Vicar-turned-author Rev G P Taylor says he will desert the "sinking ship" Church of England, which he said was the "spiritual arm of New Labour", for Roman Catholicism.The Rev Taylor, whose children's book Shadowmancer became an international best-seller, said he was turning instead to the Roman Catholic church, which he believes is less afraid to stand up for important moral issues.
Writing in the Yorkshire Post, he said the Church of England had ''sunk into a liberal pit that was no earthly use and offered no hope, no love and no grace''.
He added: ''It was going through the motions of faith and was largely irrelevant to the people it once thought it served.
''Like so many other Anglicans, I am at that place where I feel I must desert a sinking ship.''
Rev Taylor said: ''The Church I once loved has become the spiritual arm of New Labour.''
The author said many bishops ''spend more time preaching about climate change or dressing up as Druidic bards than preaching a gospel of salvation that would cure the ills of society overnight if properly embraced''.
Taylor said he was drawn to Catholic worship and said its leadership was not afraid to stand up for their moral belief in the face of an often ridiculing secular press.
The writer criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams for his attempts to ''paper over the cracks'' of Anglicanism.
He said Dr Williams should allow the church to become disestablished and split into traditional and liberal wings.
Whitby-based Rev Taylor was the vicar of Cloughton, North Yorkshire, when he took up writing fantasy novels.
Before this he had a career in the music industry.
He has said he decided to write Shadowmancer, which was first published in 2002, as a response to the rise of secular children's fantasy writing and TV programmes like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which he believed was pushing youngsters towards the occult.
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