British Conservative politicians have hit back at the Church of England over a strongly-worded letter which criticizes the UK’s political culture.
Outspoken MP Nadine Dorries accused the bishops of having “very definite left-wing leaning” to the intervention.
"The Church is always silent when people are seeking its voice and yet seems to be very keen to dive in on political issues when actually no-one is asking it to," she was quoted as saying by Sky News.
In their joint letter, the bishops indirectly criticized the government’s spending cuts.
“There is a deep contradiction in the attitudes of a society which celebrates equality in principle yet treats some people, especially the poor and vulnerable, as unwanted, unvalued and unnoticed,” the bishops write in a booklet for Christians.

In response to the controversial letter, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the government was helping people by developing a stronger economy by reforming welfare system.
‘Cuts targeting the poor’
Meanwhile, a London-based professor of economics has defended the bishops’ protest against the current economic situation but reiterated that economic reforms cannot be implemented via “outdated solutions”.
“The cuts are targeting the poor and vulnerable and at the same time that 1 percent because the money supplies only gone into rising asset prices and rising stock prices the rich-poor division has gotten worse. The church therefore has to come forward with a proposal for policy which spreads the productive economy into the hands of everyone; the church is right to protest but it only has outdated solutions,” Professor Rodney Shakespeare told Press TV on Wednesday.
“The church though has to be prepared to come out and not just blame democracy but to actually say that system has got it wrong and then the church must be prepared to come out with something new which is not being demanded by people right away across Europe,” he noted.
In their 52-page letter, the church’s bishops also slammed the country's political culture, warning that “democracy is failing” in the United Kingdom.

‘Discreditable to Church’
A London-based human rights activist believes that the Church of England is simply attempting to distance itself from the contemporary politicians in a “very discreditable” way.
“The Church of England is part of the political system. The bishops sit in the House of Lords… The Church of England is always tied up with the power elite and will do what it thinks is in the best of interest of the the power elite. It has been conspicuously silent on many issues of great public morality the Church of England over the years, William Spring told Press TV.
“It is simply because it didn't want to fall out with the government,” the rights activist concluded.
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