Australian doctor suspended over online posts
en staff
Date posted: 20 Sep 2025
An Australian doctor, who lost his medical licence after voicing anti-abortion views online, engaged in professional misconduct, the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal has ruled.
Jereth Kok, an Evangelical Christian, had 11 years’ unblemished experience as a GP before the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) suspended him in 2019 for professional misconduct. Between 20 May 2010 and 15 October 2021, he made numerous posts on Facebook and Christians websites, included describing abortion doctors as “butchers” and “contract killers”; being transgender was a mental health issue; and doctors treating gender dysphoria was “medical butchery”.
Politics USA
The US Supreme Court and questions of justice
Tony Bennett
Date posted: 26 Jul 2025
In the UK we are used to Parliament being the law-making body for the nation. But a recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court on the meaning of “sex” for the purposes of gender discrimination showed that sometimes it’s the Supreme Court that has the final word.
How the US Supreme Court works
Our Supreme Court is not yet 20 years old and is only just beginning to make its mark. The United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, was created back in 1789 as a coequal branch of the federal government, alongside Congress and the Presidency. It even has the power to declare Acts of Congress unconstitutional, and thereby null and void. (The UK Supreme Court has no comparable power.) Through this power, the US Supreme Court has become the final arbiter of what the laws mean and, most importantly, what the Constitution means. That’s why most important cases of legal and constitutional importance end up there.
USA: New task force to remove ‘anti-Christian’ bias
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 18 Apr 2025
President Trump is on a mission to get rid of “anti-Christian bias” in the US, creating a task force especially for the purpose.
Headed up by Attorney General Pam Bondi, the task force is to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government”, Trump announced in Washington recently during National Prayer Breakfast events.
letter from Australia
Prayer? Unlawful. Puberty blockers? Fine
David Robertson
Date posted: 4 Jun 2025
In April the New South Wales Conversion Practices Ban Act came into effect. Its stated aim is “to ban practices directed to changing or suppressing the sexual orientation or gender identity of individuals”. The reaction from the churches has been mixed.
Churches of a more “progressive” bent broadly welcome the ban. More-Biblical churches are concerned – although some leaders think that it will not make much difference. They argue that prayer is not banned. The legislation explicitly states that general religious teachings, sermons, private prayer or personal reflection are not considered conversion practices and are not illegal. For example, expressing religious beliefs or seeking spiritual guidance through prayer is permitted.
news in brief
Employment tribunal won
A scientist who resigned after expressing gender-critical views has won his employment tribunal case.
Peter Wilkins, a Christian, had worked at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory for nearly 15 years before leaving in 2023. He had raised concerns over abusive descriptions of employees that had gender-critical beliefs. The tribunal found there had been “a failure to engage” with the idea that gender-critical views are “worthy and required to be respected”.
Christian loses unfair dismissal appeal
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 16 Apr 2025
A secondary school teacher who told year 7 pupils at a Church of England school that being LGBTQ+ was a sin and is “not fine”, and that transgender people are “just confused”, has lost her appeal against dismissal.
Glawdys Leger, a Christian, lost her teaching job after 12 years at Bishop Justus Church of England School, Bromley in May 2022 after a pupil’s mother complained about “very distressing” comments she allegedly made in class. The pupil was “exploring” who she was.
Kristie Higgs wins groundbreaking court case after unfair dismissal
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 12 Feb 2025
A Christian was unlawfully dismissed from her role as a school pastoral worker after she criticised LGBT relationship education on her social media, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Lord Justice Underhill made clear that dismissal merely because the employee ‘expressed a religious or other protected belief to which the employer, or a third party with whom it wishes to protect its reputation, objects will constitute unlawful direct discrimination within the meaning of the Equality Act’.
Civil servants sued for saying sex is binary
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 18 Nov 2024
Two civil servants for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are facing legal action over allegations of discrimination against transgender people.
A colleague of Andreas Meuller and Elspeth Drummer-Wrigley, who currently remains anonymous, thinks the pair should be reprimanded for their view that transgender people can’t change their sex, The Telegraph reported. Mueller and Drummer-Wrigley are co-chairs of the Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN), a department of Defra the claimant is now calling to be shut down.
Want to help young people follow Jesus? Talk about sexuality and gender
Andrew Bunt
Date posted: 6 Nov 2024
A young woman visited a local church one Sunday morning. As she met members of the church, reflected on the words of the songs, and listened to the preacher, she encountered God and decided she wanted to become a follower of Jesus.
After the service, she approached a friend of mine who was one of the leaders of the church. As the young woman started talking, she broke down and began to sob. When she had managed to compose herself a little, she explained her tears: ‘I want to become a Christian, but you’re going to hate me because I’m a lesbian.’
Relief as new transgender guidance released for schools
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
The draft transgender guidance for schools has been published, clarifying that schools are not required to accept a child’s request to socially transition; and parents will generally have a right to know if their child has made a request.
Minister for women and equalities, Kemi Badenoch, said the guidance is intended to give schools ‘greater confidence when dealing with an issue that has been hijacked by activists misrepresenting the law’.
Trans woman wins 'landmark' discrimination case against app
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 21 Oct 2024
A transgender woman (a biological male who identifies as female) from Australia has won a discrimination case against a women-only social media app, after she was denied access for being male.
The Federal Court found that although Roxanne Tickle had not been directly discriminated against, she was a victim of indirect discrimination, when a decision disadvantages a person with a particular attribute. It ordered the app to pay her the equivalent of £5,100 plus costs. The case is both a landmark ruling about gender identity and addresses the increasingly contentious question: what is a woman?
Sutcliffe appeal lost
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 27 Aug 2024
Maths teacher Joshua Sutcliffe has lost his appeal against a ruling banning him indefinitely from teaching.
Sutcliffe was dismissed after deliberately failing to use a pupil’s preferred pronouns in the classroom and on TV. He had also shared with pupils his views about gay marriage and homosexuality.
School transgender policy is delayed
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Sep 2023
Government guidance on transgender policies in England schools has been delayed, despite it being promised before the start of the school summer holiday.
However, the equalities minister recently indicated that the guidance will require teachers to inform parents if a child questions their gender. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on 16 July, Kemi Badenoch said the guidance will ensure parents know what is ‘going on with their children’ in school.
news in brief
The Goodness of God
The songs Goodness of God, 10,000 Reasons and In Christ Alone have topped a new list of favourite contemporary worship songs.
CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International), has published a roundup of the latest favourites among UK churches who are licensed with the organisation. The top ten also includes How Great Is Our God (4), What a Beautiful Name (5), O Praise The Name (Anástasis) (6), Here I Am To Worship (7) and Cornerstone (8). Other favourites making the list include How Deep The Father’s Love For Us at number 20, Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (22), The Servant King (37), There Is A Redeemer (46), Come People Of the Risen King (50) and The Power Of The Cross (94). The list does not include classic Christian hymns as they are already in the public domain and not within CCLI’s remit.
Preparing for the next frontier in sexual ethics: polyamory and more
Andrew Bunt
Date posted: 20 Jul 2024
The first same-sex marriages in the UK took place in 2014. A decade later, many of us Christians feel we are still playing catchup: we are trying to get our heads around same-sex sexuality and how to hold on to our Biblical conviction that marriage is the lifelong union of a man and a woman while simultaneously loving well those who are attracted to people of the same sex. We are wrestling with how both to love God and love our neighbour in relation to same-sex sexuality.
But while Christians have been playing catch-up, wider society has been continuing to develop its sexual ethic. Same-sex relationships aren’t really a point of debate for most people in modern Western society. In fact, to many, it seems obvious that two people of the same sex should be able to marry.
‘Disastrously bad’ messaging, but Christians are protected
Luke Randall
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Messaging from the Scottish Government and Police Scotland concerning the recently implemented Hate Crime and Public Order Act has been ‘disastrously bad,’ but Christian views are protected, according to Christian Institute Deputy Director Simon Calvert.
He stressed that while there are problems with the law, such as the inclusion of ‘stirring up hatred’ offences covering contested areas such as religion and sexuality, Christian views are protected.
Trans review welcome
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 May 2024
The Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) says it is ‘hugely encouraged’ by The Cass Review into gender identity services for under-18s.
Author and renowned paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass writes in the review that children have been let down by a lack of research and ‘remarkably weak’ evidence on medical interventions in gender care.
The end of the world will be livestreamed
If you’ve ever looked around at the chaos of the current moment and wondered, "Who could have seen this coming?" I have an answer: Walker Percy.
Percy, an American writer, died 35 years ago this week—long before Trump, Twitter, TikTok, or transgender sports debates. But more than half a century ago, he eerily foresaw something like 2025, in which technology, tribalism, and spiritual emptiness converge. If we’re to find our way through the madness, maybe we should listen to what he had to say.