Wine made by monks condemned by bishop

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ABERDEEN, Scotland, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A bishop in Scotland says monks at the Benedictine monastery of Buckfast Abbey are committing a "moral double-take" by producing Buckfast wine.

The Rev. Bob Gillies, the Scottish Episcopal Church's bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, said the monks at the monastery in Devon, England, are violating Christian values by producing a wine linked to anti-social behavior and "medical damage," The Times of London said Monday.

"What sort of moral double-take is there that these monks can be so closely associated with that product and knowingly aware of the social damage as well as the medical damage it is doing to the kids who take it in such vast volumes?" Gillies said.

Figures show that 5,000 crime reports in Scotland's Strathclyde area during the last three years alone mention Buckfast wine, with 10 percent of those crimes involving violence, the report said.

Gillies said the questionable activities associated with the wine do not follow the teachings of St. Benedict, the saint whose rule the monastery was founded upon.

"Benedict urged his monks to live a simple life following a rule that leads them into closer discipleship with the lord," the bishop said. "St Benedict, I would have thought, would have been very, very unhappy with what his monks are doing nowadays."