Thousands have lost their jobs and had their homes repossessed but an Anglican bishop says the credit crunch is a gift from God.

The Bishop of Lewes, the Right Reverend Wallace Benn, believes the economic slump is God’s way of shaking Britain from its materialism.

He has written to parishioners telling them they may all have to suffer through a recession but that it would be worth it.

In the November edition of the Chichester Diocese newsletter he said: “I believe that God ultimately has allowed this crisis for good.

“Our nation, like all the western nations, has become consumed with materialism. It has a stranglehold on our lives.

“We have found our security in ’securities’ and have failed to grasp that nothing is permanent other than God.

“Our confidence has been misplaced. Something was needed to shake that and that is what we are experiencing.

“If this shakes our confidence in mammon and forces us back to our creator and redeemer it will have been worth it.

“That should be our prayers as Christians. We may all have to suffer a bit, but God is an expert at bringing good out of sad, difficult, even evil situations.”

But Eamonn Butler, the director of the free-market think tank Adam Smith Institute, said many people who were not materialistic had lost their entire savings.

He said: “Many people who have not worshipped money or materialism have seen their savings disappear and their lives made poorer.

“I find little comfort in this. The spiritual world may be important to people, but they also need to feed and shelter themselves and their families.”

A spokesman for the British Humanist Association added: “Perfectly ordinary people who are doing their best to look after their families have been hit.

“To imagine a God who punishes ordinary families who are trying to make ends meet because of somebody else’s greed is a horrible idea.”