A letter to the editor printed in The Times of London on 20 Feb 2015

Sir,

The Bishops of Norwich and Leicester (letter, Feb 19) accuse The Times of having potential political difficulties with the Sermon on the Mount, forgetting, it seems, that Jesus taught that poverty is ineradicable and His Kingdom was not of this world. It is always tempting to harness Christ for a preferred political programme, as the bishops have done; but there is a rule of thumb in the long history of the church which suggests that the level of the political comittment the clergy show is invernessly proportional to their spiritual potency and competence.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Gavin Ashenden

Chaplain to the Queen, Gouray Jersey