The survey results are based on 1048 responses.

When questioned about specific aspects of euthanasia the poll found:

• 73 per cent were opposed to allowing anyone over 18 to request a lethal injection without telling family members about it
• 57 per cent agreed that doctors be allowed to administer lethal doses of drugs to patients. 43 per cent disagreed, were unsure of, or refused to answer
• 27 per cent agreed that a doctor should be allowed to administer lethal drugs to a patient who was not in pain
• 35 per cent supported euthanasia because a terminally ill person was depressed or thought life was meaningless
• 25% supported New Zealand having a law that would allow terminally ill persons to choose euthanasia because they feel they are a burden

Act Party MP David Seymour who sponsors the End of Life Choice Bill said the poll asked deliberately misleading questions that are not contained in the proposed legislation.

Curia Market Research Ltd (CMR) has been operating since 2004.

CMR website says its principal, David Farrar, has almost twenty years of experience in all aspects of polling from question design to results analysis.

"He has provided polling services to three New Zealand Prime Ministers and four Opposition Leaders."

The second reading of the End of Life Choice Bill will be on May 22.

Labour and National will allow their MPs to have a "conscience vote" on the issue for the Bill's second reading.

The Greens have said they would support the Bill in its second reading, but are likely to vote the Bill down unless it applies only to those with terminal illnesses.

Winston Peters has made a referendum a condition of his party's continued support for the passage of the Bill.

Seymour has suggested amending the Bill to include that requirement (as well as narrowing its eligibility criteria to apply only to the terminally ill to satisfy the Greens and other MPs who want narrower access).

Source

• scoop.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• thespinoff.co.nz
• euthanasiadebate.org.nz
• Image: cbc.ca

Furthermore, nearly one in five said it was not their role "as a parent to pass on my beliefs to my children".

The poll was commissioned by the British religious and social affairs think tank "Theos".

Of the parents surveyed, 458 identified as Christian. A further 113 said they were from other religions and 423 said they were not religious.

About 250 of those surveyed say they are concerned their children may put them put on the spot with unanswerable questions about religion.

Still others - around a third - feel social media will have a greater impact on their children's beliefs than they will.

Interestingly, although over half of the parents surveyed feel comfortable about talking about religion with their children, only 40 per cent have done so.

Around 36 per cent of parents who identified in the poll as Christian are concerned their children won't grow up to share their faith. Fewer parents practising other faiths - 31 per cent - share this concern.

Theos head of research, Nick Spencer, said parents have "the greatest influence on their children's faith, not least through the integrity and authenticity of their own beliefs."

A 2015 poll showed Britain is one of the least religious countries in the world, coming sixth from the bottom in a global study of belief carried out across 65 countries.

Source

• The Telegraph
• RT Question More
• Image: Liturgy

People in their late teens and early 20s were significantly less open to children born to parents from different religious backgrounds being brought up to understand both faiths than those in their 50s and 60s.

They were also less likely to be aware of the common origins of the three Abrahamic faiths despite citing religious misunderstanding as the major cause of conflict in the world, ahead of economic hardship, natural disasters, food shortages and environmental crises.

Less than a third of people polled, knew that Jesus is recognized as a major prophet in Islam with almost half believing this was untrue and the rest unsure. Continue reading