American campaigners are mounting a campaign to urge Japanese officials to reject plans to build a church close to the site where an atomic bomb was dropped in the city of Hiroshima in 1945.

‘We can’t believe that anyone could be so insensitive’ complained campaigner Aimee Duke. ‘That bomb was dropped by a Christian country and killed more than 160,000 people. Wanting to build a Christian church in the city is just an insult to the victims’ she said.

President Obama has however defended the plans, saying that not all Christians should be blamed for dropping nuclear bombs on Japanese civilians. Some campaigners have however attempted to distance themselves from accusations of religious intolerance.

‘We’re not being anti-Christian’ said Duke, ‘we just think that these Christians should go and build their churches somewhere else. If they don’t like it they can go back home.’