Churchgoers who misuse the Bible will have their comments deleted from posts on the official Church of England Facebook page, the Archbishop has said.

The Church of England is launching a new set of "social media commandments" this week, to ensure followers of the religion act in an appropriate way online.

Speaking at a live Q&A session at Facebook's UK headquarters in central London, the Most Rev Justin Welby said: "We are offering them as guidelines and within our own social media platforms, they will be enforced, there will be moderation which ensures that people don't lie, act with cruelty or use religious jargon in a way that ontologically results in an epistemological confusion.

"So people know what's being said and by whom and that they understand what it means to say something."

He also said that anyone caught lying will have their posts removed, adding: "When you put something out on social media, put the truth out.

"Frankly there is no such thing as an alternative fact. There is truth. There is absolute truth. There is opinion and there is truth.

"When you are expressing an opinion, show kindness. Don't go for the person rather than for the issue."