Here’s a depressing piece from the London Observer on Britain’s role in nurturing (accidentally or otherwise) militant Islam in Europe. It’s worth reading in its entirety, but there’s a telling quote from one young Muslim that shows the extent of the wider problem. On hearing about a police raid on the mosque in North London now suspected of having been a terrorist haven, his initial response was:

“They are can’t do that. It’s a place of worship.”

Leaving aside the fact that, if the allegations are true, it was the extremists, not the police, who were defiling the mosque, it’s an interesting comment in the acceptance that it implies of the notion that religion can somehow be used to justify some sort of immunity from law enforcement.

That’s nonsense (and it’s nonsense whatever religion we are talking about), but will the British authorities have the courage to say so? This conflict will never be won unless it is extended to the intellectual battlefield – and that implies replacing the pieties of multiculturalism with a robust defense of Enlightenment values.

How about it, Tony?