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Originally Posted by tweetiepooh
We do need to take care. How do you define "preaching hatred"? In the UK it tends to be very "victim" based so we end up with people being prosecuted for stating beliefs or upholding beliefs that do not actually state hatred. Examples would include the hoteliers who refused to allow unwed couples to share a room being prosecuted because that meant they would not allow homosexual couples to share. They would have said the same to a heterosexual couple in the same situation.
We do not want a society where you can't express your faith or opinions. There is a difference between saying you believe something is right/wrong and persecuting those you disagree with.
I do think we must not view terrorists other than as criminals. They are not animals and regardless how they behave we don't have to join them. We don't ignore them or allow them to get away with it. Neither do we bring in draconian powers, we don't know how they will be used or abused. How do you know that with a parliament change you won't get on "the list"?
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Yes we do need to be careful but what was allowed to happen, openly, at the Finsbury Park Mosque and has been allowed to happen elsewhere shouldn't have been. The security services and those decent law abiding Muslims need to work together to deal with what's going on behind the scenes. Calling for troops to be beheaded, for example, is preaching hatred. Demanding that anyone who mocks Islam must be killed is preaching hatred. As distasteful as it is, refusing to serve a gay couple isn't preaching anything. Systematically indoctrinating people that gay people are evil, getting out on the streets and calling for gays to be stoned, beaten, executed is preaching hatred and cannot be tolerated.
As for lists, well people like us are already on one - if the terrorists have their way we'll be shown a lot less mercy than would be the case the other way around. Like I said, it is sad and not without risk or downside but IMHO the least worst option is stepping up the campaign against the extremists. If it's a toss up between an MI5 list and a Islamic (or other) extremist list, I know which I'd prefer to be on.