At a time of crisis, the Church of England has favoured ‘woke’ campaigns over moral leadership

SIR – I cannot claim to be a regular churchgoer, even though I went to a school where we had a service every morning. The rhythm of the Prayer Book and the Authorised Version of the Bible became a thread along which much in life still resonates. In later life I have helped raise money for our small village church to allow it – as our only remaining public building now that the local pub, shop, and post office are gone – to remain a touchpoint for the community.

The philosopher Roger Scruton described our village churches as follows: “The buildings that the Church of England maintains are not just symbols. They are part of our national identity. They define our spiritual condition even in the midst of scepticism and unbelief. They stand in the landscape as a reminder of what we are and what we have been; and even if we look on them with the disenchanted eyes of modern people, we do so only by way of recognising that, in their own quiet way, they are still enchanted.”

How ineffably sad therefore that the Church of England, whose response to the pandemic has been shameful, now finds itself forced to consider closing churches due to a death spiral of mismanagement, poor leadership, lack of moral clarity, and a disastrous record of financial management.

When we could have expected leadership and positive thinking, we instead seem to be smitten with the religious equivalent of the “woke” campaign to rewrite history. If we are not allowed to learn from history, what hope do we have of learning from the life of Christ? Charles Barrington Woodbridge, Suffolk

SIR – Our churches – foremost among them Westminster Abbey – serve, with their memorials and statues, as a unique repository of our national and local history.

Why does the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby (“Welby is rewriting the principles that hold our societies together”, Comment, June 29), think he has the right to remove some of these at this time in our national story? Cdre Malcolm Williams RN (retd) Southsea, Hampshire

SIR – I thought that the Church was there for sinners. I know that’s why Jesus came: not for good people, but for sinners. If that is so then perhaps we ought to leave all the wicked statues and memorials in our churches and cathedrals: to remind us that we are all as bad as each other. Jenny Wiberg Ventnor, Isle of Wight

SIR – Kevin Fiske (Letters, June 28), who decries the Church of England’s response to the pandemic, should consider that it was not the Church’s decision to turn its back on its congregation. Rather, the Government ordered us to close the doors, leaving us to turn to online services as the only way to support our congregation.

Interestingly, our church has seen about double the number of viewers of online services than we had attendees at physical services pre-lockdown. This pattern has been reported for most churches. George Ham Church Warden, St Lawrence Church Hungerford, Berkshire

SIR – It is not only the Church of England that is in decline.

I have worshipped at a Methodist church for 47 years, and for two decades I have been keeping records of membership for my own Methodist church in Nottingham. My graph shows that – should trends continue – by 2035 there will be no one left.

This is a church that used to have packed congregations at Easter and Christmas, yet now struggles to fill half of its seats. The response to this pandemic has been pitiful, and only confirms my view that the dogmariddled Methodist Church in England never managed to drag itself into the 20th century, let alone the 21st. JA Crofts Nottingham