With the Archbishop of Canterbury's suggestion this past week to introduce Sharia law into Britain's legislative procedure, the debate in Europe on integrating their increasing Muslim population has reached a new boiling point

In America, "multiculturalism" is akin to political correctness-a looming, amorphous zeitgeist that sugarcoats conversation-confusing terms and suppressing clear thoughts. In Great Britain, however, multiculturalism is worse.  Not only is it a cultural norm; it is increasingly a part of institutionalized policy and the rule of law.

According to the British think-tank Policy Exchange, government services ranging from housing, healthcare, the arts, public broadcasting, and policing "have been restructured to accommodate the supposedly different needs of ethnic users."

Now, leftist British politicians like London mayor Ken Livingstone revel in the policies of multiculturalism. Through the Greater London Council, Livingstone has given programmatic initiative to identity politics, appealing to a new "rainbow coalition" of social and ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and the disabled. The constituency that "Red Ken" has locked up most firmly is Muslims. I bet that before now, you thought leftists rabidly opposed mixing religion and politics, didn't you? Not when they can neatly package people into loyal ethno-religious voting blocs.

The result of the UK multiculturalism policy resulted in normalizing intellectual confusion. With the celebration of so-called "diversity," the very forces that thwart a liberal democracy are allowed to thrive. Britain's political climate has become one where those who criticize the growth of radical Islam in Britain-like Melanie Phillips-can hardly get a hearing, while those who yell "Behead those who insult Islam" are protected in the streets.

Alarmingly, just today, in a report from a leading defense think-tank, the UK is labeled a "soft touch" to terrorists due to the paralysis that most British civil and state institutions feel in addressing the ideology of radical Islam. There is no longer any freedom to talk frankly about differences in particulars - particular people from particular countries with a particular kind of belief. Thus multiculturalism makes the truth offensive. But when in history has mere "offense" ever been taken to be the supreme vice worth fighting?

It all reminds me of G.K. Chesterton's line, "The only thought that should be suppressed is the thought that ends all thinking."