A MAN who was abused by a paedophile bishop has slammed the Church of England’s “totally hypocritical” rulings on gay sex.

Church of England bishops have released fresh guidance to clergy stating that sex only belongs in heterosexual marriage and sex in civil partnerships “falls short of God’s purpose for human beings”.

The pastoral guidance says gay or straight civil partnerships should be “sexually abstinent friendships”.

But Cliff James, who was sexually, physically and mentally abused by the bishop of Lewes Peter Ball as a child, has branded the Church’s stance “medieval” and “hypocritical”.

Mr James spent a year living in near-isolation with the bishop in 1991.

He was sexually assaulted by Ball, who groomed and abused teenagers and young men enrolled on a church camp in Litlington, near Alfriston.

Speaking about the Church’s new guidelines, Mr James said: “They’re so ridiculous. This is such a backwards step.

“Over the years the Church has struggled with accepting human nature in various spheres and this just demonstrates how far removed the Church is from how people live and love.

“And it’s totally hypocritical. I’ve had several partners who were male priests.

“I can’t fathom why they’ve done it. I turned my back on the Church and I try not to keep up with these machinations and political manoeuvrings.

“But they must be attempting to appeal to a pretty small group. There are a dwindling number of people who believe this kind of thing. It’s a Bronze Age mentality and it’s so backward looking.

“These comments have got nothing to do with love and they just show how irrelevant the Church of England is to modern society – and why it should be disestablished. It’s medieval.”

The Church has defended the comments. The statement says: “For Christians, marriage – that is, the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows – remains the proper context for sexual activity.”

The Church of England does not permit same-sex marriage, and the pastoral guidance rules clergy “should not provide services of blessing for those who register a civil partnership”. The statement concludes: “The Church’s teaching on sexual ethics remains unchanged.”

But the comments have met with a backlash from LGBT campaigners.

Robert Anthony, founder of the community support group LGBT Brighton and Hove Network, said: “The people our network represents are upset and angry by what the Church has said.

“I think this statement is absolutely appalling and I would counter it with my concerns about sex abuse within the Church of England. I feel they are distracting from the real issues at the moment.

“The comments encourage people to be more aggressive towards gay people, which is extremely dangerous considering the high levels of hate crime right now. It’s just not acceptable.”