The social media behaviour of an anti-Christian atheist lay member of the employment tribunal has, for the second time in a matter of months, caused protracted litigation in two cases involving the dismissal of Christians. Another lay member has also been removed from a panel for apparent bias.
In early March, Bernard Randall won permission to appeal a 2022 employment tribunal decision upholding his dismissal from Trent College following a sermon on accepted church teachings on sexuality. He was granted permission after it was revealed that Jed Purkis, a member of the tribunal panel that heard Bernard’s case, had posted several anti-Christian comments on social media before and after the tribunal ruling.
In one posted, Purkis agreed with a post that said: “Only atheists should be allowed to run for office”, and commented, “Damn right, you won’t catch us killing in the name of our non-god”.
The employment appeal tribunal judge agreed that there was an appearance of bias on the part of Perkis and sent the case back to the employment tribunal for a rehearing.
Last year, in another case involving Christian teacher “Hannah”, the entire tribunal panel had to step down after Purkis’ anti-Christian comments on X were discovered. The case had to be retimetabled and Purkis was formally rebuked.
At the start of the new hearing in March, another panel member, Chris Tansley, was removed for “apparent bias” having made pro-trans statements.
