Rev David Mayne, Moderator on the Baptist Union Council, says the issue has been highlighted by the 2015 election campaign and the Brexit Referendum, and he urges caution as voters prepare to head to the polls tomorrow.
He's written in the Baptist Times that people should be alert to what he calls "the perils of the echo chamber".
In the article, Revd Mayne says: "There are few dissenting voices, and status after status, tweet after tweet, article after article a variation on the same message is given."
Mayne, who is Lead Pastor at Shoeburyness & Thorpe Bay Baptist Church in Essex, says the impression given is that everyone will vote in one way only for the actual results to show something different (as with the surprise Conservative victory in 2010 and shock vote to leave the EU): "My friends, or at least the ones who had been more vocal with their politics, were not representative of the opinion of the nation."
He goes on to say that those who hold a different view to us are often "demonised" with people posting their thoughts online without any comeback: "Discussions about policy can quickly descend into personal attacks on those who disagree with us. Not only does this demean those involved, but it prevents any decent discussion about policy getting off the ground."
He goes on to feature words attributed to John Wesley in October 1774: 'I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election and advised them:
1 - To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy
2 - To speak no evil of the person they voted against
3 - To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.'
Mayne then says: "Perhaps our challenges have not actually changed as much since 1774."
He goes on to urge people to show tolerance and respect whatever tomorrow's result, concluding: "Perhaps we might pray that God would keep our hearts soft and open, even to those who think differently to us."