Extremism consultation

The Government issued a call for evidence on extremism and responses to it, in a consultation1 due to close on 31 January.

The independent Commission for Countering Extremism aims to ‘improve understanding of extremism and its impact on individuals, communities and wider society’.

Definition?

The consultation asks for a definition of ‘extremism’. ‘Someone wanting to kill another person because their views, or very existence, are incompatible with the protagonist’s viewpoint’ could be a suggestion. However, in 2015, the Casey Review2 described an extremist as someone holding a view ‘at odds with the views of mainstream society’. By that definition, many Christians would be categorised as ‘extremists’. Definitions of ‘mainstream views’ change over time. What is truth (or in this case, what is extreme) remains hard to pin down when people who believe it’s okay to carry out in utero murder (abortion) hold ‘mainstream’ beliefs, whilst those who oppose abortion are seen as the ‘bad guys’.