A COMEDIAN set to perform in Oxford tonight has defended his show from accusations it is blasphemous.

TV comic Richard Herring’s Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming is being staged at the Glee Club, in Hythe Bridge Street, at 7.30pm.

However, Dr Ken Stallard, of West Hanney, wrote to the Oxford Mail and said it was “another attempt to belittle and mock the Christian faith”.

During the show atheist Mr Herring revisits his first solo work Christ on a Bike and questions now he is 10 years older than the Messiah when he died, whether he has achieved as much with his life.

Dr Stallard wrote: “This is yet another attempt to belittle and mock the Christian faith and does little for the reputation of this country.

“No self-respecting Muslim, Buddhist or any other faith would turn his bile to something so blasphemous.

“Certainly not for comedy and to earn a fast buck for someone who deludes himself if he thinks he is a ‘comedian’.”

Mr Herring said almost all Christians who had seen the show enjoyed it.

He said: “As an atheist, I am obviously as opposed to every religion as I am to Christianity, and do mention other religions in the show, but it seems odd that Christians often seem cross about people having a go at them when they have chosen to embrace a religion which has turning the other cheek as its core basic tenet.”