UPDATE: Deselected Christian candidate sues LibDems for religious discrimination.

David Campanale, who was deselected as a candidate because of his Christian worldview, is now suing the party for discriminating against him because of his protected religious beliefs. In their defence, the LibDems have reinforced the claim that some Christian beliefs are incompatible with the party's current values.
As reported by OIDAC, in May 2024 more than 400 members of the Liberal Democrat Party lodged a complaint with the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission after one of its members, David Campanale, was deselected as a prospective parliamentary candidate for Sutton and Cheam because of his Christian beliefs.
The complaint included allegations that the party tolerated a hostile environment for people of faith, in a clear example of religious discrimination. Campanale claimed that Luke Taylor, the local councillor alleged to have spearheaded the campaign against Campanale, told him that his Christian beliefs were incompatible with the party's principles, despite the fact that two of the party's most important historic figures (Charles Kennedy and Baroness Shirley William) were religious and held socially conservative views.
The party has now accepted this claim, and in its defence document reaffirmed that the party of Williams and Kennedy is “over” and reafirming that holding conservative Christian beliefs is incompatible with representing the party. According to the Telegraph, the defence file claimed that Campanale's “expressed religious beliefs against abortion, gay marriage and legal sex change conflicted with the fundamental values set out” in the party’s governing document.
In an interview with the Telegraph, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said: “The Liberal Democrat Party’s response to Campanale’s legal challenge has been to say that reservations about - for example - abortion or same-sex marriage are in conflict with ‘fundamental values’ held by the party.” He also pointed out that if it is indeed impossible “even to hold dissenting views, this ought to make it impossible for Orthodox Jews and most Muslims as well as Catholic and other Christians to represent the party.” According to Williams, this is a worrying development, especially as Campanale's deselection was based on his personal beliefs: “It is not enough to preserve one’s private conscientious judgement, it seems; total agreement in private and in public is demanded.”
More than 20,000 people have signed a petition calling for David Campanale's reinstatement. The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev Andrew Watson, one of the signatories, said he was "concerned that we don't inadvertently drift into a society which discriminates against very able and compassionate people on the basis of their sincerely-held Christian convictions".
Campanale is now suing the party under the Equality Act. His claim states that 'the steps taken to deselect him were motivated primarily by animosity from local party members to his protected beliefs". One of the most striking episodes of discrimination occurred when Campanale was "interrogated" by about 30 party members and "mocked and abused in relation to his beliefs".
This is not the first time the Liberal Democrats have faced such allegations. In 2019, Rob Flello, a Roman Catholic, was deselected as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Stoke-on-Trent South on similar grounds. Just a few days ago, the Liberal Democrats were ordered by a court to pay £14,000 to a former parliamentary candidate (Natalie Bird) who was expelled from the party and barred from standing as an MP because of her gender-critical views.
Source: independent.co.uk, churchtimes.co.uk, The Telegraph, bbc.com