Islam4UK banned!

Only yesterday I pointed out what a bad idea it would be to ban Islam4UK. With their ongoing commitment to bad ideas, the government has only gone and done it.

And, lo and behold, Islam4UK is already playing the bleeding martyr. Witness this statement from Islam4UK spokesman Anjem Choudary:

"We won't be using those names and those platforms which have been proscribed, but I can't stop being a Muslim, I can't stop propagating Islam, I can't stop praying, I can't stop calling for the Sharia."

See how quickly and easily that happened? Islam4UK have gone from public nuisance to put religious group being suppressed for their beliefs by the government in one flick of the Home Secretary's pen. If you wanted a dictionary definition of counter-productive, then it would be this "proscription" of Islam4UK.

In fact, I find myself agreeing with Choudary - an unpleasant position for a passionate atheist like me to find himself in, and a turn of events I blame entirely on the Home Secretary:

"What the people will see is if you don't agree with the government and you want to expose their foreign policy, then freedom quickly dissipates and turns into dictatorship."

Quite. I don't agree with Islam4UK - I think their call for Sharia law in this country and their stunt marches are idiotic. But, unlike the government, I don't think they should be banned for being idiotic. See, that is the measure of a free society - people have the right and the ability to express idiotic and unpleasant opinions, just as everyone else has a right to disagree with them. This latest government move just goes to show that we don't live in a free country. But we knew that already, didn't we?