AS I read Peter Mullen’s column (Echo, Feb 25), with his ever repeated attacks on the leaders of his and other churches for protesting about the injustices of the benefit changes, I realised that I found his ideas quite incomprehensible.

According to Mullen logic, should my neighbour have all his food repeatedly stolen, I should not attempt to stop the burglar but should merely go next door after the burglar has gone, and offer him some of my food, thus gaining brownie points for my act of charity. This act is apparently so much better than trying to prevent the theft in the first place.

Eric Gendle, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.

ONCE again, Peter Mullen has amazed me with his verbal gymnastics (Echo, Feb 24 and 25). On Monday, he was “gripped” by the account of a dissident (dictionary definition: someone who disagrees particularly with government) from the USSR. By Tuesday, his own bishops were condemned as “not Christian” for doing the same thing.

Presumably William Wilberforce was not doing the “Christian thing” by telling the government to stop slavery. Or Lord Shaftsbury over child labour. In Germany, pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer should not have criticized the Nazi government, putting his life at risk. The list goes on.

Has Mr Mullen forgotten his own many diatribes against various members of the government? How can he accuse the bishops of “sitting in palaces telling other people what to do”?

Isn’t he?

Remember Jesus spoke in Matt 7 about, removing the speck from your brother’s eye, and ignoring the plank (or do you prefer “mote”, Mr Mullen?) in your own eye.

Bill Bartle, Barnard Castle.

I FOUND Peter Mullen’s recent comments interesting (Echo, Feb 25), but here’s a piece of information I doubt he’s aware of.

In 2012, Professor Ryan T Cragun of the University of Tampa calculated that the yearly cost of religious tax exemptions came to $71bn. Since this figure only relates to tax exemptions within the US, it raises questions over the total cost of religious tax exemptions worldwide.

Instead of asking people to put more into collection tins, why don’t religious organisations do as Jesus demands and give “back to Caesar what is Caesar’s”. In other words, if religious bodies paid tax, the billions gained each year in revenue would allow Governments to cut back on socially-damaging policies, to provide funding for job creation and social housing projects, to raise people out of poverty and to break their dependency upon benefits.

Such a sum could provide people in developing nations with access to clean water, decent sanitation, the means to feed themselves and have their children educated, ending many of the problems at the root of conflicts and suffering around the world.

CT Riley, Spennymoor.