The Charity Commission has opened a compliance case into a church charity after concerns were raised about public comments made by its preacher, who also serves as a trustee.
Its intervention came after the National Secular Society (NSS) contacted the commission over comments Bread of Life Community Church preacher Stephen Clayden made including that Muslims want to take over the country.
In one video, highlighted by the NSS, Clayden said that a woman’s love for a man was one of submission, and that the feminist movement aimed to “emasculate man” and was “the work of the devil”.
After initially assessing concerns at the charity, the commission has now formally intervened.
“The commission has clear expectations that all charities, regardless of their purpose, must operate for the public benefit and within the law,” a spokesperson said.
“Concerns have been raised with us about alleged sermons linked to Bread of Life Community Church and we have opened a regulatory compliance case to continue assessing these to determine any next steps.”
Clayden has defended his comments and previously told Civil Society that he was confident that the commission would uphold his organisation’s right to “teach”.
“We wholeheartedly reject the accusation that our views and statements are anti-Muslim, homophobic, and misogynistic,” he said.
“All of the statements I have been quoted on are statements which come straight from the Holy Bible.”
Meanwhile, Reform UK leader and Clacton MP Farage voiced support for Clayden last month after Colchester council issued a community protection notice to the charity over “behaviour which caused alarm and distress” to the public.
The Bread of Life Community Church’s lawyers claimed in an appeal hearing at Colchester Magistrates Court on 1 May that the banning order was “the first attempted by a local authority to control the speech of a group”.
Further appeal hearings are due to be heard at Southend Magistrates’ Court on 22 October and at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on 29 October, BBC News reported.
