The persecution of Felix Ngole
by Lauren Smith, spiked:
Christians are being hounded out of social work in the name of ‘tolerance’.
It seems like social work is no place for Christians in the UK. Felix Ngole, a social worker and pastor, had a job offer withdrawn last year because of his Christian views on same-sex relationships.
In 2022, Ngole was offered a job at Touchstone, an NHS provider that offers mental-health and wellbeing services to people across Yorkshire. But when the charity learned that Ngole was a Christian who believed that homosexuality was a sin, he was called back in for another interview (Ngole says it felt more like an interrogation). His job offer was then promptly rescinded.
Ngole has taken his case to an employment tribunal in Leeds, where the case is currently ongoing, to argue that his sacking amounts to discrimination under the Equality Act. Certainly, Touchstone’s treatment of him looks to be horribly unjust. In defence of its decision to reject Ngole, the charity has made the absurd claim that employing him would have literally led to deaths. Should Ngole be allowed to work at Touchstone, the charity told the tribunal, there would be a serious risk of LGBT service-users killing themselves.
This is a grotesque suggestion. Ngole says that over his 20-year career as a youth worker, pastor and teacher, he has helped people from all kinds of backgrounds and communities, without discriminating against any of them. ‘Not long ago I worked with a trans person’, he told the tribunal, ‘and I treated them as a human being’.
His record would seem to back this up. Indeed, as Ngole’s lawyers have pointed out, Touchstone decided he was the best candidate for the role before it found out about his religious beliefs. He scored exceptionally well on every assessment given to him (including in equality and diversity) and was ‘enthusiastically’ offered the job.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
