The polling group asked 2,088 adult UK citizens if they agreed with the following statement: “Unless the offending parts can be edited out, books containing what some perceive as hate speech should be banned from general sale, including if necessary religious texts such as the Bible.”

Based on their findings, subjects aged 18 to 34 scored the highest at 23%, followed by those aged 35 to 54 at 17%. Citizens over the age of 55 were less likely to support a ban, scoring only 13%.

Lois McLatchie from the Alliance Defending Freedom UK showed concern over the results: “We may no longer be a majority Christian population here in Britain. That’s even more reason to protect freedom of speech and belief for all. Censoring one type of belief because it fails to fit with the dominant orthodoxy of our day is no better than imposing the illiberal blasphemy laws of the Middle Ages. We need a robust defence of religious freedom from those who craft our legislation, and we need to educate the ‘be kind’ generation on the truly hateful consequences of censorship before this type of thinking creeps further into reality.”

She referred to a recent case in Finland, where former Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen was acquitted of hate speech charges after a lengthy legal conflict for tweeting a Bible verse on marriage and sexuality. McLatchie also mentioned examples from the UK, including the arrest of street preachers for quoting the Bible in public and legal actions against pro-life campaigners praying silently near abortion clinics. All these actions are alarming steps towards censorship.

Source: https://premierchristian.news/