A poll conducted in the U.K. on public opinions on extremism found that 28 percent of respondents defined Jesus as “extreme,” Christian Post reported Friday.
The poll, conducted for the Evangelical Alliance by market research company ComRes, demonstrated a general confusion over what constitutes as extremism, and the folly of government efforts to define extremism aside from violent, terroristic acts, according to Christian Post.
“The language of extremism is a recipe for chaos and division,” said David Landrum, director of advocacy for the Evangelical Alliance. “This poll shows the scale of moral confusion in our society with the public having no way of deciding whether something is extreme or not. It also shows the division that might ensue if the government persist[s] in trying to use extremism as a way of regulating peaceful ideas in society.”
Forty-one percent of those polled said the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman was extreme, while 37 percent said it was not extreme for children not to be assigned a gender at birth. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela were considered extremists by 8 percent of those polled.
The Evangelical Alliance, which is the oldest U.K.-based evangelical body and represents 2 million labels, asserted in a press release that this was the first such poll on the nationwide understanding of extremism.
“The government [has] failed to define extremism, and the public are clearly divided about which ideas are extremist,” Landrum said. “It therefore seems unlikely that a newly established quango, such as an extremism commission, will solve such problems. It is not wise to foster a society where volatile public opinion can be used to determine what might be extreme or acceptable views.”
ComRes polled 2,004 adults from July 7 to July 9 in Great Britain.
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