Bishops and Welfare

The Bishops have recently stated that the recent welfare cuts are having a dramatic effect on the poor, with some now relying on food banks for support.

That’s fine; Bishops are entitled to their opinion. However, it falls on businesses like ours to highlight why the Bishops are both entirely wrong and deeply hypocritical. First, as they drink from their goblets of gold (because apparently God insists they use the most expensive cups imaginable), they might want to consider that both the Church of England and the Catholic Church sit on multi-billion-pound property portfolios. Selling even a fraction of those assets could provide countless meals for the needy.

Next, they should remember that the welfare budget is not infinite. The story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and some fish isn’t a factual account—like much of their doctrine, it’s entirely made up. Welfare spending is a zero-sum game: if you allocate more to one group, you must take it from another. That’s just basic mathematics.

Encouraging people to return to work isn’t only about saving money; even removing benefits to force people back into employment can be a positive step. It reduces dependency on the state, fosters self-sufficiency, builds confidence, and ultimately makes people happier. But reducing dependency isn’t in the Church’s interests. They thrive on people needing them—that’s how they attract followers, by pretending to offer protection from the world’s supposed evils. They could genuinely help by selling some of their vast assets, but they’d rather preach than act.

If the Bishops want to wade into politics, they should stand for election like everyone else. Their criticism last year of the loan industry is a perfect example of their hypocrisy. Despite their moralising, the Church of England held indirect investments in Wonga. No act of hypocrisy seems too great when it comes to getting their faces in the newspapers or on TV.