PETERBOROUGH, NH — In a major scandal, Anglican priest Frederick Willumsberth was forced to resign from his position after confessing to believing in a "higher power" in a statement released Friday.

The shocking revelation came after months of rumors, as church members claimed they had seen Willumsberth praying, reading his Bible, and occasionally referencing "the Man upstairs" in casual conversation. Finally, the longtime priest could no longer deny the allegations, leading to his public statement and apology to his congregation, along with his resignation.

"This is a major blow to our church body," one parishioner said in an interview. "If we can't trust our priests to doubt everything the Bible says and question the very existence of God, who can we trust?"

Other congregants called the news "disturbing," stating that they had heard of church scandals before, but never thought a theistic priest would come to prey upon their very own congregation. "We always thought it was something that could happen to other churches, but not ours," said one long-standing member of the church.

At publishing time, the disgraced clergyman had further confirmed he believes the Bible to be the Word of God, leading to a full-blown investigation by authorities from The Church of England to see how far the corruption has reached.