WHAT does a Christian do when faced with the civil unrest of recent days? It is politically motivated and the response is police action. The simplest response it to follow the lead of the Establishment.

The Christian looks at it through the teachings of Jesus and applies “selfless and unconditional love”. There is no room for violence. So what should we do?

The first answer is prayer that “God’s will be done” and that peace and goodwill between all should reign.

Enough people believe their only answer is to express discontent using violence. This has taken place in France, Germany and other European countries. The growth, over the past few years, of the National Front in France, led by Marine LePen, has been consistent and one might conclude that at the next election the voters in France might bring them to power.

There are two fundamental pressures in opposition. One causes the other. For a country to have a stable population, a couple has to have 2.14 births. If the Fertility Birth Rate (FBR) is lower, then the society decreases in size; if more, then the society increases. For the UK, the FBR in 2021 was 1.55 and in 2022, 1.49, not 2.12. Our society is collapsing.

The answer, the politicians say, is increased migration, allow more people in. The net migration, in 2023, was 685,000. Migrants tend to be people who have greater skills and energy. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to get a job, even if it undercuts regular earners. The result is that the standard of living of the UK earner decreases with time. Those people will become disenfranchised and feel cut off from the rest of society. One might point out that British couples need to have more children. Experience in other countries indicates that this does not happen. Understanding the state of affairs makes most sense.

The second answer is to understand the dynamics by pouring light into hidden recesses, work for inclusion of the separated rather than exclusion and accept migrants as a part of the solution.

Alan Coode

Reader in the Parish of St Austell