Where will the grandstanding stop?
Felix Ngole, 39, was recently expelled from his Master’s degree track at Sheffield University after he expressed a traditional Christian viewpoint on homosexuality in a casual debate through social media. The university claims that Mr. Ngole wrote derogatory comments about homosexuals online.
In actuality, Mr. Ngole simply interpreted the words of the Bible as he saw fit. Moreover, his interpretation falls in line with many well respected Bible scholars. He said only that homosexuality was marked as a sin in the Bible, which it absolutely is. This is a cold, hard fact, not something to be debated.
Rowena Collins Rice was the deputy high court London judge that ruled Mr. Ngole’s expulsion from the Sheffield University program lawful. Although his rights to free speech and free assembly were trampled on, even backing from the Christian Legal Centre could not keep the court system from railroading him.
Lawyers from the university rested their argument on the notion that students in the degree program that Mr. Ngole was taking require “more insight” and that they were correct in removing him. They also argued that removing him from the program was a punishment proportionate to Mr. Ngole’s actions. The university questioned his fitness to practice based upon a few remarks.
Fortunately, Mr. Ngole is planning to appeal the decision. Keep in mind that the program that he is in has nothing to do with sexual ethics whatsoever. Whether or not he has traditional Christian views has no bearing on his professional expertise.
The discussion that cost Mr. Ngole his place in the Sheffield post graduate program took place on Facebook. It concerned the actions of Kentucky state official Kim Davis, who famously refused to register homosexual marriages in the state. Ngole was arguing that her position was valid based on the Biblical passages that earmark homosexuality as a sin.
University official Collins Rice justified the actions of Sheffield by trying to correlate social work with sexual ethics. Rice also tried to extend the responsibility of the institution to include the “pastoral” needs of their students, alongside their “academic and social” needs.
Christians everywhere, especially in Britain, should be immediately outraged by this decision. The Ngole case basically said to the entire Christian religion that although it may be fine to have Christian views, it is not ok to express them. Ever.
What good is having a Christian viewpoint, or any viewpoint for that matter, if it is never allowed to become public? If faith without works is dead, everyone’s faith is now at risk. Soon there will be no room left for anyone with a Christian viewpoint to enroll in an institution of higher learning.
Universities are known for being overwhelmingly liberal. This is becoming less of a stereotype and more of a reality as time goes on. Rulings like this will only embolden the mainstreaming of alternative lifestyles while demonizing traditionalists. Christians will be faced with the temptation of giving up their very souls for a chance to educate themselves.
One of the hypocrisies that no one has touched on in this case is the identity of the former Sheffield student Mr. Ngole. Mr. Ngole is a minority. With that in mind, it is hugely hypocritical for the university to say that he was exploiting a minority when he is one himself.
Good hearted Christians are themselves becoming a minority in this world, even in countries where the religion has shaped legal structures and cultural attitudes for centuries. While even Jesus once codified the need for a secular realm as well as a spiritual one, humanists in higher education, the media, and various political systems in the west have made it clear there can only be room for one side.
~ 1776 Christian
