Alex Singleton | Journalist and political commentator

Blow the Whistle Sunday is a campaign day (20 May) in which hundreds if not thousands of churches across the UK will participate. Churches are being encouraged to politicise their message and use prayers and sermons to denounce free markets and free trade. One example of what the campaign is suggesting churches read out in their services is this:

Imagine that you are a cocoa farmer in West Africa. This year’s crop has been meagre as unexpected changes in the climate have led to a shorter growing season. Your crop has now been harvested and you are off to the market to sell it. Upon arriving you are surprised to discover imported chocolate from x being sold. Not only that – it is half the price of the lowest price you could possibly charge. The cocoa growers from x have been given government support in the form of subsidies, meaning they can charge far less than you. Your only option is to sell at a lower price. As you walk home, you know that there isn’t nearly enough money in your pocket to feed your family until the next crop.

I don’t know what they were thinking of when they wrote this; perhaps they are concerned by all the subsidised San Francisco, Paris and Notting Hill cocoa growers? (It’s worth noting that neither the United States nor any European countries grow cocoa.) It fits their worldview to blame free trade for low cocoa prices. But the main problem with the analysis of “Christian economics” is that its supporters only ever look at part of the picture. They will look at the effect of a policy on a small group of people but ignore its effect on a society as a whole.

Ghana is a particularly good example. Supporters of “Christian economics” say that free trade has destroyed Ghana, and point out to some farmers. Prior to Ghana’s 1984 free market reforms, its economy was massively unstable. But, since 1983, they have pursued liberalisation and their real GDP has increased every year since 1983. Not even Britain has such a stable economic record. Poverty, though high, has decreased. As the British government has pointed out, Ghana overall benefits from cheap imports of food because it enables people to eat more.