A CONTROVERSIAL North-East vicar is calling for the return of the death penalty and an end to the National Lottery.

The Reverend George Curry, vicar at the Evangelical church of St Stephen's and St Paul's, in Newcastle, makes the comments during a TV interview to be shown tomorrow.

In it, he bemoans what he sees as a decline in moral standards - a view that includes the National Lottery, Sunday shopping, the abolition of capital punishment and tolerance of lax sexual standards.

"We are under the judgement of God," he says. "We were in the gutter, now we are in the sewer, soon we will be in the sewage works."

A study by Christian Research showed the Church of England lost another 100,000 worshippers between 2000 and 2002, with weekly attendances down to about 1.6 million. Any growth is largely confined to Evangelical churches.

Mr Curry believes this is because vicars are no longer teaching what is in the Bible.

"We recognise, sadly, very sadly indeed, that in the Church there are people who want to re-interpret or mould the Bible to suit themselves," he said.

" In the end, we have to ask ourselves 'Is what I am asserting in tune with the Bible?' If it's not, it's not in tune with God's word and it ought to be ditched."

He appears on the The Sunday Interview, to be shown at noon on Tyne Tees Television.