Elham Asaad Buaras

A Christian church leader from Birmingham has been slammed after calling Islam a “religion of hatred’ on August 19.

During his Sunday sermon, evangelical Pastor Steve Crosthwaite branded ‘highly offensive’ by a local minister, said: “Islam is not a peaceful religion. Islam is a religion of hatred.

“Islam teaches there are permissible sins. For a Muslim to tell you ‘I love you, I’m a peaceful guy’ and it be a lie, well, Allah forgives that sin. For a Muslim to go out and kill someone, to commit murder in the name of Allah, well, that’s a permissible sin.

“Islam is not a peaceful religion, but we’re not allowed to say that are we? In our multicultural society we’re not allowed to say things like that.”

The sermon by the cleric, who has been at the Simms Lane life centre for a year has been dubbed “disgusting and selfish” by the Rev Anthony Howe, minister of the nearby Unitarian Church.

He said: “To say that Muslims are liars and that Islam is completely based on hatred is a highly insensitive and offensive thing to say. At a time when people of different religions should be working together for peace it is sad to hear of such outrageous comments being made.”

Crosthwaite apologised for his comments insisting, “It was a throwaway comment. I’m sorry for that. I’ve generalised in a way that I should not have done.”

He added he had many Muslim friends who are “fine, upstanding and caring” members of the community. “The comments I made were to the congregation of my church. They appear very different when taken out of that context.”