AS a churchgoer I am concerned by our bishops interfering in the affairs of state.

They were silent when a former administration led us into an illegal war and indiscriminately opened our borders to immigrants, causing community hardship. They failed to address issues such as euthanasia, abortion, adultery, the rights of children and attacks on the traditional family.

Wouldn’t their time be better spent putting their own house in order?

It is easy to advance the concept of the redistribution of income to the have-nots by milking the success of the haves as the answer to all our problems but experiments in socialism and welfarism have done nothing to boost employment, growth and stability.

As opined by American pastor and author Adrian Rogers: “You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

“What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

“The Government cannot give to anybody anything that the Government does not first take from somebody else.

“You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

“When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.”

It needs to be remembered that the majority of people called upon to pay more taxes are honest, hard-working individuals that pay their taxes without demur.

Many scrimp and scrape to support their families.

But can we say the same regarding the vast numbers of people that contribute nothing to the community and engage in detrimental practices – welfare cheats, the fiddlers who work the system and families that refuse to work?

Shouldn’t our ire be directed at them and shouldn’t we reflect on the message in the Bible: ‘Let him who is without sin cast the first stone’ (John 8:7) before we rush to condemn others?

Neil Kelly Tredcroft Road, Hove