Archbishop Reveals Celebrity Priest Calvin Robinson Was Fired for Serial Antisemitism

Prelate publishes correspondence of ‘repeated warnings’ to priest who mimicked ‘Nazi salute’ at pro-life rally

The archbishop who dismissed Fr Calvin Robinson for mimicking a “Nazi salute” at a pro-life rally has released a statement documenting a series of warnings issued to the celebrity priest concerning his antisemitism and political activism.

The Anglican Ink website published Archbishop Mark Haverland’s correspondence with the priest after Robinson maintained on X that he had “not received a single letter, phone call, zoom meeting or anything else” from his archbishop since he joined the Anglican Catholic Church.

“In December of 2024, Robinson began posting about Judaism, starting with a post on X about the Talmud,” Haverland noted, highlighting the celebrity cleric’s escalating antisemitic attacks, in a six-page statement released last Wednesday.

The initial offending post from Robinson read: “The Talmud is uniquely hostile toward Jesus Christ. Islam may play off Christianity — it is a Christian heresy — but Talmudic Judaism is explicitly anti-Christian.” He was citing a quote from Joel Webbon, pastor of Covenant Bible Church in Georgetown, Texas.

Evil Judaism?

Robinson invited Webbon onto his show, “Bros with Fros,” even though Webbon is “a public figure whose antisemitic priors are well established,” Haverland wrote. “During the interview Robinson sat nodding while Webbon stated, ‘religiously, spiritually, Judaism, I believe, is a pernicious evil.’”

Haverland said that he had “received expressions of concern” from clergy within and outside his denomination that “Robinson was courting anti-Semites online” and “communicated his displeasure” about the priest to Bishop Patrick Fodor of the Diocese of the Missouri Valley, “telling him very clearly that such incendiary activity had to stop.”

Fodor warned Robinson that he was in trouble with his archbishop. On December 13, Robinson wrote to Haverland insisting he was “not antisemitic or a holocaust denier.”

However, the archbishop maintained that Robinson had begun “to use certain rhetoric that was clearly and intentionally anti-Semitic” despite the priest framing his discourse as “just asking questions” and “being anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic.”

Antisemitic Trolling

Haverland explained that the revocation of Robinson’s license to minister as a priest was not based exclusively on his controversial “salute” at the National Pro-Life Summit on January 25, but “based on the history [of antisemitic trolling] outlined above.”

“I gave a talk at a pro-life event that seemed to go down well,” Robinson said on X. “The joke at the end was a mockery of the hysterical ‘liberals’ who called Elon Musk a Nazi for quite clearly showing the audience his heart was with them.”

The archbishop stressed that he might have overlooked Robinson’s salute if it was an isolated incident “but after accusations of anti-Semitism from a month earlier, the salute was an utterly foolish and intemperate act by a priest.”

“At best he is gravely intemperate and has poor judgment. At worst he is toying with anti-Semitism and engages in the deeply uncharitable activity of trolling and political provocation,” Haverland warned.

Idolatry of Israel

In a February 6 statement explaining why he had revoked Robinson’s license, Haverland wrote: “Prior to the incident at the pro-life rally, Robinson was alleged to have made statements that were antisemitic, or in sympathy with antisemitic groups.”

Robinson’s dismissal triggered a media earthquake and was reported by more than 30 international media outlets, including the Washington Post, Newsweek, Daily Mail, Rolling Stone, and the Washington Times. However, no major media outlet has reported on Haverland’s statement detailing his reasons for sacking the priest.

Meanwhile, during a trip to Israel after his removal, Robinson attacked evangelicals for what he described as an “unhealthy relationship” with the Holy Land.

“Protestants who do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ have to seek him out elsewhere,” he wrote on X. “Knowing Jesus walked these lands, for them it is a kind of substitute for the Sacraments; for many, an idol.”

“This seems to be a problem amongst particular American Evangelical Protestant circles. Not all,” he added in a second tweet. “But it is not exclusive to Dispensationalists, either.”

‘Judeo-Christian’ Controversy

The priest earlier sparked controversy by contesting the term “Judeo-Christian.” Posting a video by Candace Owens, who has a history of making antisemitic remarks about Jewish influence in world affairs and the Holocaust, Robinson asked: “Why are we calling it Judeo-Christianity.”

When asked “why you keep putting this absolute garbage, antisemitic nut case on other people’s timelines,” Robinson replied: “Every word she said made sense. Can you dispute it? Or are you just here to call her names? Weird flex but ok.”

“There is no such thing as ‘Judeo-Christian,’” Robinson posted, and later asked in a video, “Where the %^&* did Judeo-Christian values come from? I’m not saying that people should hate Jews, I’m asking the simple question: ‘Why do we put ‘Judeo’ before ‘Christian?’ Why do we put anything before Christian. I don’t believe in putting anything before Christ.”

On Tuesday, Robinson continued his attacks on the term “Judeo-Christian” while attending the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London, reposting a tweet which said: “I’m at ARC. Every time ‘Judeo-Christian values’ is mentioned I will take a shot.”

Senior Anglican cleric Canon Fr Phil Harris responded by telling Robinson that Christians who support Israel are “not being manipulated into a ‘false dichotomy’” on their Zionism.

Harris also corrected Robinson’s attacks on the Talmud:

The Talmud is a commentary, a series of ‘opinions’; just like Christians have commentaries, the commentaries often contradict each other and are sometimes plain wrong! Not all Talmudic Jews reject Christ by any means, in the same way that not all Christians reject the Hebraic roots of our faith, which, sadly, is now becoming more commonplace.

Jews ‘of the Bible’ who followed Christ were Jews, NOT Christians (cf. St. Paul, who as an Apostle remained a Pharisee and a Hebrew of the Hebrews, cf. Acts). In the same way, Gentiles (non-Jews) who followed Christ were still Gentiles.

Robinson did not reply to The Stream’s request for comment, but wrote on X: “I understand there has been yet another statement released, along with selectively leaked personal communications. To those asking: no, I will not be refuting a cleverly orchestrated character assassination.”

Church-Hopping Priest

The Nordic Catholic Church (NCC) that ordained Robinson to the priesthood released a “letter of reprimand” on the same day as Haverland’s statement, rebuking him for not having “adequately consulted” his superiors before moving to the U.S.

The letter admonished Robinson for failing “to understand or to pay due regard to your promises of obedience to those in authority over you which results in a serious threat to good order in the church, as well as failing to seek letters of endorsement that would be required to accomplish a transfer to another jurisdiction.

“You are no longer considered a priest in good standing, your license is withdrawn and your priestly ministry within the NCC is prohibited,” Bishop Dr. Roald Nikolai Flemestad wrote.

Writing for the Anglican website Virtue Online, columnist Mary Ann Mueller observed that “Robinson is a church-hopper. He has belonged to four different denominations in a space of three years.”

She further elaborated:

Not all of the churches are Anglican. He was initially a member of the Church of England until he left for the Free Church of England in early summer 2022. He then united with the Old Catholic — non-Anglican — Nordic Catholic Church in late 2023. Less than a year later he gravitated to the Anglican Catholic Church.

In January 2024, Robinson was asked to stand down from the concluding panel discussion at the Mere Anglicanism Conference in Charleston, South Carolina, after he linked the ordination of women to feminism and Marxism.

The priest also attacked Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation in his speech, noting: “Between them, Luther and Marx destroyed the Christian soul of Germany, which, as we know, has gone on to become the home of heresy.”

In December 2024, the priest was also cancelled from the “Christ Is King: How To Defeat Trashworld,” a so-called Christian nationalist conference organized by Webbon. However, a chorus of Reformed Protestants called for Robinson to be deplatformed after he censured John Calvin’s teachings as heretical. Calvin is regarded as the father of Reformed theology.

Describing him as “the most cancelled man alive,” Robinson’s friends are now appealing to the public to donate $350,000 so they can “purchase a modest house” for the priest in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Originally published in The Stream.

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Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.