Christian expelled by university after quoting Bible in gay marriage debate
A DEvOuT Christian thrown off his university course after he said that homosexuality was a sin has lost his High Court battle to reverse the decision.
Felix Ngole said he was lawfully expressing a traditional Christian view and complained that bosses at Sheffield university had unfairly stopped him completing a postgraduate social work degree.
He argued that by throwing him out over the comments – including a Bible quotation – made on Facebook, the university had breached his human right to freedom of speech and thought.
But lawyers for the university said that in making the ‘derogatory’ comments he had shown ‘no insight’, and the decision to remove him from the course was fair and proportionate. They added that Mr Ngole had been studying for a professional qualification, and university bosses had to consider his ‘fitness to practise’.
Yesterday deputy High Court judge Rowena Collins-Rice ruled against Mr Ngole, saying the university had acted within the law.
Campaigners said the ‘disappointing’ decision showed society ‘ is becoming increasingly intolerant of Christian moral values’.
Mr Ngole, 39, of Barnsley, had posted the comments online two years ago, the court had heard. He had been taking part in a debate on a public Facebook page about Kim Davis, a state official in Kentucky who refused to register same- sex marriages. Mr Ngole, who was in the second year of his social work masters, shared a Facebook post saying ‘I stand with Kim Davis’. Commenting on the same post, he quoted a Bible verse from Leviticus calling homosexuality an ‘abomination’.
After a fellow student complained the university launched ‘fitness to practise’ proceedings against him.
The decision was made to expel him over the comments, which it said were ‘derogatory of gay men and bisexuals’.
But Mr Ngole said he had argued that Mrs Davis’s position was based on the ‘Biblical view of same-sex marriage as a sin’. He said he was making a ‘genuine contribution’ to an important public debate and was ‘entitled to express his religious views’.
Speaking after the ruling, Mr Ngole said: ‘I am very disappointed by this ruling which supports the university’s decision to bar me from my chosen career because of my Biblical views on sexual ethics. I intend to appeal this decision which clearly intends to restrict me from expressing my Christian faith in public.’
Andrea Williams, of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘Rulings like this show that society is becoming increasingly intolerant of Christian moral values. Christians are being told to shut up ... This is very far from how a free and fair society should operate.’