BY JAMES SIMONS
A Christian studying to be a social worker at a UK university in the United Kingdom has been expelled for expressing biblical views on homosexuality on his personal Facebook page.
Felix Ngole, 38, had posted on his private page his support for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis and outlined what the Scriptures state about sexuality, making reference to the book of Leviticus.
However, after his post was brought to the attention of administrators at the University of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, the second year Masters student became the subject of a ”Fitness to Practice” hearing, where he was advised that he may have caused offence to some individuals”.
The correspondence continued , saying he had “transgressed boundaries which are not deemed appropriate for someone entering the social work profession.” In writing , he was told. Your student record will be terminated shortly and your library membership and university computer account withdrawn. You may wish to contact your funding body for advice on your financial position”, it concluded.
The angry student fumed ” the way that I have been treated raises very serious issues about the way students in English universities are being censored in their views and beliefs,” he further stated. “If the personal statements of students on their own social media pages, and among their own ‘friends’ are now to be used to judge whether they are ‘fit and proper people’ to serve in professions such as law, medicine, teaching and social work, then very serious questions need to be asked about the freedoms in the UK.”
What this student fails to understand is that whilst we are all entitled to our beliefs, it is a criminal offence to target a minority group and undermine their humanity or make comments on public platforms that could lead to an unrestrained degree of discrimination or victimization. This is where many religious people fail to understand where the boundaries lie in having their personal beliefs and expressing them in a way that targets a protected group with equal rights as everybody else.
“The university claims my views are discriminatory, but I am the one being discriminated against because of my expression of Christian beliefs,” he said. “I wonder whether the university would have taken any action if a Muslim student who believes in Shari’a law, with its teaching about women and homosexuality, had made moderate comments on his Facebook . The answer is that they probably would have taken the same steps because nobody has the right to publicly discriminate against another group. The students view that he has been discriminated against is distorted, when in actual fact he has been punished for being unnecessarily prejudicial against gay individuals. The biblical stance on homosexuality in Leviticus is for Christians to have, not to be used as a weapon to harass gays who may not subscribe to those views. It is quite different if raised in the context of a useful discussion.
