The Church of England’s lenient treatment of a controversial vicar has been described as “very disappointing” by the Board of Deputies, after he again breached the terms of an agreement he had made with bishops not to discuss Israel.
Stephen Sizer, who has led the Christ Church congregation in Virginia Water, Surrey, for 20 years, had agreed in 2015 not to write, speak or tweet about the Middle East after sharing a link to a piece which suggested Israel had been behind the 9/11 attacks. He had previously been warned about sharing Holocaust denial and Zionist conspiracy articles.
However, in November 2016 he posted about an event he had gone to in the House of Lords hosted by Baroness Tonge and organised by the Palestinian Return Centre, at which a questioner in the audience appeared to blame Jews for the Holocaust.
On that occasion, despite his breaching the terms of the agreement, Andrew Watson, the Bishop of Guildford, decided to give Dr Sizer a final chance.