While the Labour government of Tony Blair was famous for Alastair Campbell's assertion that it didn't "Do God" (if only it had stuck to that, some secularists might say), David Cameron's Coalition (particularly its blue part) has never seemed afraid of mixing religion with politics.

We saw some clear evidence last weekend in the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles' assertion that atheists should "get over it" and accept that Britain is a Christian country, and yesterday saw another example, albeit a less egregiously provocative one, as the Prime Minister held his annual Easter reception for Church leaders at 10 Downing Street.

The reports on the meeting suggest it was a fairly innocuous one – there was a mild joke from Cameron about the day he'd had following the resignation in the morning of his Culture Secretary Maria Miller, and a more serious comment about the violent persecution of Christians in certain parts of the world – but one of Cameron's remarks did catch our eye.

Referring to his flagship "Big Society" initiative, the PM suggested that he was merely following in the footsteps of Christ, who had apparently set the policy in motion back in the first century AD. “Jesus invented the Big Society 2,000 years ago," Cameron told his audience. "I just want to see more of it.”

You have to wonder how the comment went down with the religious leaders he was addressing. Of course, what Cameron was getting at was that Christ in the Bible encourages people to look out for their neighbours, and the aim of the Big Society (as put forward by the Government) is to encourage people to do more volunteering. But would Christian leaders really wish to see the central figure of their faith saddled with responsibility for initiating one of the most widely-derided policies of Cameron's government, a policy regarded by many as a smokescreen for deep cuts to public services? It would certainly be interesting to hear a clerical perspective on the question.

Still, if the assembled clergy were uncomfortable with viewing Cameron as the new Messiah, he did offer them an alternative nickname as he compared himself and his vision of a smaller state to a well-known drain clearing company: “If there are things that are stopping you from doing more, think of me as a giant Dyno-Rod”.