The Moral Perversion Of A Nation
5 I said, ‘O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments; 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for your servants the people of Israel, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you.
Nehemiah 1:5-6 Old Testament, The Bible
Nothing has revealed the true nature of the anti-migrant movement more than the recent protests in Dover and Portsmouth. Black-clad and masked men (mostly, it seems) marched through the streets blockading the harbour roads causing chaos and violently confronting police officers sent to manage the protests (1). There can be no doubt that such protests seriously disturbed local residents and caused fear for certain sections of the community. But it was the vilifying and abuse of lifeboat men simply doing what they have been called to do – to save lives at sea – that clearly and exactly exposes the nature of the anti-migrant movement. At its heart is a moral perversion that allows lifeboat men to be slandered and abused as traitors. It is a morally corrupt and perverted movement.
That this abuse was not simply an isolated incident is clear from the subsequent advice given to RNLI members not to wear RNLI badges or other similarly identifying insignia and the closing of an RNLI station because of the hounding and abuse (2). Who would ever have thought that this nation would ever arrive at a point where instead of celebrating with pride and gratitude the work of the members of the RNLI they are vilified and persecuted as traitors simply for saving lives at sea? The anti-migration movement seems to be seriously demanding that only specific kinds of people be rescued at sea. It is incredible that it needs to be said that this is an atrocious and disgusting demand.
Small boats filled to overflowing crossing the Channel is a problem and has to be addressed. But the biggest part of the problem is not the small boats themselves and it is not a problem of the irregular migrants themselves – whether they be asylum seekers or economic migrants. It is the absence of adequate and appropriate processing structures that would make small boat crossings unnecessary. The same groups largely supporting and inciting the anti-migration movement are the very groups that crippled the UK’s ability to manage its borders by demanding that we leave the EU. Leaving the EU has meant that we are no longer able to return failed irregular migrants directly to their first point of entry in the EU (3). Instead, we are left with a ”one-in-one-out” agreement with France of doubtful usefulness. It does not seem improper to conclude that the small boats problem is a direct consequence of Brexit, as irregular migrants and those who would exploit them know that they cannot easily be expelled from the UK once they have made landfall.
The anti-migrant movement often includes the notion that we need to return to a “Christian nation” past. The persecution and vilification of RNLI members demonstrates that the “Christian nation” they have in mind is the very antithesis of the Christianity of the Bible. It is, rather, as one biblical writer puts it, the spirit of the AntiChrist (4).
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8znyzgkjjo acc. 6.10.26 17:29
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0j3912qe33o acc. 6.10.26 16:34; https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/10/rnli-steps-up-security-after-attacks-by-far-right-agitators-over-small-boat-rescues acc. 6.10.26 16:38; https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/17/lifeboat-station-portsmouth-temporarily-shut-after-far-right-action acc. 6.10.26 16:44
- https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9031/ acc. 6.10.26 17:17
- 1 John 4:3 New Testament, The Bible.
