UK science teacher Robert Haye has lost
his legal fight to return to the classroom.
Haye, a Seventh-day Adventist, lost his
job at Deptford Green School in Lewisham, south-east London, in 2010
after a complaint by a teaching assistant triggered an investigation.
Haye told a group of students aged
15-16 that the Bible condemns homosexuality, saying that the way gay
people lived was “disgusting” and a sin.
On a separate occasion, he told
students that “anyone who worships on Sunday is basically
worshiping the devil.”
Seventh-day Adventists observe the
Sabbath on Saturday.
Haye appealed a broad teaching ban
imposed against him. He said he was unprepared to “recant” his
religious beliefs in order to return to teaching.
“Christians are now being persecuted
in this country for believing in the Bible,” Haye is quoted as
saying by the Press
Association. “That cannot be. We have a right to believe
and express what we believe, but people are now afraid of being
punished for not being politically correct.”
The judge in the case said that it was
“not about the right of a teacher to hold sincerely-held beliefs
based on the Bible in relation to homosexuality or attendance at
church on Sundays. It has been about how those beliefs and views are
manifested in the context of teaching in schools with young people
with diverse sexuality, backgrounds and beliefs.”