Anglican priest, Rod Bower, identifies man who tackled ‘Eggboy’ as same who ‘terrorised’ his Central Coast church last year

Neil Luke Erikson is believed to be one of several others who stormed into a Gosford Anglican Church during service carrying a whip, a fake sword and a megaphone in May last year, traumatising the congregation.

At the time Father Bower described the incident as a “terrorist attack”.

Erikson was also one of the men who tackled a teenager that cracked an egg on Queensland senator Fraser Anning’s head at a press conference in Melbourne on Saturday.

The altercation prompted the senator to hit the 17-year-old in the face, after which several supporters tackled the teenager and restrained him.

Senator Anning has been heavily criticised for his comments linking immigration with the Christchurch massacre that left 50 Muslim people dead.

He has refused to apologise for the comments, instead repeating calls for a ban on Muslims in Australia.

“What we’ve seen from the Muslim community in the last few days has been nothing short of extraordinary — extraordinary graciousness, extraordinary sense of forgiveness,” Father Bower said.

“Muslim communities living out of this in the last few days has been inspirational to this Christian.”

No stranger to controversy

NSW Police confirmed Erikson failed to front Gosford Local Court last September, charged with using threats to prevent a clergyman discharging duties, and disturbing religious worship.

The 34-year-old has an outstanding non-custodial arrest warrant for the charges.

“I think it’s sad that a senator in our nation gathers around him such people of questionable moral fibre,” Father Bower said.

“We need to send a very clear message that this sort of extreme right-wing terrorism that we see from these groups is not to be tolerated.”

Erikson, along with other far-right leaders Blair Cottrell and Christopher Shortis, were also convicted and fined in September 2017 for inciting serious vilification of Muslims through their stunt of beheading a mannequin with a toy sword outside the Bendigo Council offices in 2015.

Building bridges, not walls

Last year was not the first time the Gosford Anglican Church has been targeted by anti-Islamic groups.

The incident followed a similar confrontation in 2016, when far-right group Party for Freedom barged into a service dressed in mock Islamic attire and chastised the congregation for their pro-refugee views.

Father Bower said despite the incidents and threats he received daily, he would continue to stand up to extremists.

Why far-right groups target MPs

“I won’t be deterred from building bridges by people who want to build walls,” he said.

“It’s imperative we don’t bow down to this kind of violent bullying.”

Father Bower has also been openly critical of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s $55 million promise to keep religious schools and places of worship safe.

“It’s quite extraordinary that the Prime Minister is now offering to protect people that his particular policies, and his particular politics, have inspired to threaten places of worship,” he said.

He said the money did not mean much if it was not accompanied by a strategy to target far-right extremism directly.