To live peacefully is much harder than to make war. To acknowledge the wrong one has done is also much harder. One may deny, even to oneself, that wrong. One may rage against those who tell the truth.

I say:

It is easy to rage against those who tell the truth. It is easy to do violence in the name of one's god, one's beliefs. That has been done over and over, worldwide.

I say:

This has to stop. Immediately.

I call on every Muslim to stop the violence. If any of you, for even a fraction of a moment, was upset by the Danish cartoon, I ask you: look at what is being done in the name of the Muslim religion. It is a violation of anything to do with human decency.

I say:

If the prophet Mohammed were here, his voice would be raised against the violence.

I say:

If any prophet is here, their voice is raised against the horror.

You do not support the Muslim religion, or any decent religion, or any adequate ethical standard, if you in any way support the violence, including if you are silent against it.

I ask you:

Raise your voice against it. Raise your voice in support of caring, decency, every good humane value.

One recent prophet of the Western world has been John Lennon. His most powerful message: Give peace a chance.

I say:

If the Muslim prophet had been alive in John Lennon's time, he would have been with John Lennon.

John Lennon's words:

All we are saying is Give peace a chance

Were he alive in these days, the Muslim prophet would say that too.

It may have been Confucius who said: clean the mountain of dirt off your doorstep before complaining about the speck of dust in your neighbor's house.

That is what I say to every Muslim upset over the cartoon:

Get rid of the mountain of poisonous rage, toxic hatred, evil violence you are doing, and that is being done in the name of the Muslim religion

I say once again:

You are demanding that others change. We may not speak out. We are to remain silent or be threatened by death.

I say:

It is time for you to recognize the horrors you are committing and change. Ask for forgiveness for the devastation you have helped create. Ask for grace, for the hatred and rage to leave your hearts.

There is a Christian hymn, one of the best-known hymns of all time, written by someone who spent years as a slave-trader:

Amazing Grace
how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost
but now am found
was blind
but now I see