In other words should a Christian school expel a student or fire a teacher who didn’t uphold the school’s Christian ethics? This question is controversial because gender and sexuality are intensely emotional aspects of being human and the way we educate our children affects the rest of their lives and the wider society.

The Presbyterian church teaches a traditional view of marriage: one woman married to one man, because of the way God created men and women, an idea that is affirmed by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.

But it would also add that while binary male-female gender can be observed in the world (through history, biology and sociology) it is subjectively experienced and gender roles are socially constructed.

Therefore while the objective reality of marriage and gender might be clear, our personal experience of sexual attraction and gender varies substantially.

While it’s important to be clear about gender, Christians should be generous and loving, welcoming same-sex attracted or transgender people and inviting them to learn more about Jesus.

We should acknowledge that different people have different views about marriage and gender and welcome debate about these. 

So should Christian schools (or congregations) discriminate according to their religious beliefs? In one sense yes, because all groups discriminate against people who don’t agree with the purpose of the group.

In another sense no, because everyone has been created by God, and we should be generous and loving towards each other.

You shouldn’t be unkind to someone simply because you disagree with them or because they experience the world differently. Jesus does this with the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John, when he talks to her and invites her to follow him.