Christian minister Peter Simpson has taken issue with the Archbishop of York’s claims that the mass deportation of asylum seekers lacks compassion.
Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, told The Mirror that Reform UK’s planned mass deportations are "beneath us as a nation".
"It is the Christian way to meet those asking for help with compassion and understanding and it has long been the British way to give shelter where we can to those escaping violence and conflict abroad," he said.
"It should remain that way."
However, retired street preacher Simpson, argued in The Conservative Woman that such a lax attitude to upholding the laws and borders of the country goes against scripture.
Simpson wrote, “Yes, of course the Christian loves his neighbour whoever he is, but that love does not require the abandonment of divinely ordained national boundaries, nor the condoning of deliberate illegal activity by those seeking entry to the UK.”
Far from being helpless victims, Simpson argued that many migrants who enter the country illegally have broken a number of God’s commands in doing so, the first of which is the command to respect the laws of the temporal power.
He went on to say that there was "the issue of the morality of claiming asylum when one is not fleeing for one’s life, as migrants coming from France are most definitely not".
"France is a safe country," he noted.
He argued that, having arrived in Britain under false pretences, it would be a breach of God’s commandment against stealing to accept taxpayer-funded largesse in the form of hotels, food and other services.
He concluded that "national boundaries are the ordinance of God and must be respected as such”.
