Christians are “evil” if they resist the redefinition of marriage to allow for same-sex marriage, the Head of Research and Development at Tesco.com has said.
The inflammatory comment came as news emerged that the supermarket giant is selling a drink degradingly called “P***y Natural Energy”, in a limited edition can exclusive to Tesco.
The company has already faced criticism for dumping its support for the Cancer Research ‘Race for Life’ and sponsoring London’s gay pride festival.
Evil
If you won’t be shopping at Tesco this Christmas, tell them so on their Facebook page: facebook.com/tesco or email CEO Philip Clarke: philip.clarke@uk.tesco.com
The “evil Christians” comment was made by Nick Lansley, Head of Research and Development for the Tesco website.
He wrote: “I’m also campaigning against evil Christians (that’s not all Christians, just bad ones) who think that gay people should not lead happy lives and get married to their same-sex partners.”
The comments appeared on Mr Lansley’s profile page on the photo-sharing website, Flickr.com, where he lists his employment as “Head of R&D at Tesco.com”. But following complaints to Tesco the remarks have now been removed.
Offensive
Earlier this year, a Christian housing manager from Manchester was demoted and had his salary slashed by 40 per cent for posting a moderate comment on Facebook, saying churches shouldn’t be forced to host homosexual civil partnerships if they don’t want to.
According to the Tesco website, the offensively named drink “is a 100% natural light and refreshing Lychee & Grenadilla flavoured energy drink that contains no taurine, preservatives or synthetic caffeine.”
It adds that the drink: “is supporting Cancer Research UK with a limited edition can exclusive to Tesco with five pence from each sale going back to the charity for its life saving research.”
Judgment
Director of The Christian Institute, Colin Hart, said: “I won’t be shopping at Tesco this Christmas, and I am repeatedly hearing from other Christians who have already come to the same conclusion.
“Mr Lansley is entitled to his opinions, and Christians are entitled to choose not to shop at Tesco.
“The decision by Tesco to sell an offensively named drink shows very poor judgment, even if 5p from every can goes to Cancer Research. Come on, Tesco, you are meant to be a family-friendly store. Start acting like it.”