In his New Year Message, the Archbishop of Canterbury made what he may have thought was an inoffensive plea for British people to extend love and understanding towards refugees, recalling that as a child Jesus was a refugee too. He was nevertheless fiercely attacked by David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth, for preaching not the word of God but “the word of The Guardian”, implying that the Church of England had signed up to a left-wing agenda. “People want to help genuine refugees but are deeply concerned by the implications of the open-door immigration policy which the Church seems to want,” he wrote. That is not the Church of England’s position, nor is it unaware of the pressures immigration can impose on public services.  There are two background facto