In November 2010, the Church of England moved a step further to accepting an Anglican Covenant which could be used to discipline member churches – though those it was meant to placate firmly rejected it. Savi Hensman suggests that in its present form the Covenant is set to cause more problems than it solves.

Across the world today, countless millions of people are persecuted. But churchgoers in Britain are not among them, says Simon Barrow. Instead of developing a misplaced 'persecution complex', which dishonours those who truly suffer, Christians in the UK have the opportunity to develop an alternative vocation of multiplying hope, rather than spreading fear.

Many of the government’s cuts will intensify divisions in society, excluding some people from opportunities that others enjoy and making it less likely that people from different backgrounds will mix, says Savi Hensman. A different way forward is needed.

There may be no direct route from the politics of Jesus' day to the politics of modern Britain, but there are embodied principles and narratives in the Gospel which directly challenge the marginalisation of the poor and the use of ideology (religious or otherwise) to prop up the status quo, says Jonathan Bartley. These have a good deal to say to us as we assess the Spending Review and those it benefits and penalises.

It is grimly ironic, says Savi Hensman, that on Armistice Day UK news headlines included the announcement of a new benefits system which punishes the ‘workshy’ and a report showing inadequate care for many elderly NHS patients undergoing surgery.

As arms companies target university careers fairs, they may be hoping that the economic situation will encourage graduates to work for them. But a wave of student protests have broken out at graduate recruitment events across the UK, suggesting that students are more unwilling than ever to use their skills in the service of a trade that fuels war and perpetuates poverty.

For some Christians, coalition cuts and the "Big Society" are an opportunity for churches to extend their influence by taking over services run by the state. But the Gospel is not about increasing our own influence. In seeking to love our neighbours as ourselves, we need to be ready to stand up and resist a vicious assault on the welfare state.