HAMILTON, Ontario, May 1 (UPI) -- An Anglican bishop in Canada has asked a court to ban a blogger from satirical posts that portray him as everything from an underwear fetishist to an atheist.
In his lawsuit, Michael Bird, bishop of the diocese of Niagara, based in Hamilton, Ontario, is also seeking $400,000 (the Canadian and U.S. dollars are almost at par) in damages, The Hamilton Spectator reported Wednesday.
Graydon Sheppard, Bird's lawyer, called the suit a "last desperate measure."
"He has been turning the other cheek for over two years and it just has become intolerable," Sheppard said.
David Jenkins of Oakville, Ontario, has created the blog Anglican Samizdat. His defense appears to be that his posts are so over the top no one would believe them to be true.
"We don't believe at the core that the statements that were made were defamatory for a number of reasons, including the fact they were fair comment and that it was an expression of humor,"
One post photo-shopped Bird into photographs of the funeral of North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung. Another showed him wearing underwear on his head.
"Thief steals knickers from Anglican charity shop," the caption said. "It could be an undie fetish."
