Dr Rowan Williams said policies 'for which no-one voted' were being pushed through Dr Williams criticised the coalition's flagship welfare reforms and branded the PM's Big Society "stale".
And he said "radical" policies "for which no-one voted" were being pushed through with "remarkable speed".
Mr Cameron was asked about the remarks in Dr Williams's article for the left-leaning New Statesman magazine, the latest edition of which the most senior cleric in the Church of England guest-edited.
In the magazine, the Archbishop said the government was facing "bafflement and indignation" over its health and education plans: "With remarkable speed, we are being committed to radical, long-term policies for which no-one voted. At the very least, there is an understandable anxiety about what democracy means in such a context."
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David CameronI don't think it's good or right for us to pay people to stay on welfare”
He added: "The anxiety and anger have to do with the feeling that not enough has been exposed to proper public argument."
He also said there had been a "quiet resurgence of the seductive language of 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor" and he wrote that Mr Cameron's own Big Society initiative was viewed with "widespread suspicion" and the term had become "painfully stale".But Mr Cameron, in Belfast ahead of addressing the Northern Ireland Assembly, rejected the criticisms.
He said: "I've never been one to say that the Church has to fight shy of making political interventions, but what I would say is that I profoundly disagree with many of the views that he's expressed, particularly on issues like debt and on welfare and education.
"I don't think it is good, I don't think it's right for people if we and our country, if we give up on paying down our debts and just pass that down to our children. I don't see anything good or moral in that approach.
Continue reading the main story Rowan Williams's article is the most baldly political intervention by a serving Archbishop of Canterbury in memory.
He challenges the government to confront fears about the future of public services, and justify radical policies "for which no-one voted".
The full text is more subtle, nuanced and more balanced than the morning newspaper headlines suggest.
Dr Williams challenges Labour as strongly as the coalition to produce more powerful arguments, and in Labour's case, clearer policies and alternatives.
On the "Big Society", he describes the term as "stale", and points to the "widespread suspicion that this has been done for opportunistic and money-saving reasons."
However, he does not expressly share that suspicion, or state that that it is justified.
Instead, he demands "clarity" about the government's intentions, and calls on the opposition to come up with its own ideas.
On services and cuts, the language is strong. The government "badly needs to hear how much plain fear there is", says Dr Williams.
It was not enough simply to blame the last government, or promise better times ahead. But again, he demands clarity from the government, not necessarily a change of course or an end to the cuts.
Labour is warned not to "collude" in public fear, but to set out its own policies.
He challenges the government to confront fears about the future of public services, and justify radical policies "for which no-one voted".
The full text is more subtle, nuanced and more balanced than the morning newspaper headlines suggest.
Dr Williams challenges Labour as strongly as the coalition to produce more powerful arguments, and in Labour's case, clearer policies and alternatives.
On the "Big Society", he describes the term as "stale", and points to the "widespread suspicion that this has been done for opportunistic and money-saving reasons."
However, he does not expressly share that suspicion, or state that that it is justified.
Instead, he demands "clarity" about the government's intentions, and calls on the opposition to come up with its own ideas.
On services and cuts, the language is strong. The government "badly needs to hear how much plain fear there is", says Dr Williams.
It was not enough simply to blame the last government, or promise better times ahead. But again, he demands clarity from the government, not necessarily a change of course or an end to the cuts.
Labour is warned not to "collude" in public fear, but to set out its own policies.
"I don't think it's good or right for us to pay people to stay on welfare, trapped in poverty, when we should be trying to get them a job... Also, when it comes to education, there is nothing good or right allowing people to stay trapped in schools that often aren't giving them a good education."
The prime minister added: "I am absolutely convinced that our policies are about actually giving people greater responsibility and greater chances in their life and I will defend those very vigorously."Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Duncan Smith, said Dr Williams was entitled to his views but added: "I think in this respect it's a little unbalanced and unfair."
He rejected suggestions he had used the language of the "deserving poor" and said the welfare system he had inherited had left many people abandoned on benefits, with a record number of workless households and "broken homes".
He added: "All of this is going on in a system which is, in itself, damaging the very people it seeks to save. There is no kindness in that."
Business Secretary Mr Cable told the BBC he welcomed debate with Dr Williams but said he was "wrong on the specifics" about health reforms - as there was a "very big debate" about them at the moment..
And he rejected the suggestion the coalition government did not have a mandate for its work: "The two parties of the coalition got substantially more than half of the total vote at the last election... so I don't think that criticism has much weight."
Dr Williams is no stranger to controversy and has previously criticised the previous Labour government on various issues, including the Iraq war.
The Archbishop guest-edited The New Statesman magazine He said that David Cameron's "Big Society" initiative was viewed with "widespread suspicion", but "we are still waiting for a full and robust account of what the left would do differently and what a left-inspired version of localism might look like."
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said there was a long-standing tradition of archbishops criticising government.
"Obviously people used to criticise our policies, not just on Iraq and foreign policy, but on domestic policy and reform as well. It's just part of the way things work," he said.
But shadow education secretary Andy Burnham, for Labour, said the archbishop's criticisms reflected widespread public concern: "This government has no mandate for cutting too far and too fast, subjecting the NHS to a reckless top-down reorganisation and launching an unprecedented attack on young people by scrapping EMA and trebling tuition fees."
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