A Christian man who faced charges for praying outside an abortion clinic has criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury over his position on buffer zones.
Christian Hacking, 29, was arrested while praying in front of a Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Ealing, west London, in contravention of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).
He had been due to appear before Uxbridge Magistrates Court on November 5 but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
Mr Hacking expressed disappointment over comments made by Archbishop Justin Welby during an interview on LBC radio last month in which he voiced support for abortion clinic buffer zones.
Asked by a listener whether he supported the imposition of the buffer zones, the Archbishop said: "Yes, I do, because people going to [an] abortion clinic ... whatever you think of abortion, they're human beings."
He continued: "You could say they're doing the wrong thing, you could say they're doing the right thing, you can say it's their right, you can say that the baby has rights ..."
He went on to say that "the Church of England has a very clear view" on abortion, before adding that it was a question of: "Do we love the people who are going there, treat them as human beings, value and respect them?"
Responding to his comments, Hacking, an Anglican, told ChurchMilitant.com that the Archbishop's position amounted to "inadvertently approving of his arrest and eight-hour imprisonment for upholding biblical commands" he believed would be supported by his Church leadership.
"Justin hasn't betrayed me personally; rather, and far more seriously, he has betrayed the 7,000 unborn babies that were brutally poisoned, ripped apart and ejected in Ealing last year," he told the website.
Hacking, who was defended by the Christian Legal Centre, criticised the Church of England for failing to support him.
"Whatever the 'clear' statement of the Church of England is, it clearly isn't clear enough to end this horrendous violence, nor come to the aid of a broken brother trying his best to wake him up to these human abattoirs," he said.
"If Welby carries on at this rate, he could be formally employed by Marie Stopes."
