According to Iain Duncan Smith, the Trussell Trust are scaremongering when they suggest that the increased use of foodbanks over recent years is in part linked to welfare reforms. As the Daily Mail reports, Mr Duncan Smith wrote to the Chairman of the charity: ‘I strongly refute this claim and would politely ask you to stop scaremongering in this way…..‘I understand that a feature of your business model must require you to continuously achieve publicity, but I’m concerned that you are now seeking to do this by making your political opposition to welfare reform overtly clear.’ It is widely understood that the Trussell Trust are a charity closely linked to Churches and Christian groups across the UK. The views of the charity are believed to be part of the reason that another Conservative MP has used his twitter account in the last 36 hours to state “If some parts of the Church of England preached a little more gospel and a little less politics – perhaps church would be in a better place” (@MPritchardMP) Mark Pritchard is the MP for the Wrekin and according to his short biography on twitter he is “True Conservative – Country First” One imagines the Country he is wanting to put first does not extend to the families and individuals whose lives are being assisted by the Foodbanks, including those being run by charities connected to the Trussell Trust. The views of these two men is not shared by all in their party, as the Daily Mail article reports, Tony Baldry who is a Conservative MP and also one of the Church Commissioners explained to the paper that a recent survey has found 62 per cent of food bank users did so because of low income, 42 per cent because of benefit changes and 35 per cent as a result of benefit delays.

One of the ironies of the views of Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Pritchard is that in recent weeks, several Government Ministers have been at pains to point out that the Conservative Party [Unlike the Labour Party they wish to imply] does do God! This week Douglas Alexander has countered with the news that the Labour Party does in fact do God. In my experience, as a Christian active in politics but not one tied to any particular party, there are many Christians in all of the Political Parties (specifically Labour, Lib Dem, Tory and Green) and to differing degrees their beliefs are accepted and even welcomed by those in leadership within these parties.

On the day before Christmas, the last thing most Political Parties would wish for, are headlines like those in yesterdays Daily Mail. However whatever this morning headlines have brought, I wanted to remind myself and anyone prepared to read my words, that as Christians we have an enormous journey ahead if we are to achieve the standard set for us by God. The same standard applies to those who are Jewish and in other traditions similar challenges apply. If Mark Pritchard thinks the Church of England is being too political, I have bad news for him. They have barely scratched the surface, and many of them know it! There are also many within Churches not formally linked to the Church of England who understand that pleasing God almost certainly involves saying and doing things that will irritate many within our Governments. Doing God is a challenge for all people, and it is not a nice badge to be worn once a week or even once a year!

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”

Isaiah 58 6-8