A Methodist Bible college in the UK has fired a Christian theologian and threatened to sue him as a terrorist over his anti-homosexual tweets, his lawyers said.
Dr Aaron Edwards, who taught theology at Cliff College in Derbyshire, England, was sacked from the school after being accused of ‘bringing the college down’ on social media last month.
“Homosexuality is invading the church,” Edwards tweeted on Feb. 19. “Evangelicals no longer see the gravity of this [because] they’re busy apologizing for their seemingly barbaric homophobia, whether it’s true or not.
“This *is* a ‘gospel problem,’ by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Savior,” Edwards added.
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Edwards’ tweet went viral and caused a backlash, to which Edwards replied: “That *is* the conservative viewpoint. Acceptance of homosexuality as ‘not sinful’ *is* an invasion of the Church, doctrinally. This is not controversial. Acceptance is controversial. Most of the global Church would agree. It is not homophobic to declare homosexuality sinful.”
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“I expressed the conservative viewpoint as a doctrinal issue, regarding implications for sin/the gospel. It was not an attack on individuals, it was aimed at evangelicals. It remains ‘unspoken,'” he added.
Dr Aaron Edwards, who taught theology at Cliff College in Derbyshire, England, was sacked from the school after being accused of ‘bringing the college down’ on social media in opposition to homosexuality. (Christian concern)
Edwards’ tweets have reportedly caused “distress” among members of the Methodist Church in Britain, with one senior staffer saying they “could be extremely damaging” and “would impact the core work of the college and on the “business plan,” according to Edwards’ legal counsel. at the Christian Legal Center in London.
Edwards was suspended from the school pending an investigation, and the college revealed during a disciplinary hearing on March 8 that it was considering referring him to Prevent, which monitors terrorism allegations in the UK
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Edwards was reportedly asked during the hearing what he would do if asked to pray with a student about their same-sex attraction, which he believes was an attempt to trap him into stating “conversion therapy” , which the British Parliament has discussed criminalizing .
“The reaction to my tweet and the unfair treatment I have experienced from Cliff College and the Methodist Church in Great Britain fully illustrate the problem my tweet addresses,” Edwards said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
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Cliff College in Derbyshire, England, has reportedly fired Dr Aaron Edwards and threatened to denounce him as a terrorist over his anti-homosexuality tweets. (Google Maps)
“The tweet was not defamatory; it was not an attack on any colleague or individual; it was not offensive; and it was not an extremist religious view. It was aimed at evangelicals as a point of doctrine, and has been misunderstood by many who wish to cause personal problems and institutional rights to those who express this point of view,” he continued.
Edwards added that traditional Christian beliefs about sexuality are “silenced and suppressed” in the Methodist Church.
Edwards’ case comes amid a global rift among Methodists over the issue of homosexuality and gay clergy, which has led many congregations across the United States to leave the mainstream denomination. (AP Photo / Sid Hastings / Files)
With the help of the Christian Legal Centre, Edwards is weighing his legal options against Cliff College for potential discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. He argues that the disciplinary procedure lacked the “requisite fairness” and that the investigation was biased and full of “surprising” imbalance, exaggeration and misrepresentation.
Cliff College did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the time of publication.
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Edwards’ case comes amid a growing rift among Methodists globally over the issue of same-sex marriage and gender. The United Methodist Church in the United States has been hemorrhaging congregations in recent years, with many of them joining the new conservative Global Methodist Church.
