While there were plenty of errors in David Marr’s piece on the Anglican Diocese of Sydney’s financial losses (‘Anglican Business’, December 2009–January 2010), the most glaring mistake – which underpinned the whole article – was his misunderstanding of the evangelical theology which predominates in that diocese. When I read the line “Sydney evangelicals see prosperity as a sign of God’s favour”, I had to check that it wasn’t a comedy piece. The truth is Sydney Anglicans have spent the past 30 years railing against the doctrine that “prosperity is a sign of God’s favour” (on the sensible basis that the Bible explicitly says prosperity is not a sign of God’s favour). As such, the whole tenor of the piece, which poked fun at that kind of theology, was severely misguided. It’s like making fun of a communist for his belief in small government and the supremacy of private enterprise.

Nick Colyer

Kogarah, NSW