The Anglican Catholic Church defrocked British priest Calvin Robinson after he made a gesture at the National Pro-Life Summit that critics likened to a Nazi salute.
The church accused him of “trolling” abortion-rights supporters and said he had been warned that such behavior was unbecoming of a priest.
Mr. Robinson, who moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, last year to lead St. Paul’s Anglican Catholic Church, defended himself, saying his gesture was a satirical jab at the media’s outrage over Elon Musk’s recent salute.
At the summit, Mr. Robinson thumped his chest, extended his arm and gave the crowd a knowing look — an echo of Mr Musk’s controversial motion at President Trump’s inauguration festivities at the District’s Capital One Arena.
The online response was swift, with many drawing a direct line between the two salutes and branding both as Nazi-like. The Anglican Catholic Church was not swayed by Mr. Robinson’s explanation, revoking his clerical license and condemning all forms of antisemitism and political provocation.
Mr. Robinson, a firebrand known for railing against feminism, Black Lives Matter and liberal “corruption” in the Church of England, was unrepentant.
He said he learned of his dismissal through social media and expressed concern for his parishioners, promising to continue ministering to them despite his defrocking.
Meanwhile, the editorial staff of “God is a Geek,” a gaming website Mr. Robinson owns, resigned en masse, severing ties with him.
Students for Life of America, which hosted the summit, didn’t comment to media on his dismissal but waved away accusations of Nazi sympathies as left-wing hysteria.
After being blocked from ordination in the Church of England for his outspoken views, Mr. Robinson joined the Free Church of England, then the Nordic Catholic Church, before landing in the Anglican Catholic Church.
A year ago, he was ejected from an Anglican conference after calling women’s ordination a “Trojan horse” for Marxist ideology.
• Emma Ayers can be reached at eayers@washingtontimes.com.