A CHRISTIAN music festival which bills the Archbishop of Canterbury as the main attraction has been condemned by nearby residents for attracting rowdy, drunken revellers.

They have accused worshippers of ungodly behaviour at the four-day Greenbelt event — dubbed “the God squad’s Glastonbury” — in the village of Prestbury, near Cheltenham, over the August Bank Holiday. The festival’s organisers say on their website: “We are trying to live alongside the other beautiful human people who are our neighbours around the world.” But some residents near the racecourse site claim that the festival-goers — known as “angels” — disturb their sleep as they party through the night in their caravans and tents. Residents have also accused the Christians of causing traffic chaos and dumping litter.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is patron of the festival and this year’s principal speaker. When he attended two years ago he spoke opposing military action against Iraq.

The country and soul band Lambchop will play and other speakers will include Dame Anita Roddick, the fair-trade campaigner, and Dr Jeffrey John, the celibate gay priest who last year withdrew his nomination to be Bishop of Reading. Up to 30,000 worshippers are expected.

Greenbelt was started in the 1970s by Christian hippies as a way of “tuning in” to God.

One resident called on the council to “crack down on the intolerable disturbances” caused by the Christians. She said: “We should be able to go about our business without being under siege.”

Greenbelt organisers said: “It’s true that we encourage people to drink — well, on Sunday mornings anyway, when cups of Communion wine are passed to the thousands who gather at the racecourse to celebrate the Eucharist.”

MERRY CHRISTMAS – NEXT WEEKEND

Easter celebrations should be followed by Christmas next weekend, according to new research into the time of Christ’s birth. Scientists in a television documentary tomorrow will argue that Jesus’s true birth date was April 17 and that his place of birth was Nazareth, not Bethlehem. Michael Molnar, an astronomer, calculated the date from the course of Jupiter: “

According to beliefs of 2,000 years ago, if you have the Sun, Jupiter and Moon, accompanied by Saturn, in the sign of Aries, this created conditions for the birth of a divine person.” The Mystery of Jesus is on CNN at 6pm.

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