DUBLIN, Ireland - A Protestant minister who said he does not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ was formally accused of heresy by the Anglican church in Ireland on Monday.
Rev. Andrew Furlong was suspended from his duties in December after saying Christ was neither a savior nor divine.
In an article posted on his personal Web site last year, Furlong wrote that Jesus "was neither a mediator nor a savior, neither superhuman nor divine; we need to leave him to his place in history and move on."
He also called Jesus a "mistaken and misguided" prophet.
Furlong, the rector of Trim, a parish northwest of Dublin, has refused an invitation to resign from Richard Clarke, the Anglican Bishop of Meath and Kildare.
A panel of bishops and lay judges at the Church of Ireland Court of the General Synod — the church's supreme court — must decide whether Furlong is guilty of heresy. The church said the Court of the General Synod had met only twice on matters of doctrine, both more than a century ago.
The hearing was adjourned after Furlong's lawyer requested more time to prepare his case and will resume on May 10. If the court rules against Furlong, it has the authority to suspend, fire or defrock him.
An Anglican church, the Church of Ireland, says it has 350,000 members in northern and southern Ireland.