Pastor Terry Jones should not be allowed to place a single toe on British soil. We need this Elmer Gantry of neoconservative extremism preaching in our communities like we need a hole in the head.
I hear the arguments. Some are pragmatic: "If we ban him it will only focus attention on him." But look at the wall-to-wall coverage he got in the UK media when he was planning to burn the Qur'an in Gainsville, Florida. If he bowls up in Luton, or Bradford or outside London's Finsbury Park mosque, do you not think it might attract a little attention?
"But he hasn't committed any crime," goes a second argument. Not yet. But if he comes here, crimes will be committed as sure as night follows day. Lots of them. Just look at the mayhem and disorder that occurs every time his sponsors in the English Defence League (EDL) take to our streets. That's without the toxic ingredient of a man who proposed tossing one of the world's most widely read religious texts on to a bonfire. Extremists of every persuasion will turn his visit into a jamboree of division and hate.
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