The man who says we are all going to hell

Nearly 58 million Britons, or roughly 95 per cent of the population, are heading for eternal damnation in the fiery pits of hell, according to the alarming judgement of one of the nation's leading evangelical Christians.

The fire-and-brimstone warning has turned the Rev Richard Turnbull, principal of Wycliffe Hall, the evangelical school of theology within Oxford University, into an overnight internet star. The Thinking Anglicans website that featured a video of his speech to an audience of fellow evangelical Christians had so many hits yesterday that it crashed for most of the day.

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Dr Turnbull said on the video: "We are committed to bringing the gospel message of Jesus Christ to those who don't know. In this land that's 95 per cent of the people: 95 per cent of people facing hell unless the message of the gospel is brought to them."

He also talked to the "strategic importance" of making sure the senior posts in theological college were held by conservative evangelicals. "Capture the theological colleges, and you have captured the influence that is brought to bear," he said.

His comments are an embarrassment to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who is already under fire from liberal Christians for his decision this week not to invite Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, to next year's Lambeth Conference, although every other North American Anglican bishop has been invited.

Dr Williams is fighting to prevent the Church of England from falling apart, but Dr Turnbull's words are ammunition for liberal Christians who argue that there is no point in staying in the same religious community as the evangelical right.

Dr Turnbull told The Independent yesterday that he could not remember whether he had used the words attributed to him, and had not been able to access the website to check, but he added: "I'm not denying it."

He did, however, say one thing that may come as a relief to the General Synod.

His words had been interpreted as meaning that Christians who were prepared to take Communion from women or gay priests were on the road to hell. In fact parishioners of priests such as Bishop Robinson or the fictional Vicar of Dibley were not meant to be included in that 95 per cent who face damnation.

Dr Turnbull was thinking only of the atheists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, people who are too lazy to get up on Sunday morning, and anyone who fails to make it to a regular church service.

He told The Independent: "Why 95 per cent, you ask. All that means is actually in church, on a Sunday morning, you have roughly got 5 per cent of the population. I want the good news of the Gospel to be brought to the other 95 per cent. It's got nothing to do with people's style of church."

He added: "It was nine months ago when I was giving a five-minute welcoming message, which no one has shown any interest until now. I haven't got a record of my remarks, and have not been able to access the site, so I don't want to be drawn into any further discussion of what I said. Some of what has been reported has been erroneous, in fact and context."

Dr Turnbull made his comments in October, at the annual conference of Reform, a conservative evangelical pressure group. The fact that they have appeared on the internet now may be linked to an investigation into complaints about his management of Wycliffe Hall, where it has been suggested that he has been driving out academic staff who do not subscribe to his brand of Christianity. An anonymous document accused Dr Turnbull of making the college "increasingly hostile to women priests and openly homophobic".

Six full- or part-time academic staff have resigned since Dr Turnbull took over as principal in 2005. Among those who left was the director of studies, Dr Philip Johnson, who accused Dr Turnbull of overriding the views of colleagues and students in his choice of vice-principal. The man whom Dr Turnbull selected as his deputy, the Rev Simon Vibert, was co-author of the paper "The Ministry of Women in the Church Today", which argued that women should not teach men.

The complaints were investigated by the College Council, headed by the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, who said last week that Dr Turnbull had the council's unanimous backing, although he acknowledged that there had been "unsettling" changes at the college.

Dr Turnbull is also chairman of the Church of England Evangelical Council, which has led the opposition to the ordination of openly gay clergy in the UK. The group says that Christians in same-sex relationships should repent and give up sexual contact with one another. He was one of the most prominent signatories of the "Covenant for the Church of England", presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury in December, which read like a declaration of war on liberal clerics. The document warned: "The Church of England is increasingly polarised into two churches: the one submitting to God's revelation, Gospel-focused, Christ-centred, cross-shaped and Spirit-empowered; the other holding a progressive view of revelation, giving priority to human reason over Scripture, shaped primarily by Western secular culture, and focused on church structures."

It encouraged Christians in parishes where the vicar had liberal views on issues such as sex and marriage, or who appeared not to believe in the "uniqueness of Christ" to break away and form their own congregations, and offered to supply suitable ministers.

The comments now featured on the internet are likely to have less impact on the sinners Dr Turnbull wants to save than on fellow Christians, for whom it is another episode in the unending conflict within the Church of England. One blogger on a liberal Christian website jokily suggested that Dr Turnbull was himself a secret liberal, who has infiltrated the evangelical movement to discredit it from within. Another pleaded with fellow Christians: "Pray your socks off for Dr Turnbull and Wycliffe Hall."