Your problems solved | 28 March 2019

Q. I belong to a religious congregation whose minister is politically minded. Every time I attend a service, I am forced to sit through a sermon which is bound to contain at least one reference to UK politics, unashamedly biased. The last time, at least half the sermon amounted to a political diatribe. Worse, it elicited a round of applause. Mary, what can I do? I do not want to worship elsewhere, but if this person cannot stop making partisan political speeches, thereby cheating us of a religious sermon, they should give up their position and launch themselves in politics.
— Name and address withheld

A. Why not encourage a friend, not of your parish, to attend the church one week in your company. Such a person, sitting separately, could interrupt the service, putting up his hand to say ‘You’re being far too political, you shouldn’t be.’ After the service you could engage with the minister, saying in dispassionate tones: ‘I can see why people who are feeling emotional, perhaps after a bereavement, might come to church for succour rather than a political speech.