The USA seems to be in the midst of a welcome fightback against destructive woke ideology. On this side of the Atlantic we are still on the back foot as woke disciples relentlessly push their beliefs in every sphere of activity, nowhere more so than in our educational structures. From kindergarten to post-graduate study, all have been taken over by progressive teachers, lecturers and educational unions pushing an ideological agenda.
We cannot over-emphasise the importance of teachers and their influence. They can open a child’s mind to endless possibilities, or they can close thought down and ensure it runs on approved lines. In 1929 Norman Douglas wrote: “Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes.” Things have not improved in the century since.
Inevitable Battle
Now that progressives have seized control of the levers of power we find teachers who fail to conform to the received wisdom of the day being undermined by the foot-soldiers of woke and facing the retribution of the powerful. This is especially true for Christians.
Christian teachers who believe in the Bible’s teaching inevitably find themselves facing a backlash from progressive authorities. Christian teachers have been disciplined and dismissed by schools for upholding Christian principles.
Christian teachers who believe in the Bible’s teaching inevitably find themselves facing a backlash from progressive authorities
In February 2023, school counsellor Gozen Soydag was sacked from St Anne’s Catholic High School in North London for expressing Christian beliefs about marriage to her more than 30,000 social media followers.
Ms Soydag describes herself as a “passionate woman of faith”. The school insists it operates “in accordance with Canon Law and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church”. Nevertheless, Ms Soydag was dismissed because the headteacher felt that she could not have “someone with that mindset working in the school”.
What was the dangerous mindset? Ms Soydag’s Instagram posts had referred to traditional views on the role of a woman in marriage. These were, perhaps inevitably, seen as misogynistic.
She claims that her Instagram posts were a direct expression of her beliefs: “I have studied the scriptures about how to be a wife and the purpose of a wife,” she says. “I believe, in line with the scriptures, that a wife is a helper to achieve the vision of a family, but that it will look different in every family.”
In an interview with the Telegraph, she said: “There’s so much talk about diversity in the workplace, yet in this instance, my beliefs and who I am as a Christian were completely excluded . . . I was persecuted.”
There’s so much talk about diversity in the workplace, yet in this instance, my beliefs and who I am as a Christian were completely excluded...
She told the Daily Mail that she felt her employment had been “cut short because Christianity has become a dirty word’” and that “it seems the world we live in right now is completely rejecting all things Christian”.
Watford Employment Tribunal dismissed her claims of unfair dismissal on the grounds that her public statements “only celebrated the nuclear family, which could make other students from different backgrounds feel devalued”.
She stood by her views: “I stand for the nuclear marriage and God’s blueprint for marriage. I’m not against anyone, I am for God’s blueprint for the family and believe children do best in a nuclear family.”
Nothing New
Christians being sacked for being too Christian is not new. In 2019 teaching assistant Kristie Higgs shared two posts on her personal Facebook account critical about teaching LGBQ+ relationships and transgender identity in primary schools. After one anonymous complaint Higgs was suspended, questioned for six hours and dismissed for gross misconduct. She was told that sharing such views could “[bring] the school into disrepute”.
Even if a sacked teacher is reinstated it is only after a lengthy series of harrowing court hearings which can leave the teacher feeling ground down by the system and disillusioned with the profession.
Then followed a series of appeals. In these instances the process is part of the punishment. Kirstie’s case began in 2019 and is expected to be finally resolved sometime this year.
Even if a sacked teacher is reinstated it is only after a lengthy series of harrowing court hearings which can leave the teacher feeling ground down by the system and disillusioned with the profession.
Even school chaplains can be sacked for upholding Christian positions in a church school. The Rev Dr Bernard Randall was dismissed by Trent College in Derbyshire and reported to Prevent, the government anti-terrorist watchdog, for encouraging pupils to consider all sides of an argument, even arguments sceptical of LGBTQ+ claims.
Dr Randall commented: “My story sends a message to other Christians that you are not free to talk about your faith. It seems it is no longer enough to just ‘tolerate’ LGBT ideology. You must accept it without question and no debate is allowed without serious consequences. Someone else will decide what is and what isn’t acceptable, and suddenly you can become an outcast, possibly for the rest of your life.”
Throughout Europe
It is not only in the UK that this pressure on Christian teachers occurs. Nelsi Pelinku, a young Catholic teacher from Salzburg in Austria, was sacked for defending traditional moral values.
I am convinced that this LGBT agenda, which is now being pushed in the West in Europe, including in schools, is simply not good for the human soul....
In October 2022 a website run by Antifa published photos of Pelinku, from before he became a teacher, taking part in legal demonstrations in support of the traditional concept of the family. He objected to government policies which he considered promoted undemocratic and immoral agendas. He also took part in demonstrations critical of the Austrian government’s implementation of certain covid measures, and its mass migration policies.
He said, “I am convinced that this LGBT agenda, which is now being pushed in the West in Europe, including in schools, is simply not good for the human soul, but that the traditional teachings of the Church are what is good for the human soul.”
Antifa ‘doxxed’ him. They sent St. Michael Secondary Music School in Lungau, Salzburg documents suggesting that someone with traditional values shouldn’t be teaching children. His dismissal was demanded. Although his beliefs were never taught in the classroom, the school confronted Mr Pelinku and dismissed him.
Mr Pelinku sued for unfair dismissal. In its ruling, the court acknowledged that he had not committed ‘serious misconduct’ and found his dismissal unjustified.
Christian teachers are in the front line of the struggle against a woke culture ever ready to seize any opportunity to cancel Christians.
The Salzburg school administration appealed against the ruling, and won. Following his dismissal, Pelinku had applied to two other state schools in the province of Salzburg. In his applications he stated that his employment at the first school had ended. The court accepted the administration’s argument that this constituted an implicit acceptance of his dismissal, invalidating his right to sue for wrongful dismissal.
Pelinku not only lost his employment: he was further barred from teaching for two years and ordered to pay 24,000 euros in legal costs.
Christian teachers are in the front line of the struggle against a woke culture ever ready to seize any opportunity to cancel Christians. Maths teacher Joshua Sutcliffe merely said, “Well done, girls” to a group including a girl who identified as a boy and was sacked for “unacceptable professional conduct”. Teachers deserve our encouragement, support and prayers as they try to navigate the treacherous waters of our educational system.
The Rev. Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack is a retired Church of Scotland minister; now a member of the Free Church of Scotland. Check out his many incisive articles on his blog, A Grain of Sand.
