Christian priest slams anti-gay archbishop on Facebook
Reverend Marcus Ranshaw took to Facebook to call the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby a ‘wanker’ for his anti-gay views
Reverend Marcus Ranshaw took to Facebook this week calling Justin Welby, the notoriously anti-gay Archbishop of Canterbury, a ‘wanker’ for saying gay marriage would devastate the institution. Welby was speaking during the two-day House of Lords debate where politicians and religious officials argued for or against gay marriage in the UK.
Though Welby admitted the Anglican Church has not served the LGBT community as well as it should, he said he could still not back the same-sex marriage bill.
After 48 hours of debate in the House of Lords, the marriage equality bill for England and Wales passed with a landslide vote.
After Welby’s anti-gay speech at the House of Lords debate this week, Ranshaw took to Facebook to say: ‘What really upsets me is nasty people such as Justin Welby robbing me of my faith in the church, he does not speak in my name and I think he is a wanker, but I’m not going to stop being a Christian or a priest.
Reverend Arun Arora, the Church of England’s communications director, allegedly sent a private message to Ranshaw for him to delete the post.
Ranshaw’s post has since been taken down, and replaced with an apology that Welby’s homophobic views have split the Anglican Church.
Ranshaw wrote: ‘I am sorry that the Archbishop of Canterbury has expressed such a nasty, ill-judged opinion on homosexual relations and he has divided the Anglican church into bitterness and anger.
‘His comments in the House of Lords were very harsh, in my fury at reading them I made a private friends Facebook post calling him a wanker, which I have now deleted and withdrawn at the behest of his director of communications, despite several other clergy liking that Facebook post.
‘I accept that that term was wrong and for that I am sorry, but I hope he knows how much hurt he is doing to faithful, loyal Christians who love the Lord Jesus Christ.’
Reverend Arora continued to criticize Ramshaw’s choice of words saying: ‘Calling another Christian a wanker doesn't work for me as a priestly response.
‘I think any right-minded person would find a priest calling his archbishop an onanist to be utterly outrageous.’
Speaking with British newspaper The Independent, Ramshaw defended his statement: ‘Why should I be so taken to task about this?
‘I have made a complaint to Facebook and reported him for threatening behaviour. I intend to make a complaint to Church House...this is not a way to treat any Christian...it is bullying, it's nasty and it's horrible and I will construct a complaint on that basis.’
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