The Reverend Dr Bernard Randall, 52, has been barred from preaching for five years after he gave a sermon at a private school telling children that they could question teaching on LGBT relationships.
He lost his job as the chaplain of Trent College in Nottingham, was reported to Prevent, the terrorism watchdog, and was ruled by the Church of England to be a risk to children.
Despite being cleared of wrongdoing over the 2019 sermon, he remains barred from preaching after a decision by the Bishop of Derby, the Right Reverend Libby Lane, the church’s first female bishop.
The Most Reverend Justin Welby has repeatedly refused to allow Dr Randall to bring a misconduct case against Bishop Lane, despite being told by a KC that this decision was “plainly wrong”.
In judgments seen by The Telegraph, Gregory Jones KC, reviewing the case on behalf of the clergy discipline tribunal, said Dr Randall’s case was “egregious” and the Church’s “error gross”.
Dr Randall told The Telegraph: “In my case, safeguarding has been weaponised as a political tool against a theological position which is wholly consistent with the Church’s doctrine.
“I have been vindicated by a number of secular bodies, but the CofE, who, on paper, share my beliefs and should be supporting me, are refusing to give me my life back.”
In a sermon following training from a trans rights group, Dr Randall quoted a question for a student asking why they “have to accept all this LGBT stuff in a Christian school.”
Previously a university chaplain at Cambridge, Dr Randall, who believes in the importance of biological sex, said that he advocated a “balanced debate: freedom of conscience”.
He found himself sacked for gross misconduct before being reinstated on appeal and given a warning. During Covid, he was made redundant.
But Dr Randall has said that he is unable to get another job because Bishop Lane has refused to grant him a licence or a permission to officiate without him going through a risk assessment.
The refusal was made after her safeguarding team concluded that he could pose a risk of harm to children.
The group did not claim that the sermon was against Anglican doctrine. It said that it was “framed carefully” and was not on its own a safeguarding concern.
But it raised concerns about how Dr Randall “would speak to and support someone who came to him if they were struggling with their sexuality”.
Dr Randall made an official complaint on the basis that the proceedings were flawed and Bishop Lane “discriminated against me on the grounds of my orthodox beliefs on gender and sexual orientation”.
But the case has been blocked by the Archbishop, who has said that whilst there were “lessons in this case” there is “insufficient substance” for a case against Bishop Lane personally.
Dr Randall has twice appealed, with Mr Jones saying that the archbishop’s decision was “plainly wrong” in places and he had “misunderstood the scope of his powers”.
Mr Jones’s criticisms included that “given that it is not said that the sermon was in conflict with the Church’s doctrine”, any finding that Dr Randall would “pose a risk of harm to young children” would need to be carefully explained, and it had not been.
He said that the archbishop “does not identify where can be found the reasons and evidence base justifying the conclusion that there were sufficient safeguarding concerns” which could justify refusing a licence.
It was passed to Dame Sarah Asplin, president of Tribunals, who ruled that whilst there were “serious errors”, Bishop Lane personally did not have a case to answer.
She said that the diocese “should look at this matter again and that it might well be appropriate” for an independent team to start from scratch.
Since that judgment in February, Dr Randall has said that he has heard nothing. As a result of his frustration, he is now launching a judicial review against Dame Sarah’s decision.
“The problems run far deeper than my own case,” he said. “A Church which can turn against its own teaching is deeply unhealthy.”
He added that it was a “scandal” that no one had been held to account and it “looks as if the archbishop’s knee-jerk reaction was to protect a senior colleague, rather than to seek justice or reconciliation.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the case, said: “The evidence shows that even Jesus, let alone Bernard Randall, would have fallen foul of the Derby dioceses approach to safeguarding and would have been marked a risk to children.”
She said that there “no evidence has ever been presented” that shows he is a “danger to children” and the “scandalous blacklisting” was for beliefs that are in The Bible.
The Church of England and the Diocese of Derby said that they could not comment on the matter during an ongoing legal case.