The war against reality, rational thought and the basic tenets of Christianity continues in the United Kingdom, with a Christian doctor protesting his firing for refusing to call a bearded, 6-foot-tall man “madam.”
Dr. David Mackereth’s appeal will be heard next month before the Employment Appeal Tribunal, an independent court which handles disputes about employment law, according to a report from Faithwire. A previous tribunal in 2019 labeled his speech as not “worthy of respect in a democratic society” and “incompatible with human dignity.”
Mackereth, 56, who has 28 years of experience, will challenge that ruling at his appeal hearing in front of the high court on March 28 and 29. He is being represented by the Christian Legal Centre, the legal arm of Christian Concern, a watchdog group.
The British government’s Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) dismissed Mackereth from his job as a disability assessor in late June of 2018 because of his refusal to hypothetically refer to “a six-foot-tall bearded man” as “madam,” CBN News reported in 2019. Mackereth, who had previously worked as an emergency doctor for the National Health Service, was removed in June of 2018 after being “interrogated” about his personal religious beliefs by his boss.
The doctor said he refused to use transgender pronouns and claimed during the hearing he was ultimately fired “not because of any realistic concerns over the rights and sensitivities of transgender individuals, but because of my refusal to make an abstract ideological pledge.”
Mackereth’s attorneys argued in court in 2019 that the Department of Work and Pensions had violated Mackereth’s right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and said that he believes “it would be irresponsible and dishonest for a health professional to accommodate and/or encourage a patient’s impersonation of the opposite sex”.
The judge hearing the case later ruled that Mackereth’s belief in Genesis 1:27 was not a belief protected by the Equality Act 2010 and was “mere opinion.”
The ruling effectively put “transgender rights” ahead of freedom of conscience, letting employers compel Christians to use preferred pronouns in opposition to their beliefs as well as rejecting common sense. According to the Christian Legal Centre, it is the first time in the history of English law that a judge has required free citizens to engage in compelled speech.
“My case affects everyone, not just me and Bible-believing Christians, but anyone who is concerned by compelled speech and transgender ideology being enforced on the NHS and other public services,” Mackereth said in a statement. “ … That is totalitarianism. It made out Christianity to be nothing, the Bible to be nothing. That cannot be allowed to stand.”
