text: I don't hold this as an absolute, but I do think there's something to the notion that 100 years in the development of a religion is analogous to one year in the development of a person. Islam, which was founded in the early 7th century, is going through something of an "adolescence" right now in terms of its place on the world stage. It's just about where Christianity was in the early Renaissance period.
  
  It took a fair amount of trauma for the Church to finally let go of the expectation that it should play a central role in civil government. I expect the same will eventually come to pass for Islam. In the meantime, the best thing we can do in the West is to stay true to our stated ideal of religious tolerance and impartiality under the law. Otherwise, we lend support to what the Islamic hardliners say about us -- that our democratic ideals are just for show.