Bishop not sorry over abuse comments

The Bishop of Stafford today defended comments he made which compared climate change denial with child sex abuse.

A spokesman for the Rt Rev Gordon Mursell said he was standing by his letter to parishioners in which he made loose comparisons between Austrian father Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years, and what he described as a "refusal to face the truth" about climate change.

Since the contents of the letter were revealed, the bishop has faced criticism from a charity for child sex abuse victims, which said his comments could be "outrageous and offensive" to some people.

However, Gavin Drake, director of communications for the Diocese of Lichfield, said the bishop was making no apologies for his views.

But he said the full transcript of the letter, which was published in parish magazines throughout the diocese, showed that the Rt Rev Mursell was not making direct links between the two issues.

Mr Drake said: "There's no retraction of the bishop's comments at all. One thing the bishop has said is that he regrets if the words used to communicate the message are being misunderstood – that would defeat the object of what he wanted to say.

"Yes, at first glance, this does appear controversial but if people actually look at what he's saying, he's saying the actions are not the same but the motives are the same. The underlying cause behind a lot of these problems is this selfish nature – it is that sort of mindset that was being discussed."

Mr Drake added that climate change is an issue of concern throughout the Church of England and said that while the Rt Rev Mursell had written about environmental issues in the newsletter before, it had attracted little interest from the media. He said that although the bishop was not deliberately courting controversy, the publicity over his remarks had served to stimulate debate and attract attention to the issues he was discussing.