[rmnunez]

Religions don't "cycle" through patterns of prevailing conduct, there are paralels between the evolution of Chritianity and Islam, but this does not mean Muslims are now experiencing something akin to whatever Christians once went through and will subsequently move on to whatever followed that earlier Christian experience.

For the paralel to apply Muslims would need to follow a redeeming prophet who taught mercy and tolerance, this isn't the case. They would need to have had an early disciple to Mohammed who had set up some sort of religious clerical structure and then institutionalized this globally. They would have had to experience the clash of scientific thought with religious fundamentalism, then built upon this the development of representative government with a strong fiscalizing concept and include a class-based democratic revolution calling for church-state separation.

Muslims share a faith whose prophet was a military leader and governor, things Christ never was. Muslim devotion to Mohammed emulates this prophet's conduct and teachings which focused on military conquest of heathens and authoritarian rule -both features of the establishment against which Christ struggled and for which he was martyrized. The outlook is entirely different for fundamentalists in Islam and those of a Christian background.

Additionally, there seem to be many more Islamic fundamentlists and these seem to be better situated to cause harm. Christian 'fundies' are mostly isolated at the fringe of the law in remote comunes associated in survivalist circles, they lack political connections or much influence beyond the small and usually familial ties of their small community (think Waco). Islamic fundamentalists are at the seat of power in several Muslim countries, they preside courts, disburse public assistance and formulate foreign policy for their governments. This makes Islamic fundamentalists much more dangerous and enhances the chances others will suffer through their distorted and intolerant conduct (particularly foreigners -whom they refer to as "infidels") .