The Archbishop of Canterbury found himself embroiled in an unseemly war of words with the Prime Minister today after questioning the morality of Gordon Brown's fiscal stimulus package and likening it to an "addict returning to the drug".

Dr Rowan Williams made the comments in an outspoken pre-Christmas interview with the BBC in which he portrayed the credit crunch as a welcome “reality check” for a society that had become driven by unsustainable greed.

Mr Brown's response was prompt, direct and unexpectedly biblical. Borrowing from the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan, he told reporters that his Government could not simply "walk by on the other side when people are facing problems".

The battle for the moral high ground commenced when Dr Williams complained on Radio 4's Today programme that the country had been “going in the wrong direction” for decades by relying on financial speculation to generate wealth rather than “making things”. The downturn might, he hoped, force people to rediscover the virtue of patience.

And although the archbishop admitted that it would be "suicidally silly" for a prelate to give advice to economists, he dismissed the suggestion that Britain should try to spend its way out of recession. "I hope that people would understand that spending itself is about need before it is about saving the economy," he said.

Asked whether that meant the global financial crisis wracking the economy had been beneficial, Dr Williams replied: “It is a sort of a reality check, isn’t it – which is always good for us. A reminder that what I think some people have called fairy gold is just that – that sooner or later you have to ask: ’What are we making or what are we assembling or accumulating wealth for?’.”

The Opposition was quick to seize on the comments. “The archbishop is raising the very important moral question of whether it can be right for Gordon Brown to saddle future generations with huge debts," said George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor.

Speaking at Downing Street after a meeting with his Czech counterpart, the Prime Minister gave no quarter.

“My father was a church minister so I always listen very carefully to what the Archbishop of Canterbury and other members of the clergy say," he said.

“I support what he says about a strong civil society and the need for responsibility and the need to act against irresponsible behaviour when it appears in the banking and financial systems as it has in recent times.

“But I think the Archbishop would also agree with me that every time someone becomes unemployed or loses their home or a small business fails it is our duty to act and we should not walk by on the other side when people are facing problems.

“That’s the reason why our fiscal policy is designed to give real help to families and businesses and to give them that help now.”

The archbishop's attack is not the first Mr Brown has faced from an unexpected quarter, nor indeed the most fierce. Last week, the German finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, dismissed his economic rescue plan and VAT cut as "crass Keynesianism".

In this morning's interview, Dr Williams said that he hoped the downturn would lead people to reflect more on how you develop a volunteer culture and a "more active, more vital civil society" - on which the Government could help give a lead.

Questioned on whether increased spending was the right way to tackle the downturn, the archbishop said: “It seems a little bit like the addict returning to the drug. When the Bible uses the word ’repentance’, it doesn’t just mean beating your breast, it means getting a new perspective, and that is perhaps what we are shrinking away from.”

He added: “It is about what is sustainable in the long term, and if this is going to drive us back into the same spin, I do not think that is going to help us.”

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