The clearest clear case for banning the burqa has come from the Muslim Council of Britain, which has decreed that covering the face is mandatory for Muslim women anywhere:

"We advise all Muslims to exercise extreme caution on this issue, since denying any part of Islam may lead to disbelief.

"Not practising something enjoined by Allah and his Messenger… is a shortcoming. Denying it is much more serious."

Indeed, a Muslim who denies Islam is considered guilty of apostasy. The punishment according to sharia law for that is death. And there is no shortage of extremists in Britain who can be counted on to enforce this rule.

Critics will suggest that the MCB doesn't really represent all British Muslims -- they only claim to do so. They're missing the point. The MCB is not the only group in Britain that advocates such a policy. A critical mass has been reached. A full third of British Muslims believe that killing is justified if done to protect religion. This is not a "small fringe of extremists" -- it is a powerful and growing constituency of psychopaths. And their prescriptions for society will undoubtedly (as they already have) diminish the rights and freedoms of both Muslim women and people who don't even claim any attachment to the religion in the first place.

The burqa is a symbol of Islamic extremism on the march and makes a mockery of our values of religious freedom -- for freedom to worship as one chooses is illusory if death is the result of leaving a faith.

There is only one prescription for the burqa for societies that value pluralism and fundamental human rights: ban it.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist