Ernie chops up collar in support of Archbishop

A MINISTER cut up his dog collar in front of surprised parishioners as he pledged to support the Archbishop of York's public stand against Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.

Revd Ernie Guest of St Laurence's Church, Barkingside, cut up his collar at a service on
Sunday, December 16, in a show of solidarity with Archbishop John Sentamu.

Dr Sentamu's protest came during a live appearance on BBC's Andrew Marr show, and coincided with Mugabe's controversial attendance at the EU-Africa summit in Portugal.

After removing his collar, he produced a pair of scissors and cut it up, before vowing not to wear it again until President Mugabe had left power in Zimbabwe, where inflation has soared to more than 8,000 per cent and there is 80 per cent unemployment.

The Ugandan-born archbishop, who as a young man stood up to Idi Amin's tyrannical rule, told Andrew Marr: "You know that identities are destroyed. As an Anglican, this is what I wear to identify myself as a clergyman.

Do you know what Mugabe has done? He has taken people's identity and literally - if you don't
mind - cut it to pieces. As far as I am concerned, from now on I am not going to wear a dog collar
until Mugabe is gone."

Ernie said: "I was so taken aback by the Archbishops dramatic gesture that on the following Sunday morning I decided to stand alongside the Archbishops and the people of Zimbabwe by cutting up my own dog collar during our service

"And making the same vow, that I will not wear it again until Mugabe has gone."

He added that although some of his congregation had been shocked by his gesture, it had received a spontaneous round of applause. He said that until democracy and good governance returned to the strife-torn country, the spiral of poverty, brutality and economic chaos would continue.

He said: "Politics and religion had been closely linked for years and years and years, so we
should make statements and we should be able to try to influence people."

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