ve just one instance, one of the holiest mosques in Iraq, from one branch of the Muslim religion, was bombed. It was done by Muslims to Muslims. In retaliation, Muslims have violated hundreds of mosques from the other main branch, and murdered scores of fellow Muslims.

Some people wonder: is Iraq descending into a civil war?

I say:

The Muslim religion is being used to commit atrocities – exactly the message of the cartoon.

I also say:

If the Muslim god exists, he will never permit any Muslim to enter into heaven who has committed any such act of violence. No person involve

Worldwide, there are many cultures of "righteous" rage – cultures where rage and hatred are incited, encouraged, fostered as righteous. I say, that must stop.

Today's idea:

Any Muslim who is not protesting 10,000 times as much against every act of Muslim violence as they have protested against a Danish cartoon that links the Muslim religion with violence is committing an injustice. Anyone who does not protest far more against violence than against a cartoon is doing damage to the Muslim religion, and much more vital, is doing something very wrong.

Many Muslims say: the cartoon is an outrage. One must make no image of the prophet. It defiles the religion. The Muslim religion is a religion of peace.

I answer:

No image of the prophet? All the world can easily see one very powerful Muslim image of the prophet – in the words and deeds of those Muslims who call for rage, hatred, violence. You slaughter fellow Muslims. You murder aid workers. You have created the very image portrayed in the Danish cartoon.

I say:

You prefer to try to kill the messenger, instead of heeding the message and doing what is required: to change.

The cartoon, I have been told, may actually tell two truths. One: violence is being done in the name of the prophet Mohammed. Two: when the bomb goes off, it may not only kill those around him, it may also kill him.

I agree: I see that the branch of the Muslim religion which is supporting violence will self-destruct. Those with eyes to see will leave it.

You demand that others change, give in to your rules. It is time for you to change.

I also say:

Were your prophet here, he would count up every destructive act and hold you accountable. He would throw you out, every single one of you who does such violence or who condones it - just as Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple for defiling it.

In case I have not been absolutely clear:

Many Muslims worldwide have protested against the Danish cartoon which shows the prophet Mohammed turned into a ticking time bomb.

At the same time, Muslims are NOT protesting worldwide in horror and outrage against massive Muslim violence - violence often turned against other Muslims. In Iraq, there is a reign of terror in some areas, with some Muslims murdering anyone from another branch of the Muslim religion. A few days ago (today is Feb. 25, 2006), to give just one instance, one of the holiest mosques in Iraq, from one branch of the Muslim religion, was bombed. It was done by Muslims to Muslims. In retaliation, Muslims have violated hundreds of mosques from the other main branch, and murdered scores of fellow Muslims.

Some people wonder: is Iraq descending into a civil war?

I say:

The Muslim religion is being used to commit atrocities – exactly the message of the cartoon.

I also say:

If the Muslim god exists, he will never permit any Muslim to enter into heaven who has committed any such act of violence. No person involved

utrage. One must make no image of the prophet. It defiles the religion. The Muslim religion is a religion of peace.

I answer:

No image of the prophet? All the world can easily see one very powerful Muslim image of the prophet – in the words and deeds of those Muslims who call for rage, hatred, violence. You slaughter fellow Muslims. You murder aid workers. You have created the very image portrayed in the Danish cartoon.

I say:

You prefer to try to kill the messenger, instead of heeding the message and doing what is required: to change.

The cartoon, I have been told, may actually tell two truths. One: violence is being done in the name of the prophet Mohammed. Two: when the bomb goes off, it may not only kill those around him, it may also kill him.

I agree: I see that the branch of the Muslim religion which is supporting violence will self-destruct. Those with eyes to see will leave it.

You demand that others change, give in to your rules. It is time for you to change.

I also say:

Were your prophet here, he would count up every destructive act and hold you accountable. He would throw you out, every single one of you who does such violence or who condones it - just as Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple for defiling it.

In case I have not been absolutely clear:

Many Muslims worldwide have protested against the Danish cartoon which shows the prophet Mohammed turned into a ticking time bomb.

At the same time, Muslims are NOT protesting worldwide in horror and outrage against massive Muslim violence - violence often turned against other Muslims. In Iraq, there is a reign of terror in some areas, with some Muslims murdering anyone from another branch of the Muslim religion. A few days ago (today is Feb. 25, 2006), to give just one instance, one of the holiest mosques in Iraq, from one branch of the Muslim religion, was bombed. It was done by Muslims to Muslims. In retaliation, Muslims have violated hundreds of mosques from the other main branch, and murdered scores of fellow Muslims.

Some people wonder: is Iraq descending into a civil war?

I say:

The Muslim religion is being used to commit atrocities – exactly the message of the cartoon.

I also say:

If the Muslim god exists, he will never permit any Muslim to enter into heaven who has committed any such act of violence. No person involve

tually tell two truths. One: violence is being done in the name of the prophet Mohammed. Two: when the bomb goes off, it may not only kill those around him, it may also kill him.

I agree: I see that the branch of the Muslim religion which is supporting violence will self-destruct. Those with eyes to see will leave it.

You demand that others change, give in to your rules. It is time for you to change.

I also say:

Were your prophet here, he would count up every destructive act and hold you accountable. He would throw you out, every single one of you who does such violence or who condones it - just as Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple for defiling it.

In case I have not been absolutely clear:

Many Muslims worldwide have protested against the Danish cartoon which shows the prophet Mohammed turned into a ticking time bomb.

At the same time, Muslims are NOT protesting worldwide in horror and outrage against massive Muslim violence - violence often turned against other Muslims. In Iraq, there is a reign of terror in some areas, with some Muslims murdering anyone from another branch of the Muslim religion. A few days ago (today is Feb. 25, 2006), to give just one instance, one of the holiest mosques in Iraq, from one branch of the Muslim religion, was bombed. It was done by Muslims to Muslims. In retaliation, Muslims have violated hundreds of mosques from the other main branch, and murdered scores of fellow Muslims.

Some people wonder: is Iraq descending into a civil war?

I say:

The Muslim religion is being used to commit atrocities – exactly the message of the cartoon.

I also say:

If the Muslim god exists, he will never permit any Muslim to enter into heaven who has committed any such act of violence. No person involve

ndones it - just as Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple for defiling it.

In case I have not been absolutely clear:

Many Muslims worldwide have protested against the Danish cartoon which shows the prophet Mohammed turned into a ticking time bomb.

At the same time, Muslims are NOT protesting worldwide in horror and outrage against massive Muslim violence - violence often turned against other Muslims. In Iraq, there is a reign of terror in some areas, with some Muslims murdering anyone from another branch of the Muslim religion. A few days ago (today is Feb. 25, 2006), to give just one instance, one of the holiest mosques in Iraq, from one branch of the Muslim religion, was bombed. It was done by Muslims to Muslims. In retaliation, Muslims have violated hundreds of mosques from the other main branch, and murdered scores of fellow Muslims.

Some people wonder: is Iraq descending into a civil war?

I say:

The Muslim religion is being used to commit atrocities – exactly the message of the cartoon.

I also say:

If the Muslim god exists, he will never permit any Muslim to enter into heaven who has committed any such act of violence. No person involve

ve just one instance, one of the holiest mosques in Iraq, from one branch of the Muslim religion, was bombed. It was done by Muslims to Muslims. In retaliation, Muslims have violated hundreds of mosques from the other main branch, and murdered scores of fellow Muslims.

Some people wonder: is Iraq descending into a civil war?

I say:

The Muslim religion is being used to commit atrocities – exactly the message of the cartoon.

I also say:

If the Muslim god exists, he will never permit any Muslim to enter into heaven who has committed any such act of violence. No person involved will be welcome near him. Further, he will bar from heaven anyone who has not raised their voice in protest. He will not allow near himself any person who remains silent.

If the Muslim god exists, he will not send these people to hell. To commit such acts, they are already in their own personal hell, a hell made of rage and of the delusion that they are doing right when they are committing horrors.

Where are the imams, I ask. Where are the Muslim religious leaders worldwide, particularly those who denounced the cartoon? More than that, where are all the Muslims who protested around the world against the Danish cartoon? Muslims even burned an embassy, supposedly because of the cartoon.

Why is there no huge outpouring of outrage against Muslim atrocities? Why is any single Muslim at home instead of out in the streets demanding that this violence cease?

Of course, we know where the imams are. Some are speaking out against the violence. Others are the main culprits, whipping up hatred and rage.

So why the outrage over the cartoons?

Once again I say:

The cartoon accurately portrays an aspect of the Muslim religion, as it is currently practiced. Some Muslims, in the name of their religion, support and practice violence and destructiveness, cruelty and horror, devastation and massacres.

Then why the protests against the cartoon?

Many people do not want to see themselves, to see what they are doing. This cartoon reveals them to themselves.

But instead of acknowledging the evil that is being done, the evil that many are doing, they do the easiest thing. They attempt to silence it.

Perhaps, deep down, they are ashamed. Or perhaps many of those who claim to be outraged at the cartoon know that it is easy to frighten others, to threaten violence and do violence. Almost certainly, they have learned to cut themselves off from feeling empathy for those they destroy – as the Hutus cut themselves off from feeling for the Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide; as the Nazis cut themselves off from the millions (Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, etc.) they murdered; as centuries ago, the Christian crusaders cut themselves off from feeling for the Muslims they massacred.

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 tel