A COLOURFUL vicar who once claimed Harry Potter encouraged "dangerous" paganism has warned modern man is in danger of "returning to the apes".

The Rev Kevin Logan, 65, who is due to hang up his cassock after taking his last service at Christ Church, Accrington, on Sunday, has hit out at a decline in moral standards.

A former Observer and Lancashire Evening Telegraph journalist and local councillor before finding God, he has penned nine books warning of paganism and the occult, which he sees as a real danger in society.

And, as he retires, he has aimed a swipe at loose sexual mores and what he sees as a rewriting of the Bible by some sections of the Church to sanction gay marriages and homosexual bishops.

The controversial clergyman said: "Marriage should be between a man and a woman. Anything else short of that is going to bring unhappiness.

"I’ve taken what the Bible says rather than what the world of current fads and fancies says. The Bible is an operating manual.

"Our morals and values are increasingly getting lost. We believe that we’re cousins to the monkeys and are beginning to live by jungle law.

"We’re getting drunk, having casual sex and just following our emotions and not our reason – behaving like animals in the jungle."

Mr Logan, who once tore a Sunday opening banner down from Accrington’s Asda store, also blamed the recent spate of knife and gun crime on the decline of the family, and criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for his outspoken comments on Sharia law.

He said: "When God was in society Britain became great. It’s no wonder Great Britain turned a quarter of the world pink. It had everything going for it. Take away those values and standards and we end up with a country that’s losing itself.

"I think Sharia law is very unfortunate in the way that it treats human beings and especially women. For a country with a Christian heritage to put that forward is highly irresponsible.

"We’ll end up as a Muslim country rather than a Christ-ian country. For every church that closes two mosques are opening."

After allowing God into his life at the age of 28 following discussions with then Christ Church vicar, the Rev George Storey, he went on to minister for 35 years, including nine years at St John’s, Great Harwood, before returning to his spiritual home Christ Church in 1991.

He married his second wife Ann – a Christ Church parishioner for 30 years – in April 2006 after his previous wife Linda died of cancer.

He said: "They say never go back but we believe the Lord was bringing us back to where it all began. I expected to be the last vicar of Christ Church and to close it when I retired but in the last five years the church has turned completely round and is full every Sunday. It’s one of the strongest chur-ches in town because of what God’s done."

Mr Logan recently underwent a third hip replacement operation and believes the time is right for himself and the church, which now includes Cannon Street and Woodnook, to try something fresh. He won’t be retiring completely, however, as he intends to carry on as a locum minister.

He added: "I could go on until I’m 70 but I think the church now needs somebody younger with bags of energy to lead it on to the next stage.

"Having done 17 years in one place, someone new is probably needed and I won’t interfere with whoever it is. We’re going to have to find a new church to go to. That’s going to be sad but very interesting."