Nigel Farage has been criticised for giving his full support to a Christian church leader who preached that homosexuality was an “abomination” and would lead to eternity in hell.
The Reform UK leader recorded a video with Stephen Clayden after Colchester council applied for a banning order to limit his street preaching.
In the clip posted on his YouTube channel, Farage assured Clayden that he was “fully on your side” in the dispute and offered to enlist the help of contacts at the Free Speech Union campaign group.
Clayden told Farage the council was objecting to the volume and some of the content of his preaching, including his references to hell and judgment. However, he has since acknowledged that the council raised concerns not just about the volume of his preaching but also his church’s warnings against homosexuality.
Footage of Clayden preaching last month, available on social media, shows him saying: “All adulterers, all fornicators, all sodomites, all drunkards, all thieves, all blasphemers, all liars, all mockers. Their home shall be in the lake of fire … we are here telling you what the word of God says.”
In the same session, he told passersby: “They hear about words in the Bible like judgment and sin and repentance. They don’t like hearing the holy words of God … they are offended by what the Bible says when the Bible says homosexuality is an abomination.”
His Bread of Life church also preached at Pride Week events in Essex last year and Clayden told a meeting the Bible described homosexuality as “vile, disgusting and wicked”, “a sin so wicked and detestable it was worthy of death”, and the “filthy conduct of the wicked”.
A Labour party spokesperson criticised Farage for promoting Clayden’s cause, saying: “Time and time again, Nigel Farage finds himself in the company of extreme voices. Farage should have called out these grim homophobic remarks and condemned them. Instead, he is throwing his support behind the individual peddling them, so that he has a bigger platform to spew them some more.
“This is just the latest in a string of examples that show Farage and Reform stand for division and are not on the side of working people.”
Farage did not respond to a request for comment and the video – Farage talks Christianity in Clacton – is still available on his YouTube channel. It shows him discussing the banning order with Clayden and whether Christianity was having a revival.
Asked about his preaching on homosexuality, Clayden said all his quotes came from the Bible and he had mentioned “several types of sin which are all portrayed with the utmost seriousness in scripture”.
Of Farage’s support, he said: “As our local MP here in Clacton-on-Sea, Farage is giving his support to a local church which has been issued with a notice restricting their freedom of speech.
“While Nigel has expressed his belief in Christian values and the biblical roots of the United Kingdom, his personal religious beliefs are irrelevant to his support for us. He should not be coming under criticism for supporting freedom of speech and lawful religious expression for a church within his constituency.”
A spokesperson for Christian Concern, a religious freedom campaign group that is supporting Clayden and Bread of Life, said: “Bread of Life church has been out on the streets of Colchester preaching the Christian gospel for more than six years.
“Only recently have council wardens begun to object, with the community protection notice raising complaints about their amplification – which is not prohibited – and that they mention hell and judgment. It was at the preliminary hearing last week that the council added concerns about what the church says about homosexuality.
“The church mentions hell, directly quoting the Bible, because they do not want people to go there. They mention many different sins, including adultery, drunkenness, lying and stealing – not singling out any single group. They freely offer the gospel, seeking to persuade people to believe in Jesus and find forgiveness.
“These are longheld beliefs of Christians, who should be free to proclaim the Christian message of hope and forgiveness from sin on the streets without interference.”
The spokesperson said the church was grateful for support from people such as Farage and suggested the national interest in the case would help to show the council it was “wrong to try to criminalise Christian ministry”.