AN ANGLICAN priest has vowed to stop teaching religious education lessons run by the Christian Access Ministries group because it is a ''conflict of interest'' and the classes are being forced upon schools.

Father Craig D'Alton, who taught the controversial special religious instruction last year at North Melbourne Primary School, said he felt he was in the classroom under false pretences.

Father Craig D'Alton says teaching religious education lessons run by Christian Access Ministries is a "confllict of interest".

Religious education teachers are banned from proselytising in schools, but Father D'Alton said those who held a church office were obliged by their vows to be evangelists.

''There is a conflict of interest. In a real sense we are there under false pretences, and it's time we admit it … I was climbing into the sheepfold over the fence rather than walking through the gate,'' he said.