The Church of England has defended sending "prayers" on Twitter to The God Delusion author Richard Dawkins following his recent stroke.

The 74-year-old is recovering at home following four days in hospital after suffering a minor stroke on February 5, and is expected to make a "full or near full recovery".

The Church was among well-wishers who sent messages of support when the news emerged on Friday.

But the post sparked much discussion on Twitter with some users accusing the Church of "trolling" the biologist and academic in light of his secularist views.

But others defended the church's gesture.

In a blog post, Reverend Arun Arora, the director of communications for the Archbishops' Council, said the tweet to Prof Dawkins was "genuine".

Meanwhile, in an audio message posted on the Richard Dawkins Foundation, Prof Dawkins has described feeling that the stroke had taken him "back to childhood".

"That's how I feel now - a bit back to childhood, unable to cope with buttons. I haven't even tried shoelaces."

He also joked that he had thought about joining the Amish, a devout group of Christians, because "they are not allowed buttons by their religion".