More than one in five people believes Jesus was an extremist. Almost as many also believe the same of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr according to a new poll carried out by ComRes for the Evangelical Alliance.
ComRes questioned 2,000 UK adults and found that 28 per cent believe Jesus was an extremist. One quarter believes Martin Luther King was an extremist and 20 per cent believe Mahatma Gandhi was an extremist.
Dr David Landrum, director of advocacy for the Evangelical Alliance, said: 'The poll shows the scale of moral confusion in our society with the public having no way of deciding whether something is extreme or not.'
He warned of confusion about the definition of extremism.
'Detached from terrorism and incitement to violence, extremism does not work as a litmus test for judging peaceful beliefs and opinions. Indeed, the government have tried and failed over the last two years to define extremism without any precision and this poll shows that the public share that confusion.
'It therefore seems unlikely that a newly established quango, such as 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,' he said, according to Breitbart, which is now running its own online poll to find out whether people think Jesus was an extremist.
Meanwhile, ADF International echoed Landrum's warning about too broad a definition of extremism leading to confusion.
The ComRes poll came after the government announced plans to establish a commission to crack down on 'extreme' worldviews in the UK. The main finding was that more than half of the population believe that 'extreme' is not a helpful term when discussing social or political opinions. They also reveal what divisions might ensue when trying to define 'extremism' in law.
Laurence Wilkinson, legal counsel for ADF International, said: 'The Government clearly has to respond to the recent terror attacks in the UK, but fighting terrorism by focusing on wide-ranging and vague definitions of extremism is doomed to fail. Hate speech laws create a "you-can't-say-that" mindset, which silences debate and have a chilling effect on society. The recent poll shows that there is a great deal of disagreement within our society about what might be considered extremism. In a free society, ideas should be countered with ideas, not criminal sanction. We should not allow the fear of terror to dictate our lives and readily give up our precious freedoms by introducing legal norms that could eradicate free speech.'
He added: 'In Russia, authorities use so-called "anti-terror" laws to throw members of religious minorities in jail and severely curb freedom of religion and belief. If the UK follows this model and introduces far-reaching and vague anti-extremism laws, the terrorists have achieved what they were aiming for: to undermine the basis of a free and democratic society.'
