The Church of England is clearly going for some sort of publicity stunt here, because they don't have a legal leg to stand on, as anyone who's read this will know:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880048_en_4.htm#mdiv62

Ignoring for a moment the fact that even if there were copyright on the church's architecture (which would in reality have expired some time in the 18th century), this says:

"62.—(1) This section applies to—

(a) buildings, and

[...]

(2) The copyright in such a work is not infringed by—

(a) making a graphic work representing it,

[...]

(3) Nor is the copyright infringed by the issue to the public of copies, or the broadcasting or inclusion in a cable programme service, of anything whose making was, by virtue of this section, not an infringement of the copyright."

No copyright infringement, no need to ask permission.

Of course, what the C of E fails to tell us (probably because none of the people involved have actually bothered to take a look at the relevant bits of the game) is that the church is being used as a makeshift hospital in the game, and the battle is a result of this hospital being attacked by alien creatures (many of which are two-foot tall facehugger type creatures). While Manchester might have some degree of gun crime problems, I don't believe it leads the world in gun crime committed against invading alien monsters. Tennessee tops the league tables there, I believe.

Still, congratulations are due to the BBC for hiding this by using the dodgiest of blurry Youtube footage for their story on this. Journalistic integrity? Who needs it?

Anyway, perhaps the church needs to start closer to home when acting as the arbiter of morality. They could start by putting an end to their promotion of a book which endorses genocide and the slaughter of innocents perhaps.