Comedian Paul Cox has branded Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby an “influencer” in a scathing rant on GB News.
Welby waded in on the unrest across Britain, warning Christians against associating themselves with any far-right group.
Cox told the Headliners panel he feels Welby needs to focus on the Church of England rather than wade in on cultural issues, as he has done before several times.
“Do you know a headline I have never seen? ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury concentrates on managing the Church’”, he said.
Paul Cox has criticised Justin Welby
PA / GB NEWS
“He’s just an opinionated man who is a bit of an influencer. Some may say he needs to be defamiliarised with what the Christians did in the Crusades.
“He seems to be slightly worried at the moment that some of this imagery is a negative on the Church.
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Justin Welby often wades in on political affairs
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“He seems to forget that the faith that he supports has a very violent past. I am sure he wouldn’t be up for that either.”
Speaking out on the unrest that has played the country, Welby said in an article for the Guardian newspaper those participating are “racist”, and “anti-muslim, anti-refugee”.
The archbishop’s article centred on imploring Christians to distance themselves from the far-right, writing: “Let me say clearly now to Christians that they should not be associated with any far-right group – because those groups are unchristian.”
He added that Christian iconography had been “exploited” by the far-right and served as “an offence to our faith”.
Justin Welby’s comments were discussed on Headliners
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Speaking directly to Muslims and other faiths, Welby said: “We denounce people misusing such imagery as fundamentally anti-Christian.”
Welby said the riots were “detonated by lies and fuelled by deliberate misinformation, spread quickly online by bad actors with malignant motivations.”
He went on: “The lies and misinformation flourished in fertile ground cultivated by years of rhetoric from some of our press and politicians, arriving at a point where some felt emboldened to try to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers and target mosques.”
The archbishop also rejected the description of the riots as “protests” and said they were “criminal” and “must be controlled”.
Rioters attacked police, mosques, shops and a hotel housing asylum seekers after incorrect rumours spread regarding the identity of the suspect in a crazed knife attack in Southport that saw the deaths of three girls.