Aide Calls Anglican Bishop an A***hole

(UK) A senior staffer for the Archbishop of Canterbury was fired for calling the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester and the most senior Asian Anglican bishop in the Church of England, an a***hole.

Rev. Nazir-Ali has apparently caused much consternation within the Anglican Church hierarchy by his strong, outspoken positions supporting Christianity against radical Islam and opposing gay bishops.

The Bishop of Rochester is one of the ten most powerful positions in the Church of England and Rev Nazir-Ali has often attracted controversy with his outspoken views since his appointment in 1994.

Earlier this year he was given police protection after receiving death threats following a newspaper interview which saw him call for an end to 'no-go' areas for non-Muslims. His detractors said his comments served to whip up racial hatred against Muslims.

In May, the 59-year-old launched an attack on the decline of Christianity, stating that the collapse of the religion had 'destroyed family life' and 'left the country defenceless against the rise of radical Islam in a moral and spiritual vacuum.'

His attack appeared to put him in the opposite corner to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and many of his fellow bishops.

His outspokenness has put him in the vanguard of opposition to hardline Islamism and made him one of the highest-placed enemies of the gay rights movement.

It is his stance against gay bishops that church insiders believe may have prompted the insult.

This episode is another example of the rift within the Anglican Church regarding the leadership's accommodation to homosexuals and appeasement to aggressive Muslims. Many people believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, is taking the church in the wrong direction.