Charity representative claims John 3:16 is triggering, can lead to death
from Christian Concern:
While giving evidence in the case of Felix Ngole, a senior member of staff at Touchstone Support Leeds said that sharing the belief that there are only two genders could ‘lead to death.’
Mr Dave Pickard also said that a staff member sharing the famous Bible verse John 3:16, would be ‘triggering’ to an LGBTQI+ service user using NHS services.
The verse says in the Book of John: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’
In response to the comment, Employment Judge Jonathan Brain, said: “What is triggering about that?”
Operations Director, Mr Pickard was giving evidence at Leeds Employment Tribunal defending Stonewall backed Touchstone’s decision to withdraw a job offer because Mr Ngole said he would not ‘embrace and promote LGBTQI+ rights’ due to his Christian beliefs.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mr Ngole, 46, has brought claims of discrimination and harassment against Touchstone.
In May 2022, Mr Ngole had been offered his ‘dream job’ as a Mental Health Support via Touchstone, who recruit on behalf of the NHS, until it was discovered he had once won a landmark legal case over his right to freedom of speech.
In 2015, Mr Ngole was thrown off his social worker training course at Sheffield University following a debate on Facebook which quoted passages from the Bible about same-sex marriage.
But in a major victory for Christian freedoms, the Court of Appeal ruled in 2019 that Mr Ngole would ‘never discriminate against anyone’ because of his Christian beliefs and therefore he was he was allowed to return to his training and subsequently qualified as a social worker.
Nonetheless, Mr Ngole, despite being offered a job with Touchstone, was invited back for a ‘second interview’ in which he was interrogated about his beliefs. He was told by Touchstone bosses that unless he could demonstrate how he would ‘embrace and promote homosexual rights’, the job offer would be withdrawn.
They said that his beliefs did not ‘align’ with Touchstone’s ethos as an ‘inclusive employer’ and that he posed a risk to the organisation’s reputation.
He was also told in the second interview that he would be expected to attend LGB and Transgender awareness training but would not be free to share his views despite others being free to share their LGBT affirming views.
Read also: Minority stress theory – why Felix’s case is crucial for Christians. Chief Executive Andrea Williams writes an update on the ongoing case of Felix Ngole, explaining how the legal arguments being used against him could be very dangerous for Christian freedoms.
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