Christian prison worker to appeal Tribunal ruling over right to quote Bible in chapel service

Apr 27, 2017 by Jill

from Christian Concern:

A Christian prison worker who felt he had no option but to resign after being disciplined for quoting from the Bible during a prison chapel service, will challenge an Employment Tribunal’s ruling that the prison was right to discipline him.

In March 2016, the Employment Tribunal ruled that Barry Trayhorn was not discriminated against because of his Christian faith, and that the prison had acted properly in disciplining him.

Mr Trayhorn, an ordained Pentecostal minister, worked as a prison gardener and volunteered in chapel at HMP Littlehey, a prison for sex offenders.

But after he spoke during a prison chapel service about the wonder of God’s forgiveness for those who repent, he received an aggressive response from prison authorities and eventually resigned.

Harassed because of Christian faith

Mr Trayhorn started work at the prison as a gardener in May 2011, and in 2012 started to assist at some chapel services on a voluntary basis.

During a service in May 2014, Mr Trayhorn spoke of God’s forgiveness for those who repent, quoting 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 from memory. The verses speak of people who had been forgiven a number of sins, including adultery, greed, drunkenness and homosexual sexual activity.

Read here

Read also: Rev’d Barry Trayhorn “forced to resign” as prison worker – for quoting the Bible in chapel (from Nov 2015) by Archbishop Cranmer