WITCHCRAFT & ANTI-GAY CHURCH WARNINGS

Charity regulator won't step in despite plans for legal ban on conversion therapy | Secular society calls for religion to no longer be grounds for granting status

- MARK MCGIVERN

A CHURCH that carries out “gay exorcisms” and believes in witchcraft is conducting a major expansion in Scotland.

The Forward In Faith Church International Incorporated (FIFCII) has been described as promoting “vicious homophobia and misogyny” by campaigners.

But the church, which is popular in Africa and expanding in Europe, is gaining a foothold in Scotland, with regular meetings across the country and a new headquarters.

Scotland is seeking to legally end so-called conversion therapy, in which an attempt is made to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

But the Daily Record can reveal FIFCII has been given the green light to operate by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), despite its belief that “homosexual spirits” can be removed from gay people.

The church has a huge following in Zimbabwe, where it was formed by “Apostle” Ezekiel Guti in 1960.

Its website speaks of their belief in exorcisms for homosexuality and witchcraft, and the church states that women should provide sex for their husbands whenever they desire it.

Its ministers oversee “miracles”, in which seemingly crippled people get up and walk, and ailments are “cured” at evangelical gatherings.

Philip Austin and his wife, Norah, who live in Edinburgh, have been appointed as “overseers” in Scotland for the church, which wants to set up in Glasgow, Fife, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Premises have been bought in Edinburgh for a Scottish HQ.

Norah studied at the Africa Multination For Christ College in Zimbabwe, where the church was formed. Neither wanted to comment on the expansion plans.

The National Secular Society has raised serious concerns about FIFCII.