Svetlana Powell was dismissed by the T2 Apprenticeship Academy, a government-funded pre-apprenticeship academy, in Bristol in July 2016 after being asked by students about her views on homosexuality.

According to Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Powell, she was also reported as a “radicalisation threat” to the government’s anti-terrorist watchdog, Prevent.

In reply to a question by a 17-year-old student, Mrs Powell said that her personal belief was that homosexuality was against God’s will, but that he loved every person, regardless of what they did, or who they were.

When told that one of the students identified as a lesbian, Mrs Powell said: “God loves you”.

 Two days later she was told she was being fired for “gross misconduct” with immediate effect.

The Academy’s Chief Safeguarding Officer, Sian Prigg, told the Tribunal that after a group of students complained that they were “brainwashed and preached to”, she decided to contact the local coordinator for Prevent – the government’s ‘counter-terrorism’ strategy group – to report the incident.

Mrs Powell said she did not know of being reported as a “radicalisation threat” until she brought a legal claim against the Academy and read Mrs Prigg’s witness statement for the Tribunal.

Employment Judge Maxwell has ruled that the…

Members of the General Synod backed a motion on Friday outlining ways retailers and Church of England members can attempt to tackle food poverty in Britain.

The motion calls for the Government to consider steps to reduce waste in the food supply chain. It also urges parishes to help lobby retailers on food waste and stressed the need for church members to reduce waste in their own homes.

Presenting the motion, the Rev Andrew Dotchin from the Diocese of St Edmundsbury said: “The figures on food waste in our nation are horrible and rehearsing them will not make them any more attractive.”

Although there is no official measure of food poverty in the UK, a recent United Nations survey found that in 2014, an estimated 8.4 million people in the UK were living in households with insufficient food.

Rev Dotchin added: “We must work not only with shops and the supply chain – and our thanks and support go to retailers who have already made a commitment to reducing food waste – but also work alongside the many charities and community groups who, with us, treasure the world and its people.”

Christian humanitarian charity Tearfund, which has been running a campaign urging shoppers and supermarkets to reduce the amount of food they waste, has welcomed the motion.

Tearfund senior campaigner Clare Lyons said: “We’re delighted that Synod has shown that, like Jesus, the…

Members of the General Synod backed a motion on Friday welcoming a joint report published last year, which sets out proposals on how clergy from each church could become eligible to serve in the other.

The report, Mission and Ministry in Covenant, which was co-written by the two churches’ faith and order bodies, also sets out how the Methodist Church could come to have bishops in the historic episcopate.

The motion acknowledges that there is further work to do to clarify a number of areas, including how the proposals would be worked out in practice.

It also calls on the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission to update Synod at its next group of sessions in July on this work.

But an amendment to the motion speaks of “confident hope” that outstanding issues can be resolved quickly.

Speaking during the debate the Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury said: “I want to support this motion very strongly indeed.

“It seems to me that in voting for it we respond to the word of God in the scriptures where there is a clear command to unity in diversity and in responding to this paper positively we respond to the Spirit who is already working in both of our Churches bringing us together.”

General Synod February 2018

Opening the debate, Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth ,  Bishop of Coventry,…

The TV presenter has written an emotional blog post about the depression he experienced after his wife Gemma lost a baby after undergoing IVF.

He said they had been desperate for a brother or sister for their son Ethan and he was left “angry, disappointed and bitter” after the miscarriage.

He wrote: “Until this point I had never had depression. I didn’t really know what it was, I thought it was something they labelled people when they felt a bit down.

“As the days and weeks went on after Gemma’s miscarriage I became more and more detached from what was going on around us. I struggled to be around close friends.”

The former Blue Peter star said he found their local church a painful place to be and struggled to get out of bed.

He wrote: “Gemma knew (obviously) and some of my closest friends, but mostly I faced this new battle alone, unable to admit to, or talk about the depression that had taken a grip on my life.

“I felt totally cut off from the world around me. It was like being in a parallel universe – life carries on as normal around you and you’re part of it, yet you feel totally cut off from it. You’re in the world but not of the world.”

Thomas said he contemplated taking his life after going for Christmas drinks with friends.

He said: “As we walked home that night I felt like the pit I was in had reached a deeper, more sinister depth. As my friends walked ahead…