Only recently, the author had made it public, by posting on Instagram that he and his wife Shannon Bonne had decided to separate after 21 years of marriage.

In his latest revelatory Instagram post, Joshua said: “I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus.”

“The popular phrase for this is ‘deconstruction,’ the biblical phrase is ‘falling away.’ By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.”

Harris added that he is open to “a different way to practice faith,” but is “not there now.”

Harris also apologised in his post for “self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the Church, and my approach to parenting.”

These he has apologised for before, but he announced he had another regret.

Joshua wrote: “I specifically want to add to this list now: to the LBGTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality.

“I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry.”

Harris said: “This week I’ve received grace from Christians, atheists, evangelicals, exvangelicals, straight people, LGBTQ people, and everyone in-between,”…

The city council of Saonara, a town near Padua has introduced a law making it illegal “to blaspheme against any faith or religion” and utter foul language in public.

The town has a population of 10,000 residents and anyone found in breach of the new law could find themselves facing a fine up to €400 (£360).

The town’s mayor, Walter Stefan, said the move was designed to get rid of uncivilised behaviour.

Mayor Stefan told the Daily Telegraph: “With this law, you will not be able to cause offence to any religion, we have to respect the faithful.”

They mayor who is a practising Catholic, said it was designed to protect all faiths, not only Christianity.

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Eight leaders of the SCOC were initially arrested on August 23^rd, 2017 and charged with trespassing on the church headquarters. They were also accused of refusing to hand over administrative control to an unelected church committee led by Mr Angelo Alzaki and appointed by the government.

The case against the leaders was dismissed by the court of first instance on August 9^th, 2018.  In his ruling, the judge commented that the case centred entirely on an administrative dispute which was not criminal in nature. The decision  was hailed as a triumph for religious freedom within the criminal courts in Sudan. However the verdict was appealed, and subsequently the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court determined that a new criminal trial should proceed.

Lawyers working on the appeal informed human rights organisation, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) that the evidence used to support the higher courts consisted of documents submitted to the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments, the body responsible for registering and regulating religious organisations in Sudan.

The ministry has been widely reported to discriminate against religious minorities, including by issuing a ban on the construction of churches in Khartoum and interfering with the administration of Christian denominations.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “We are extremely…