Christian school counsellor sues over sacking

A Christian social media influencer and faculty counsellor is suing her former employer after claiming she was sacked for expressing traditional beliefs about marriage. 

Gozen Soydag is claiming wrongful dismissal and discrimination by St Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls in Enfield, North London. The lawsuit also alleges that the college breached her human rights because of this of her Christian beliefs.

The 37 12 months old says she was dismissed by the college for expressing biblical views about marriage on her Instagram account, which has 30,000 followers. 

The posts expressed her views concerning the holiness of marriage, the importance of the normal family unit, purity, cohabitation, and her belief that wives should undergo their husbands.

She was told that the posts had caused “offence” to an anonymous complainant and were “incompatible with the college’s ethos”. 

According to the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), she was told to depart the premises without pay, and was not allowed to say goodbye to students or colleagues despite agreeing to remove a supposedly offensive post. 

Soydag is having her case heard over the following three days at Watford Employment Tribunal. 

Speaking ahead of the hearing, which began today, Soydag said her dismissal got here as a shock and that she felt “persecuted”.

“I would like to talk up now because traditional Christian marriage on this country is being broken, trampled on, and even marginalised, and what has happened to me really highlights that,” she said. 

“It is improper to fireplace someone because they consider within the institution of marriage. I feel it’s improper to fireplace someone because their beliefs don’t align with yours.

“There is a lot discuss diversity within the workplace, yet on this instance, my beliefs and who I’m as a Christian were completely excluded.

“Christians cannot allow people to walk all around the principles that we stand for. No one has to consider what I feel. Just because I don’t think what another person believes doesn’t suggest I can not respect them or work with them.”

Andrea Williams, CEO of the Christian Legal Centre, said, “This is one other example of colleges, which on the surface have a robust Christian ethos, panicking and capitulating to secular orthodoxy and the ‘offence’ of Christian marriage.

“We rob society of the true picture of marriage once we censor, suppress and dismiss what that true picture is.

“Gozen have to be exonerated by the college otherwise what has happened sends a message that Christian beliefs on marriage at the moment are barred from our schools. We will stand by her side as she pursues justice.”

Writing in defence of Soydag in The Telegraph, commentator Celia Walden wrote, “Had Soydag been a Muslim, would they really have sacked her? Had she made a mildly anti-Semitic comment on Instagram or unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade on social media at any of the accepted villains of the day (from meat eaters to Trump), would the college even have reprimanded her?”

St Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls has been contacted for comment.