WHAT DOES it take to kill British tolerance? An angry mob closing down a theatre? A writer forced into hiding because of her work? Or do we need to wait for the murder, at the hands of a fanatic, of a Briton accused of blasphemy?

The row at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre has angered even the most broadminded. The liberal dream of a pluralist society where Sikh and secularist, Jew, Muslim and Christian live side by side in harmony, has suddenly been replaced by a dismal reality. A handful of fundamentalists, who are prepared to resort to force to get what they want, overrule the majority.

Nothing is more likely to unleash a vicious backlash against pluralism and inclusivity. Asked to choose between freedom of expression and sensitivity towards a minority, Britons will plump for the former, and defend it in every way they can. Not only Sikhs, but also Muslims, Jews and Christians will be regarded as paranoid troublemakers, who see a potential slight in every performance, book or canvas, and who will be satisfied only when censorship is restored. In the battle for our culture, every religious believer henceforth will be a foe. Even the sensible middle ground of public opinion will find it hard to credit that there is a matching middle ground of religious believers.

For a taste of the future, look at the Netherlands, another nation once prized for its liberal values and tolerant views. Three months ago, I asked Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch MP noted for her criticism of Islam, to contribute to a TV programme about faith in a secular world. Ms Hirsi Ali was eager to participate: she wanted to celebrate Dutch society and its freedoms as much as criticise her co-religionists.

But a month later, Theo van Gogh, the film-maker, with whom Ms Hirsi Ali had collaborated on a film that attacked Islam’s attitudes to women, was murdered by a Muslim fanatic, and she was forced into hiding. The killing transformed the broadminded, laid-back Dutch. A revenge-seeking mob defaced mosques, vandalised Muslim neighbourhoods and abused Muslims. Even mainstream opinion proclaims that it has had enough of what it regards as illiberal Muslim ways. To protect their liberal beliefs, the Dutch are in danger of taking the thoroughly illiberal route of persecuting a minority. “Going Dutch” is now a sinister prospect. It may be Britain’s fate.