Even if I believed The Satanic Verses to be a bad book that ought never to have been written and even if I were in favour of capital punishment I would still not believe that the writing of a book, any book, should ever be a capital offence.
Even if I believed that it is God's will that Mr Rushdie should die for writing the book, I should not presume to be His instrument but if I did so believe then I would not need the inducement of money to prompt me to do my perceived duty.
Even if I did need such inducement I should wait; the inducement might yet be increased further.