Father Rod Bower says his church was probably targeted over support for refugees and inclusive stance towards Muslims

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The rector of Gosford Anglican church has said a group of far right activists who marched into a service carrying a whip and a toy sword would be charged with terrorism if they were Muslim.

Father Rod Bower, who was leading the Saturday evening mass, said the church was probably targeted over its vocal support for refugees and its inclusive stance towards Muslims.

“The first thing I saw was the guy with the loudhailer had a whip and the guy beside him had a sword. Turned out later it was a toy sword, but I didn’t know that,” Bower said. “It was an incredibly frightening experience for the congregation.”

He said the group was asked to leave and to stop filming but stayed for several minutes until they had finished speaking through the loudhailer. They later posted photos and videos of the incident on social media.

“When they were finished having their say they left and the police met them at the bottom of the driveway,” Bower said.

Police are investigating the incident and said no charges had yet been laid.

Far-right protesters interrupt Anglican service clothed in mock Islamic dress Read more

“Police were called to a church on Mann Street, Gosford, after reports an unknown group of people had entered the church and were disrupting a service,” a NSW police statement said.

“Members of the congregation spoke to the group, who left the church. Police arrived and spoke with a number of people.”

Bower said he did not know anyone in the group but later saw the video on Facebook and realised they were from Melbourne.

Fr Rod Bower (@FrBower) Christianist #Terrorists traumatized our 6pm congregation last night through violence and intimidation. What have we become? #Auspol @abcsydney pic.twitter.com/C9TjFZbhwf

“It’s up to the police to determine whether a crime has been committed – I know it doesn’t meet the criteria of terrorism, but that’s exactly what it is,” Bower said. “If these people had been Muslims who had walked into a church service with a sword, even a fake sword, it’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t have been charged with terrorism.

“These people are to Christianity what Isis is to Islam. This attack shows how far we have gone down the road of rightwing extremism; such an attack on a church could not have been imagined only a few years ago.”

The group responded on Facebook to media coverage of the incident on Monday. “Apparently protesting with a megaphone is now classed as ‘Terrorism’, according to Rod Bower,” the post said, adding that this was “total nonsense”.

Bower spoke about the incident in his sermon on Sunday morning.

Fr Rod Bower (@FrBower) The #Holocaust is what happens when #Christians give into #nationalism . Full reflection here: https://t.co/eV8h0LntFN #Auspol pic.twitter.com/INgzuRkC4y

“If you look at his video, he’s dressed as Jesus, he’s out there waving a Bible and claiming some sort of Christian authority and of course he is the antithesis of the gospel message,” he said.

“We stand for a community that’s inclusive, we build bridges and not walls and we try and include the Muslim community and the wider community and of course that’s no good to them because that takes away all their power. And that’s why they targeted us.”

Bower said the church was conducting a security review – its second in two years after a similar confrontation with a different group in August 2016.

