There has been something of a controversy in the last few days.

An advertising campaign of billboards at a number of London railway stations, organised by a group called the Quran Project, and offering free Qur'ans in English to commuters, has become a rallying point for activists after some of the posters were taken down.

A commenter on Reddit explains the affair in more detail.

Unless some contractual rules were violated, the decision to remove the posters was utterly egregious.

If it is the case that other religions have advertised on billboards in the same manner, there is no just cause for non-offensive Islamic posters to be removed from these hoardings.

On a wider issue, we wonder if it was complaints from members of the public which may have resulted in the billboards being removed.

As Ex-Muslims, we often find ourselves being censored in a similar manner, and for this reason, and for the principles of freedom of conscience and freedom of expression, we support the decision of the company to re-instate the billboards.

We hope that this affair can help to spark a debate about matters of freedom of expression and religion in the UK, and we hope that finding common ground on these matters can help to advance the cause of Ex-Muslims, when they too find themselves confronted with issues of censorship, and curtailment of their freedom of conscience and expression.

This may, for example, involve a critical engagement with the claims made by the Qur'an Project in regard to the truth claims of Islam. In a secular society, such critical engagement is vital.

We hope that Muslims who campaigned against this unfair decision to remove the Quran Project billboards can join with us in having this debate, and supporting the free expression of ex-Muslims in the future.