US Edition A vicar who made a joke against the Japanese has been forced to apologise after he was accused of being a racist.
The Rev Michael Wishart, priest of St Mary's in Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, faced a call to resign after writing about the autumnal "nip in the air" in his column, The Rector Rites, in the parish newsletter.
He also said multi-culturalism was "undermining" the British way of life.
He wrote: "The mornings have a decidedly autumnal feel to them, there's a little nip in the air.
''Which is what they said when they hanged the Japanese criminal!"
Mr Wishart, who is known for his "robust views", said the joke was a "throwaway line".
He added: "If it has caused any offence then I apologise."
But in what appeared to be a swipe at his "politically correct" critics, he said: "I got the mickey taken out of me left, right and centre for being Welsh when I was in the Navy, but I never went running to the race relations board."
David Onamade, the director of Somerset Racial Equality Council, said: "What he said is racist and his views about other equality areas are patronising.
''Why did he feel the need to pick out the Japanese? Maybe he doesn't realise the term nip is derogatory. I think he should consider his position." In the monthly newsletter, Mr Wishart also criticised police for the recent arrest of Stephen Green, the Christian campaigner, for handing out anti-homosexual leaflets at a gay rally in Cardiff.
The case against Mr Green was dropped last week but Mr Wishart said the arrest had been "hugely disturbing".
Mr Wishart wrote: "We are not only under threat from other religions but secularism gone mad."
He continued: "During the summer it was also stated by a number of prominent politicians, like Ruth Kelly, that multi-culturalism is undermining the British way of life and will harm future generations. Really? Some of us have been saying it for years."
A spokesman for the diocese of Bath and Wells said the joke was an "error of judgment".
Nip is a derogatory term for a Japanese person, derived from "Nippon", the Japanese term for Japan.