The Christian Legal Centre is calling for a former school chaplain to be restored to ministry after statutory authorities found that he did not pose any safeguarding risk.
Rev Dr Bernard Randall was dismissed by Trent College - a Church of England-affiliated independent school in Nottingham - in 2020 after he preached a sermon to students in which he said they did not have to agree with LGBT ideology.
He was referred to the government’s terrorism prevention scheme Prevent, as well as the local authority designated officer on safeguarding (LADO), the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). All of these statutory bodies decided there was no need to take any action.
However, Dr Randall also lost his licence to preach and has been barred from ministry in the Church of England ever since.
After Dr Randall lodged a complaint against the Bishop of Derby, Libby Lane, the Church of England’s President of Tribunals, Dame Sarah Asplin, last year concluded that had no case to answer but found fault with the process and recommended that it be started again.
In 2023, Gregory Jones KC criticised the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s decision to dismiss Bernard’s complaint against Lane, saying Welby had been “clearly wrong”.
Earlier this year, Dr Randall won permission from a court judge to appeal an employment tribunal judgment that upheld his sacking by Trent College.
Calling for his reinstatement to ministry, Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has been supporting Dr Randall, said his case was “heartbreaking” and that he should be restored to ministry.
“Rev Dr Bernard Randall has been cleared by every statutory safeguarding authority, yet the Church of England continues to treat him as a risk without presenting any evidence or allegations,” she said.
“This is a clear abuse of process and a violation of his rights under both ecclesiastical and civil law. The Church must now act to correct this injustice and restore his ministry.”
Commenting on the case, Dr Randall said the safeguarding process had “lacked transparency, fairness, and compassion”, and that he had felt “pressured to renounce my beliefs to be deemed safe”. He said he had effectively been left in “spiritual exile” by the Church of England.
“I have been punished not for wrongdoing, but for believing,” he said.
“The Church’s safeguarding process has become a tool of coercion, not care. I am speaking out now because I know I am not alone, and because no one should suffer in silence for staying true to their faith.”
He continued, “The situation is made all the more perverse by the fact that I have been referred to, and cleared by, no less than four secular safeguarding and regulatory bodies.
“Two of them reached their conclusions even though they relied upon the Employment Tribunal decision before it was voided on appeal.
“Only the Church considers further investigation necessary, yet it cannot provide any appropriate basis for what it has done or is doing. It is time for this to end.”
Ms Williams called Dr Randall “a man of faith and integrity” and likened his treatment to “censorship”.
“If the Church continues to refuse to reinstate him, they must be held accountable not only for the injustice, but as a serious safeguarding risk themselves to their own clergy,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Derby said: “The Diocese of Derby is working with Dr Randall to address concerns which he has raised, and is following House of Bishops’ guidance in doing so.
“We have therefore asked that Dr Randall continues to work with the ongoing process, so that it can be concluded as soon as possible.”
