Why are the extremist christians more pragmatic than the extremist muslims?

[pbrower2a]

It could be that Muslim countries largely have a heritage of being colonized or occupied by "Christian" countries. Even Iran was politically partitioned during World War II, and that still has an effect. The worst fanaticism among Christians in recent years was in the Balkans -- in lands ruled harshly by the Ottoman Empire. But even that heritage ended no later than a century ago.

OK, Indonesia seems to be less a hotbed of Islamic extremism than other predominantly-Muslim countries... perhaps because colonial rule in Indonesia ended so swiftly and decisively. The Dutch were ousted before they could reclaim Indonesia from the Japanese Empire. Indian Muslims may be the most placid... probably because the British were even handed between Hindus and Muslims, and the Indian government has generally left Muslims alone. Yes, there was the Islamic extremist attack on Mumbai, and before anyone could ask how those extremists got overland in India they were shown on video arriving by dinghies. There's no safe haven for Islamic extremism in India -- not even in the large Muslim population.

The Shiite-Sunni divide remains sharp... about as sharp as the Catholic protestant divide once was. Maybe the Protestant-Catholic divide faded as secular democracy made pragmatic solutions to social problems more appropriate than sectarian divisions.