INTERNET giant Google has been forced to remove racist slurs posted about the Archbishop of York on one of its discussion forums.
The messages abused Dr John Sentamu, suggesting someone wanted the Church of England to begin "worshipping voodoo dolls" and that his appointment was part of "a numbers game".
One message claimed that because Dr Sentamu had been on the commission that handled the Macpherson report into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence "he should be strung up".
The search engine agreed to remove the racist remarks from Google Group's "uk.legal" website after complaints from the archbishop's staff.
The comments – supposedly posted by a communicant of the Anglican Church in the north of England – are the latest attack on York's first black archbishop.
Dr Sentamu, born and educated in Uganda, was sent racist hate mail, including letters smeared with human excrement, after announcement of his appointment as Archbishop of York in 2005. He said at the time he had prayed for those responsible for the "awful" abuse and received many messages of support from members of the public of all faiths or none.
Dr Sentamu's spokesman, Arun Arora, who spotted the shocking messages online, said: "Once we had been made aware of these discussions, and in particular their repellent and distasteful titles, we contacted Google to express our concern.
"They removed the offending material, for which we are grateful."
A spokesman for Google said: "We cannot comment on individual cases, but if users see illegal or inappropriate content we encourage them to let us know."
Other messages on the Google website praised the archbishop, saying he was "highly respected" and had "brought a breath of fresh air to what is generally seen as a stuffy appointment".
A high court judge and outspoken critic of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime, Dr Sentamu came to Britain from Uganda in 1974 and trained as a priest in Cambridge.
After serving as a minister in parishes in London, he was appointed Bishop of Stepney in 1996 and Bishop of Birmingham in 2002.
As well as sitting on the judicial inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which exposed "institutional racism" in the Metropolitan Police, he chaired the review into the murder of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, delivering another critical assessment of the police and criminal justice system's handling of the case.
Dr Sentamu has described the UK as " the most tolerant and welcoming of all places" of all the countries he has visited and urged Britons to "cherish" British values and traditions.