An English Bible college fired a professor and threatened to report him as a “terrorist” for criticizing homosexuality on Twitter.
Fox News notes that Cliff College terminated Aaron Edwards, a theologian, from his faculty position after he sent a tweet against homosexuality. Edwards had said, “Homosexuality is invading the church. Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this [because] they’re busy apologizing for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true.…If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.”
Edwards was instructed to take down the tweet by Cliff College, but he declined to do so, as he recounted in an interview with CBN News a week ago. Edwards said that he’s been “speaking about” the issue “for the past few years.” “This is the time the church is being told to affirm something we can’t affirm.”
Edwards said to CBN that he could not in “good conscience” take down his tweet. “It’s a view that I stand by, it’s a real conviction, it’s not just me dashing something off I haven’t thought about.” Edwards noted at the time that he had been suspended from his position.
The school stated during a disciplinary hearing three weeks ago that it was weighing referring him to Prevent, a police program that investigates terrorism reports in the United Kingdom.
An employee of Cliff College claimed Edwards’ tweets “could be extremely damaging” and “impact the college’s core work” and “business plan.” Edwards’ legal counsel at the Christian Legal Centre told Fox News.
Edwards was not surprised when he later was swiftly fired following a brief disciplinary hearing. “I think I sort of expected it by that point,” Edwards said to CBN. “Others who had been telling me how these processes usually work – despite no disciplinary issues previously, despite no warnings previously – immediate dismissal.”
Edwards says that privately, other faculty sympathize with him, but are afraid to say so publicly. “I have received just unbelievable amounts of support privately … pastors and churches saying ‘we’re all praying for you, I’ve changed my sermon this week because of your situation.’ I’ve heard that so many times in the last few weeks.” Edwards is appealing his termination and anticipates that there will be “a hearing on that soon.”
Edwards is among multiple college instructors to be punished for remarks deemed anti-LGBTQ.
In 2019, Professor Robert Oscar Lopez was removed from his position at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary because of his comments on homosexuality. Administrators told him to “either stop writing about homosexuality and sex abuse, or leave the job.”
That same year, Professor Allan Josephson was demoted and then fired from his position at the University of Louisiana after participating in a Heritage Foundation event that questioned transgenderism. He later sued the University of Louisiana for allegedly violating his free-speech and religious-freedom rights. “The outcome of this case will impact the ability of professors across the country to participate in the academic marketplace of ideas without facing government retaliation,” said Logan Spena, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.
