined to force a high-performing teacher out for their Christian beliefs?”

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