I’ve been reading a lot of comments and articles about the recent Charlie Hebdo tragedy in Paris, and one of the more common statements made claims that the journalists somehow “had it coming” — that their cartoons were so “over the top” that they should have expected violent retribution of some sort; even their own deaths.

Well I stand before you today and say such commentary is absolutely PREPOSTEROUS!

Yes, the cartoons were “over the top” — yes, some of them even I found offensive — and yes, it might have even been reasonable for their publishers to know that violent reprisals would indeed come from the Muslim community.

AND YET these facts IN NO WAY excuse that violence!

If I happen to mention the fact that the Koran is indeed a book filled with immoral mandates of oppression & violence, then you as a Muslim might very well be offended, and you would have every right to protest my opinion. You could sit with me and discuss the more peaceful contents of your holy book … You could publicly damn me to eternal Hell at the hands of your supposedly “just and caring” Allah … You could openly ridicule my “ignorance” … You could refuse to have anything more to do with me … You could boycott my writings and any business with which I might be affiliated.

Indeed, you could express your indignation in any number of non-violent ways, AND YET what you most certainly could NOT morally do is attack me physically — or accost or harm my friends — or bomb my home or place of employ — or attempt to murder me or have me killed. All such violent options are per se unjustified and patently unjustifiable. Indeed, they are all directly violative of everything it means to be a decent & civilized human being, and as such are fully unacceptable responses to your personal feelings of disgust or disdain … For such were the responses that we carried out in our species’ embarrassingly primitive past — they are NOT the ones we are to choose in our (one would hope) far more enlightened present.

And so I stand with Charlie Hebdo today … Even though I do not personally agree with the extremeness of many of their expressions, I do wholeheartedly support their right to express themselves however they wish. I am not required to read their more caustic words and I can very easily look away from their more garish images. I can peacefully protest what offends me openly & firmly if I wish, and yet I most certainly canNOT and will not justify violence as an acceptable response thereto … As a moral man, I simply cannot do so — and neither can any Muslim, and this, no matter how devout he or she might be.

There is absolutely no excuse for barbarism, my Friends … and this is true even for those overly provocative folks who “have it coming”.

In conclusion, then, if you are a Muslim who believes that Allah is truly so insecure as to condone horrific violence in response to mere acts of “blasphemy”, then it is high-time you question your allegiance to such a cruel & ruthless godhead …

And in conclusion, if you are a Muslim who truly believes that Islam is and can become a religion of Peace, then it is time for YOU to stand up and loudly protest the fanatical minority in your own religion’s midst …

And in conclusion, if we non-Muslims hope to make any headway in our battle with the dangerously dogmatic, we must remember to do so with compassion and with calm … It does no good to to respond to violence with violence, nor will it help to respond to hatred with hate.

My Friends, there is only one hope when it comes to stemming the rising tide of Muslim terror, and that is to openly condemn the violence while openly forgiving its perpetrators; by reaching out ahead of the next attack to our the Muslim brothers & sisters in our communities — in the hopes that they will then be inspired to enlighten the ignorance of their more backward-thinking & aggressive fellow believers.

Gandhi was right, my friends: there is no way to Peace, for Peace is the only Way … I pray that you will join me today in actively re-membering this Truth.

Thank you.

“Islam makes very large claims for itself, purporting as it does to be the last and final word of God — along with expressing an open ambition to become the world’s only religion. Some of its adherents advocate the practice of plural marriage, forced marriage, female circumcision, compulsory veiling of women, and censorship of non-Muslim magazines and media. Islam’s teachings, depending on context, can be held to exhibit a very strong dislike of other religions, as well as of heretical forms of Islam — often demanding the termination of the same. The prohibition on picturing the prophet Muhammad – who was nothing more than a male mammal – is apparently absolute … Very well then, let any good Muslim abstain rigorously from all these if he wishes, and yet once he claims the right to force me to abstain as well, he offers the clearest possible proof of an aggressively immoral intent.” ~ inspired by Christopher Hitchens

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only Love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.