The church is running out of justifications for the various anomalies it clings onto, and it is just a matter of time before they go completely, says Jonathan Bartley. We cannot proclaim the message of God's liberating future by clinging to the past.

Actual sea changes in politics come rarely, but they do come, so don't let cynicism make you a functional reactionary, says Johan Maurer, who particularly wishes that the evangelical Christian community would be released from hero-worship and grasped by a biblical vision of social justice.

Westminster easily gets mired in posturing and trading for influence, says Simon Barrow. But there are glimmers of redemption and genuine conviction in the political vocation too - even if we need to go well beyond politics to realise them.

Traditional categories of right and left don't always work when applied to faith, says Giles Fraser. Yet there is no comfort for the 'religious right' in the Christmas Gospel, which is about giving not consuming and love not power-mongering.