That raises an interesting question: is the 'other' forgiving of Christianity because it has reformed, or simply because it dominates the world financially, technologically, militarily and culturally?
It's hard to hold a grudge against your banker, your teacher, your policeman or your favorite entertainer.
Judaism has also had a reformation, but Israeli politics is dominated more by hardliners, including ultra-Orthodox fundamentalists. Yet countries, including India, want to do business with them, partly because they have excellent technology and can provide benefits to their partners.
So, while I agree that Islam needs a reformation, for its own good as much as for the rest of the world, I am not sure that it will be enough to garner respect from the world.
China has always been respected, in a nebulous way, for its ancient culture but proper recognition and respect only came recently with its economic might. Same is true, to a lesser degree, about India.
You are thinking in the right direction, yet slightly off track my friend. Money without Might is of no consequence. Every nation's first prime aim is self preservation. Expansion will always come next. Self preservation can only come from the barrel of a gun, the sharp end of the sword. Be it your own gun, or one you have sworn allegiance to. The one who has the biggest gun controls the world, its wealth, its resources, and its perceptions. Not the one who has the most money. Take Russia for example. Gutted politically. Gutted financially. Still the No.2 power in the world. Yes still No. 2 - ahead of China, with all its money and growing muscle. China is respected today not because of its growing economic clout, but because of its military muscle that is keeping pace to back it up. India is moving along similar lines. Which is where I see the future clash between Christianity and Hinduism. First comes the respect, then the insecurity, and finally the inevitable clash.
So as it has been down the ages, so too is it today and will continue to be till the end of time. First comes the fist, then follow money, culture and technology. As well as reforms, or perception management, depending on which way one chooses to see it. One can choose to be democratic, enlightened and tolerant when one has a big enough fist to ensure the balance of power is not disturbed as a result of such frivolous indulgences. History is witness to the fact that when the fist grows weak, under the softening influence of too much money, indulgence, culture, and reform, it is rudely pushed aside and replaced by a bigger fist. Simply put, the Muslim world simply does not have a big enough fist, and what money it has is largely controlled in a vassal-like relationship by the Christian fist. And when it comes to fists, as I mentioned before, you either have (or develop) only your own, or swear allegiance (and ultimate sovereignty) to a ready-made another. For no one sells a fist when it comes to nation-hood on the world stage. And the fist is only as strong as the hand that controls it and the fist strikes only where its brain directs it to.
I have two other apparently random though ultimately linked thoughts on the subject. One the role of Technology and Industry in shaping today's political world. The other the possible influence of Geography, and a quirk of fate in History. And the link of one with the other. The map of today's world can broadly be cut into three parts - the Christian world on the left, the Other world on the right (dominated by the Hindu and the Chinese world), and the Muslim world sandwiched smack dab in the center.
The Muslim world suffered a few serious disadvantages down the ages. 1) It came in last, giving the others the first mover advantage in the form of reign and consolidation; 2) By the time it came, it was landlocked. To spread it needed to take on Christianity to its West, and Hinduism and China to its east, and by the path of least resistance, the African continent to the south; 3) The colonization of New World, with its land and resources, was lost to the Muslim world because of the Christian bulwark to the sea; 4) The Muslim world spread to a limit to the East, but was never able to absorb either the Hindu or the Chinese civilizations, getting absorbed instead into these ancient cultures, with culturally congruent but limited religious off-shoots in a huge ocean of the non-converted original faiths; 5) To the West they were beaten back, and over time the Muslim world regressed through excesses and over-indulgence and in-fighting into a soft power - Europe was lost; 6) The New World meanwhile was colonized by the sea-faring Christian world, at the ends of the sword and the cannon and the six-gun; 7) Centuries of bloodshed on the European mainland culminated in the two Great Wars, that decimated Europe and Britain (and the Vatican) forever as the center of world power, with the pendulum shifting across the ocean to America. Capitalist America. Christian America. Democratic and slowly more tolerant and less racist America. Industrial America with an unquenchable thirst for Oil;
8) Huge as yet untapped reserves of oil in Alaska and Siberia notwithstanding, the Christian world preferred to pay for Muslim oil instead. The Muslims on their part were only to ready to swap their camels and nomadic desert tents for gold and diamond encrusted palaces and limousines; 9) But this new found wealth and importance was never ever leveraged for political gains, or self-development towards truly sovereign self-reliance economically, culturally, and militarily; 10) The Muslim world instead was ok with accepting American vassal-ship, in return for easily and readily available security and technology, which freed them from the more mundane needs of life to pursue their religious zeal; 11) But the world had changed, conquests and their aftermaths had consolidated, geographical and political boundaries solidified. And now the Muslim world had sold away their fist to the Christians; 12) Instead of reading the writing on the wall, and consolidating what they held through reform and a more enlightened and liberal self-governance, the Muslim world regressed backwards into religious fundamentalism and intolerance and extremism as an internal backlash against the hand that now fed them - the same hand that for centuries had risen against them in a history of holy wars and conquests in whose lingering martial glow they took refuge and sanctuary in.
In all this what Technology did was to finally bring to an end the age of never-ending violent conflict and bloodshed across Europe in the name of religion. Till the advent of flight, wars and conquests were still slow lumbering campaigns limited in geographic spread and scope, giving civilizations the time to morph and/or assimilate. No more was that true. Airplanes made world wars possible. Steam power and turbines made world wars possible. World wars which shook the balance of world power. World wars which destroyed forever the economic, cultural, and technological power centers. Which bankrupted a continent. To the extent that there was now an all pervasive war fatigue that took over the world which for a generation or two did not have enough able bodied men left to fight anyway.
And then came the Bomb that changed everything man knew of war and conquest in two instants of blinding light. And Islam had lost its last chance for a comeback militarily. There is only one chance for Islam now in today's world. And that is to co-exist - both internally as well as externally. As a religiously responsible third axis. Cause the other two are well entrenched and here to stay.
