The dressing gown-clad Bishop who told a choir to stop their ‘terrible racket’ was the vicar at a historic church when it held a ‘blasphemous’ fashion show featuring satanic images.
Models wearing devil horns and displaying upside-down crosses paraded down the aisle-turned-catwalk of St Andrew Holborn church for a London Fashion Week event in 2017.
A former Bishop said at the time that the ‘satanic’ aspect of the show was ‘not acceptable’, adding: ‘Christ’s name is being dishonoured, it is blasphemous.’
And theologian Dr Adrian Hilton wrote of the event: ‘How is it possible that a sacred space can be used for what can only be described as Lucifer lauding? How does hosting a Satanic Fashion Show glorify God?’
The show was highlighting the work of controversial Turkish designer Dilara Findikoglu, whose creations have been worn by celebrities including singer Rihanna.
Leading clerics branded the event at St Andrew Holborn Church as ‘blasphemous’ after models dressed as devils and vampires sashayed in front of the altar
In a statement at the time, the church said: ‘We took this booking in good faith and were not aware of the content or design before the show took place’
Models wearing devil horns and displaying upside-down crosses paraded down the aisle-turned-catwalk of St Andrew Holborn church for a London Fashion Week event in 2017
Bishop of Fulham Jonathan Baker, who was the vicar of the 1,000-year-old church at the time, didn’t comment on the fashion show and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing. But the church was forced to admit it had made a ‘mistake’ in allowing the show which did ‘not reflect the Christian faith of the Church’.
Bishop Jonathan, who is still the vicar at St Andrew, once again found himself at the centre of controversy last weekend after he told a choir to stop their ‘terrible racket’ and get out of his house.
The City Academy Voices choir was coming to the end of their performance at St Andrew on Friday night when the barefooted Bishop took to the stage and grabbed a microphone to tell bemused performers and a 300-strong audience to leave.
Social media footage of the altercation – which has been viewed more than 500,000 times – shows Bishop Jonathan telling the choir: ‘You are in my house. It’s gone past 10pm and this is a terrible racket.’
‘Goodnight. You are in my house – can you leave it now please. Thank you, it’s over.’
A barefooted Jonathan Baker, the Bishop of Fulham, took to the stage and grabbed a microphone to tell bemused performers and a 300-strong audience to leave
Social media footage of the altercation, which has been viewed almost 400,000 times, shows Bishop Jonathan telling the crowd: ‘You are in my house. It’s gone past 10pm and this is a terrible racket’
The church was founded 1,000 years ago and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Its current vicar is the Bishop of Fulham, Jonathan Baker
A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and the musicians to depart the stage because ‘this is a residential home’, attracting boos and jeers from the audience.
Before leaving the choir performed one final song – an a cappella version of ABBA’s Dancing Queen – to cheers and applause from the crowd.
The choir was performing a special summer concert last Friday and had booked the venue, which is available to hire, having used it previously with no issue.
The performing arts academy which runs the choir said the venue had been booked until 11pm – almost a full hour after the concert was interrupted – and that it had ‘received a full apology which we have accepted’.
Meanwhile a member of the choir said that Bishop Jonathan had been ‘hovering’ and ‘glowering’ in the wings for half an hour before asking the choir and crowd to leave as he ‘obviously just didn’t like us being in “his house”’.
The choir member added: ‘He was hovering – glowering – in his dressing gown in the doorway from 9:30… he didn’t seem terribly rational.’
Benedict Collins, who was attending the concert with his 10-year-old daughter and has been to all of the choir’s previous performances at the church, said that concertgoers who paid £20 for a ticket had not received an explanation or apology.
He told the Mail: ‘It’s ridiculous, they’re happy to take the money, they don’t give this place up for free. It’s a commercial venue and they rent it out as a commercial agreement.
‘It seems like the only person affected is the Bishop and he chooses to rent the thing out doesn’t he. It’s all rather ridiculous.
‘His complaint was that this was a residential site, well it’s the site of his residence and he chooses to rent it out as a concert venue.’
Mr Collins added: ‘But I don’t think anyone is bitterly upset, either in the choir or in the audience. We’ll talk about it for the next ten years.
‘And If this Bishop was having a bad day then I’m sorry for him and I really hope it blows over quickly.’
Before he became the Bishop of Fulham, the Right Revd Jonathan Baker was previously made Bishop of Ebbsfleet by former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams despite being a Freemason.
This marked a significant U-turn by Dr Williams who had previously said that Freemasonry was ‘incompatible’ with Christianity and had refused to promote Masons to senior posts.
Rising to the rank of Deputy Grand Chaplain, after initially refusing to leave the Masons Bishop Jonathan changed his mind and in 2011 said he would leave so he could concentrate on being a bishop.
The Bishop of Fulham declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail at the St Andrew vicarage and the diocese of London did not respond to a request for comment.
At the weekend a diocese spokesman said: ‘Bishop Jonathan reached out to the organisers on Saturday to apologise for his late-night appearance at the concert, which he now understands had overrun due to earlier technical difficulties.’
