A Christian former maths teacher in the UK, Joshua Sutcliffe, has raised alarms about the risks faced by educators who share their personal beliefs in the classroom. Sutcliffe, who was barred from teaching in 2023, recently lost his High Court appeal against the prohibition order issued by the UK’s Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA). The TRA found that Sutcliffe had breached safeguarding duties by refusing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns and expressing to students that homosexuality was wrong.
Sutcliffe’s case is notable as it is believed to be the first of its kind to reach the High Court, where the appeal was ultimately dismissed. The court ruled that Sutcliffe had caused harm to vulnerable children by deliberately using incorrect pronouns and making comments that suggested homosexuality could be cured by God. Justice Pepperall, who presided over the case, stated that Sutcliffe failed to recognize the damage his actions had inflicted on both transgender and gay students in his classroom. In his defence, Sutcliffe argued that his rights to freedom of speech and religion were unjustly interfered with by the teaching ban. He maintained that he had been unfairly targeted for expressing his Christian convictions, insisting that his views were not guided by hate but by his religious beliefs. Despite his claims, the court found no merit in his arguments, emphasizing that his actions had significantly distressed a transgender student and made other students feel worthless.
Sutcliffe’s warnings that the court’s ruling puts “every teacher at risk” if they express personal beliefs have sparked debate. He continues to fight for his career, asserting that the ruling undermines the rights of teachers to hold and express religious views in educational settings.
Sutcliffe, is clearly a man who is prepared to stand up against the blanket of fear and speak out for what is right. This is not his first career-impacting episode. In 2019, he was compelled to resign from another school after sharing and discussing his views on Islam on his personal YouTube channel.
The West’s Education Journey
Education in the West has to date been built on Christian foundations. Many of our institutions were founded by Christians for the glory of God. The pursuit of learning was initially wrapped up in a daily lifestyle of worship to God. There was an understanding that as one pursued knowledge the learner was in effect pursuing a greater understanding of God and His creation. The Christian faith and formalised learning were inseparable. Over time, the state assumed the role of being the provider and governor of education. Incremental changes were made that slowly eroded the foundation of Christianity out of education. Today, we are decades down a road whereby many educationalists openly resist the Christian foundation from which their vocation was formed. Furthermore, it is believed that the new values displacing Christian truths offer something altogether better. These beliefs are clung to despite the fact that the new values contradict established factual learning – e.g. that biological sex determines a person’s gender, not what the person says he or she is.
How did we get here?
Christian values were displaced with values drafted up by secular elites. This process of displacement started with a rejection of God. Any rejection of God if left without correction leads to a level of insanity in the full term. This process is clearly defined in the Bible and has been repeated many times throughout history. With regards to the “mis-gendering” complaint, the heart of the legal battle faced by Joshua Sutcliffe is ultimately about someone who believes in the scientific reality of biological sex. But, the insanity of this wider topic is finding new lows. In the UK we now have children in school who wish to identify as the moon, a cat or a dinosaur. There is at least one example of a young classmate that innocently challenged this faked reality who was then chastened by their teachers. This is what happens when we live with our backs turned to the creator God. Such bizarre identifications are not a new thing. In pagan beliefs, there can be a sense of an alternative identity. For example, the concept of an inner spirit animal that reflects the person’s inner qualities or the traits they should aspire to develop. All this flies in the face of the fact that God made male and female in His image and designated them good, and equal. All else attacks the perfect image of God in creation.
The new secular values started with a rejection of God. This led to a post-truth pseudo reality whereby absolute truth was disregarded. Truth became relative to one’s beliefs, feelings and wants and even the mere suggestion of a concept of absolute truth eventually became offensive. This is pattern has been repeated throughout history.
Education providers, governments, public sector bodies then paired this dislodgement of truth with Marxist ideologies. At its very root, Marxism is anti-God and is designed to challenge and de-construct all authority structures (including Christianity and the family unit) so it can become the “god” of the state and the individual. The Marxist methodology of pitting oppressors against victims was paired with the boundaryless wants of the sexual revolution; those standing up for Biblical sexual standards were labelled as oppressors, those who wanted to practice otherwise as the oppressed. With full state support, it has become a perfect tool for castigating Christian belief. It is of no surprise that Christian groups are by far the main recipient of these attacks. Other religious groups who would also maintain the reality of biological sex are not attacked as this would negate the other Marxist-inspired doctrine of multiculturalism and the post-truth doctrine of religious pluralism.
A response from the Christian worldview
Firstly, every true Christian knows that they exist by the grace of God. A true Christian as defined by the Biblical standard is one who has come to a decisive point in their life when they have surrendered their life to Christ. In the same way that Jesus surrendered His life for us, he calls us to do the same – “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it”. The event of conversion is not mental assent, not a change of heart attitude but a radical operation supernaturally performed by God, not the individual. This conversion results in a life that is directed away from past sins and towards living a life of holiness. Millions of people who have surrendered to Jesus have had all manner of sinful habits and addictions broken. Knowing that we were once like most people, being under the control of sin and powerless to do anything about it, means that the Christian’s first response is one of love and compassion. Without the saving grace of God, we know we’d still be stuck with our destructive patterns. There is 0% opportunity for gloating or looking down on others. If we did however, we’d know we’d be pitching ourselves against the very heart and nature of God. As God shows no favouritism, we’d be wise to speedily repent of this.
Christians want people to experience the power of God and a life lived for Him. They know there is no greater sense of satisfaction or higher purpose. Plus, they know their eternal destiny is secure in Him. Secondly, because of this desire, the Christian worldview encourages believers to present truth in the face of lies and evil. Jesus addressed the very matter of leading children down the path of sin:
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Matthew 18:6
This is the motivation for the Christian. The Christian worldview knows that a person who desires to identify as a different gender isn’t going to find true freedom. It’s a deceit. Furthermore, we know much harm can follow such choices. There are now many reports of school bodies in the West that secretly encourage children to undergo genital mutilation. Shockingly, they are encouraged to do this without their parent’s approval. Federal laws are waiting in the wings so that, in true Marxist fashion, parents will not be able to challenge their children without fear of imprisonment. Such laws echo those of communist-era Russia or present-day North Korea in that they enforce the Party as the ultimate guardian. We are not stretching the comparison here.
We applaud Joshua Sutcliffe for taking a stand. The cost to him has been and continues to be high. His stance will hopefully encourage others to prevent children pursuing a life of harm to themselves and their loved ones. All are at risk who challenge the totalitarian values of post-Christian culture. But, let’s make the challenge anyway.