A Christian social work student was expelled from his university for his Facebook post quoting the Bible and backing Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in religious opposition to same-sex marriage.
Davis spent five days in jail last summer for her faith-based refusal to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. She became a heroic symbol of resistance to evangelical Christians and was widely praised by conservative politicians.
Now, Felix Ngole may be the next hero for anti-gay marriage forces.
According to The Independent, the master’s degree student told friends in a private post, “I stand with Kim Davis” and quoted a biblical passage from Leviticus calling homosexuality an abomination.
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, flanked by Republic presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, left, Attorney Mathew Staver, second right, and her husband Joe Davis, right, celebrates her release from the Carter County Detention center in Grayson, Kentucky on September 8, 2015. U.S. Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Chris Tilley
*Editors: This photo may only be republished with RNS-MARSHALL-COLUMN, originally transmitted on September 10, 2015, or with RNS-STETZER-COLUMN, originally transmitted on Dec. 30, 2015, or with RNS-GUSHEE-COLUMN, originally transmitted on Jan. 6, 2016.
The Christian Legal Centre has taken up his cause. Andrea Williams, CEO of the center told The Independent this was “yet another case of Christians being ‘neutered’ in the public arena, and of censorship of views.”
Ngole, 38, a second year masters student in social work, posted his comments on Facebook in September. Two months later, a university committee that addresses “fitness to practice” told him he was expelled.
The letter to Ngole, as quoted in Christian Today, said he “may have caused offense to some individuals” and had “transgressed boundaries which are not deemed appropriate for someone entering the social work profession.”
Ngole, on the contrary, called this “secret policing of Christian belief.” If Facebook comments can be used to block access to professional licensing “then very serious questions need to be asked about the freedoms in the UK,” according to Christian Today.
A spokeswoman for the Sheffield University told the Independent there would be no comment because the case is subject to appeal.