from Christian Concern
Christian social worker Felix Ngole has today won his case before the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in London, challenging a ruling that he was lawfully denied employment due to his Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality.
Mr Ngole had a conditional job offer withdrawn by mental health charity Touchstone Leeds following concerns raised about Felix’s past public statements debating Biblical teaching on marriage and sexuality. The charity claimed that service users might discover his beliefs online and suffer negative mental health consequences.
In a significant win for Christian freedom and free speech, the EAT has ruled that this would be discriminating against Mr Ngole’s beliefs in a manner that is “not capable of justification”.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre which is backing Mr Ngole’s case, said:
“The ruling makes clear what should always have been obvious – there can be no excuse for discriminating Christians in the workplace because members of the public might discover their protected beliefs online.”
Today’s judgment rules that the reasoning of the Employment Tribunal (ET) was legally flawed in other important respects.
However, it has directed the ET to analyse key issues again.
Mr Ngole intends to appeal parts of today’s ruling to the Court of Appeal with the aid of the Christian Legal Centre.