"The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power. The problem for Islam is not the CIA or the U.S. Department of Defense. It is the West, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the universality of their culture and believe that their superior, if declining, power imposes on them the obligation to extend that culture throughout the world. These are the basic ingredients that fuel conflict between Islam and the West."
--Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations, 1996

Great book, reading it now. I haven't gotten to that quote, but I disagree with the assumption that he seems to make that Western-Islamic conflict is essentially the fault of the west.

The West's power is declining? It has never been greater, and is continuing to grow.

When Huntington refers to the west's power in the book, he is referring to the west's relative power over other civilizations. Which is in the decline, with the rise of non-western civilizational powers such as China and India.

Though the west is certainly still the King of the Hill, and Huntington is clear about that.

Yo, did any of you all happen to catch that poll where 53% of Americans said they couldn't imagine voting for a Muslim for President! Rightly so! We don't need those filthy ***** running our country. But 35% also said they would never vote for a Morman. And 22% said they would never vote for an Evangelical Christian. The numbers for a Jew and a Catholic was 14% and 9% percent respectively.

Imagine that! In this country where for so long Protesants ruled, more people now categorically rule out voting for a Protestant than a Jew or a Catholic! Evangelicals are being persecuted in this country even more than Jews and Catholics!!

Or wait.....

Maybe y'all repubs should have never politized religion. Ever wonder why liberals hate evangelicals??? Cuz intolerant evangelicals want to use political power to lord over the rest of the country. Jews and catholics are harmless by comparision.

Its a sad day in America when half as many Americans won't vote for a Christian as a Muslim.

Your fault repubs!

check it out at pollingreport.com

Did you have some sort of point?

The large majority of posters here are Roman Catholics.