Tesco has moved to distance itself from comments made by one of its executives after he branded Christians who oppose the redefinition of marriage as “evil”.
Last week The Christian Institute revealed that Nick Lansley, Head of Research and Development at Tesco.com, had said that Christians are “evil” if they seek to protect traditional marriage.
The “evil Christians” comment, which has now been removed, appeared on Mr Lansley’s profile page on a photo-sharing website, where he listed his employment as “Head of R&D at Tesco.com”.
Campaigning
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.”
In response Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute, 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.”
Abhors
Now Tesco has moved to distance itself from Mr Lansley’s controversial comments, and insisted that it abhors criticism of religion.
A spokesman for the retailer said: “Mr Lansley’s comments, made in a personal capacity in 2008, in no way reflect the views of Tesco.
“Our values as a company are such that we abhor criticism of any religion, and we knew nothing about Mr Lansley’s comments until they were brought to our attention.
“We are very sorry that anyone might have thought that there was any blurring of the boundary between his personal comments and his work for Tesco. We have therefore asked him to remove the comments, and he has done so.”
Degrading
The Institute also revealed that Tesco is selling a drink degradingly called “P***y Natural Energy”, in a limited edition can exclusive to the supermarket giant.
Tesco has previously faced criticism for dumping its support for the Cancer Research ‘Race for Life’ and sponsoring London’s homosexual pride festival.