Source: Christian Today | Mark Woods

The Archbishop of Canterbury offered a defiant justification of last week's controversial bishops' pastoral letter 'Who is my neighbour?' at a conference in Coventry today.

The letter was criticised for being too critical of the Coalition Government and drew calls for the Church to confine its comments to spiritual matters.

However, speaking at the Love Your Neighbour: Think, Pray, Vote event at Coventy Central Hall, organised by the Joint Public Issues Team of the Methodist and United Reformed Churches and Baptist Union of Great Britain, Most Rev Justin Welby said that it was impossible for the Church "get on with the family business of saving souls" while politicians dealt with public policy.
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Quoting Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, he said that Christians needed to "change the wind" of politics: "transform the debate, recast the discussion, alter the context in which political discussions are being made, and you will change the outcomes ... You will be surprised at how fast the politicians adjust to a change in the wind."

Welby said: "If we are simply amongst those groups that say that we want a consumer politics based on our own particular idea of what society should look like, we will be constantly disappointed when a virtuous politics based on solidarity and the common good fails to develop.