THE basis of Mr Scaife's tilt at the church is that it has power, influence and wealth (Readers' Letters, January 25).

I invite Mr Scaife to our deanery synod so he can give details to churchgoers of that power, influence and wealth. They will be fascinated. As they will be by his suggestion that they have the funds, skills and manpower to turn parish churches and themselves into a housing association for the homeless.

The only power the church has is the power of individual Christians to try to shape and change society. If the church had power and influence, our Government would not have engaged in a multi-billion pound war in Iraq against the counsel of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, speaking for most churchgoers.

That the church has vast, disposable wealth is a secularist fantasy, on a par with the popular myth that the Church of England is funded by the state.

The cost of the upkeep and maintenance of churches and the stipend and pension of its ministers falls almost entirely on freewill giving by church members in each parish.

A shrinking contribution to the costs comes from funds given by past generations of Christians, and invested to produce an income to help pay for the means and staff to deliver its ministry.

I do not know what Mr Scaife's involvement is in the care of the homeless. I do know hundreds of local Christians who give money and time raising funds for and working for charities for the homeless.

Maurice Vassie, Lay Chair Derwent Deanery, Cartmans Cottage, Deighton, York.


* I OFTEN think the Church of Scientology is an easy target to attack (Celeb church opens in York, January 25).

Don't get me wrong, I am an atheist and think that their concept of Xenu, the alien galactic warlord who dumped 13.5 trillion beings on earth 75 million years ago, is utter nonsense.

My point is that it is easy to ridicule Scientologists because they are small in number. It shares the same problem as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and other religions too: a process of non-thinking which some call faith'. There are simply more people in the other religions, and it takes courage to challenge them.

As Richard Dawkins says so eloquently: "Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence."

The Church of Scientology, to my mind, is as welcome in York as any other religion, given there is as much evidence for Xenu's existence, for example, as there is in the divinity of Jesus.

If people want to practice a religion, they should be free to do so. But if you are going to attack one, don't go for the easy one, go for the whole lot.

Paul Blanchard, Chaucer Lane, York.