Teleios Research Evaluates Opinions About the Israel-Palestine Conflict

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Nov. 13, 2018 - PRLog -- Teleios Research recently surveyed adolescents and millennials regarding opinions about the Israel-Palestine conflict. The survey was promoted on the Christian Instagram accounts, Instapray and Godsholyscriptures as well as a secular site, Mindsetofgreatness. Of the 146 participants the majority were: male (52%), <35 years old (74%), from the United States (34%), and evangelical (58%).

Politically, evangelical Christians believe Israel is a democracy and all groups are treated fairly (28%); whereas non-evangelicals perceive Palestinians living in Israel are repressed (28%; P=0.002). Evangelicals generally support Israel regarding political and human rights issues (74%) compared to non-evangelicals (46%); while non-evangelicals support the Palestinian Authority (39%) more than evangelicals (8%, P>0.0001).

Further, evangelicals favor the US government supporting Israel (70%); whereas non-evangelicals believe America should take no action (25%) or work actively against Israel (28%: P>0.0001). In addition, evangelicals, versus non-evangelicals, strongly indicate Israel should be a nation-state (83% vs 58% respectively; P>0.0001). In contrast evangelicals, more often than non-evangelicals, view the Palestinian Authority as a terrorist organization (16% vs. 7% respectively; P=0.005). Both groups recognize Israel's right to defend themselves against foreign threats (39% evangelical, 33% non-evangelical).

Religiously, a plurality of evangelicals believe the Jewish state today is the Israel of the Bible (41%) versus those who are non-evangelicals (19%; P=0.048). Further, evangelicals indicate Christians should evangelize both Israelis and Palestinians (75%) whereas non-evangelicals believe neither group should be evangelized (32%; P>0.0001).

In terms of a final solution to the Palestinian homeland, both evangelicals and non-evangelicals believe providing jobs and education was important (17 and 21%, respectively). Further, a number of evangelicals favor resettling the Palestinians within a current Arab country (16%), while non-evangelicals believe their settlement should remain within current lands of the Palestinian Authority (23%; P=0.043).

No differences were noted between groups regarding who their professors favored during their education, most commonly the Palestinians (17% evangelical, 26% non-evangelical, P=0.37).

Despite the strong statistical differences observed between groups, the response to this survey was less than usually received by Teleios, being about one-third of normal. Further, the number of responses marked as 'unsure' was unusually high, ranging from 15-68%. These two observations in both young evangelicals and non-evangelicals imply there may be a common attitude of non-engagement about the Israeli-Palestine issue or lack of knowledge.

This survey suggests strong differences between young evangelicals and non-evangelicals regarding the Israel's political and foreign policies as well as their right to exist; evangelicals generally being strongly supportive of Israel and non-evangelicals being greatly supportive of Palestine.

All the findings of the survey can be found here (https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-857G9WGZL/) as well as other findings from Teleios Research are on our website (http://www.teleiosresearch.com/).

WC Stewart, JA Stewart, LA Nelson

About Teleios - Teleios is a non-profit foundation that seeks to demonstrate the truth of scripture and the Christian faith through scientific methods by providing evidence for the positive results of a biblically-based lifestyle. Prior studies conducted by Teleios have shown that the practice of the Christian faith (praise, prayer, fellowship, service and Bible study) and security of salvation increases well-being while reducing guilt.