Ananova:

One of Britain's most controversial clergymen has branded religion as 'dangerous'.

The Most Rev Richard Holloway, 66, says the words and rituals of faith are often treated as holy in themselves rather than as a way to finding God.

Bishop Holloway, the head of the Scottish Episcopal Church and Bishop of Edinburgh, makes the claims - which are bound to inflame fellow clergymen - in a new six-part BBC2 series Holloway's Road, which starts next Tuesday.

In the opening programme, entitled Disappearing God, he says: "What we end up with is religion. The claim that the words and rituals that we ourselves created are holy not by association but in their own right."

He says religion can be "dangerous" as people become so wrapped up in worshipping the ritual of religion that they forget about God.

The Bishop, who is due to retire next month, has often courted controversy. Last year he caused an outcry when, during a discussion with a reporter on the use of cannabis for medical reasons, he revealed he had smoked the drug.

He also created a storm of protest with his recent book, Godless Morality, which stated that young people have sex as readily as they eat beefburgers.

In the past, the Bishop has advocated marriage ceremonies for gays and taught that homosexuals and even paedophiles should receive greater understanding for what they do.

Bishop Holloway's thoughts and comments in his new series, described as a "personal odyssey", seem certain to attract further criticism.

In the first programme, he and broadcaster Ruth Dudley Edwards walk from Drumcree to Portadown in Northern Ireland, a country he believes epitomises the danger of religion. He also visits Jerusalem, a city he says he has "never actually enjoyed" because of its competing religions.