This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It already was several years back when the Guinness World Records found that the Bible had sold an estimated five BILLION copies and was history's best best-seller. Ever. By hundreds of millions of copies.
Now a new survey shows that young Brits have adopted the leftist ideology that it contains "hate speech," and a high number are ready to have it banned.
It is the Christian Post that described the polling by Whitestone Group that found nearly a quarter of young people in Britain "would ban the Bible if they felt its pages contained 'hate speech.'"
The poll asked 2,088 residents, "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."
"Young people aged 18 to 34 were the most likely to agree with this statement (23%), followed by 35 to 54 year olds (17%). Over-55s were least likely to agree (13%)," the report explained.
"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," explained Lois McLatchie, of the Alliance Defending Freedom UK.
She cited the horrors that have happened in Finland, where former Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen has been taken to court twice for simply citing the Bible, and forced to defend herself on criminal charges.
Even now in the U.K., street preachers routinely are arrested for "hate" speech when they quote the Bible.
McLatchie explained, "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 defense 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."
A commentary at the Washington Stand explained, "Scripture repeatedly informs us that we will be hated, rejected, and persecuted for our faith, so we shouldn’t be surprised. Following Jesus means to counter all of man’s natural desires, making it both controversial and offensive to the unconverted. And the Bible, authoritative and eternal, does not change with the times. So, as the times evolve further away from adherence to biblical mandates, Christians can only expect pushback to intensify and become more common. The world doesn’t necessarily hate you, but it hates the Truth you proclaim."
The article continued, "Romans 12:2a states, 'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.' Yet, we see the church conforming to the world to avoid offense. Aaron Renn, a senior fellow at American Reformer, wrote, 'Where once there was a culture war between Christianity and secular society, today there is a culture war within evangelicalism itself.'
"Renn detailed three 'worlds.' First, the 'positive world' (1994 and earlier), where Christians were mostly viewed as upstanding citizens, and their moral norms were relatively the same as the norms of society. Next is the 'neutral world' (1994-2014), where Christians generally had no positive or negative effect on society at large. And finally, the 'negative world' (2014-present), where Christians are not only mostly negative, but serve as a threat to the current norms of secular society," it explained.
It noted the war launched on Christianity by LGBT and abortion radicals, and the fact "many churches" have left the "Truth."
The report said David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, warned the U.K. poll shows where the U.S. is heading.
"We live in a world that is increasingly post-Christian, by which I mean a world that increasingly does not take its cues from the Bible,” he said. “I think Europe is further ahead than we are in their post-Christian culture. But I think it’s many of the same trends."
The Stand said, "Through the eyes of a worldly mindset, the true Bible will always be a threat. Yet even when the world tries to tamper with or ban it altogether, the true biblical message will always prevail."
