Letter: Just Christian, just Conservative

THE PENIEL Pentecostal Church is not "weird" and there is no hidden agenda ("Christian sect takes over Tories", 15 March). The members of the church who joined the local Conservative Party are local people concerned about local issues who decided to support a friend; they represent a small fraction of a large church, many of whom voted Conservative in the general election because that is what they believe in. They also believe in giving 10 per cent of their income to God's work (tithing) and they pray for the sick and see them recover - these are fundamentals of the Christian church and have been so for the last 2,000 years.

This church does not exercise control over how you live your life, spend your money or bring up your children - you are free to choose and free to come or go. However it does offer practical guidelines, based on biblical principles, and if you want your children to go to the church school they need to understand the meaning of "no" and obey it.

The anti-aircraft gun on the lawn was offered as a piece of historic memorabilia - it was used on the Ark Royal, and does not work.

Mrs N Tumbridge

Brentwood, Essex