The exposure of Muslims to Western culture is not enough. Westerners must be exposed to Muslim culture.

I'm not sure both are enough. I think there's more to the problem than the interface between ethnic and cultural groups, and how they rub up against their unique natures. That interface takes place within a larger context; the melting pot sits atop a fire.

Another observation from the new workplace: It's remarkably ethnically diverse. I'm in the minority, which is not a unique experience for me, but still a somewhat novel one. Needless to say, given the place, all these groups are working together remarkably well.

But how would exactly the same people do transplanted to much different circumstances? Say, the poorest part of a city, jammed together in tenements. Or set down in one of the regions of the planet that's suffering drought or famine? Those circumstances would inevitably generate terrible conflict between the groups. People under stress retreat to the comfort of family or the tribe; and instinctive human xenophobia inevitably makes each tribe suspicious the other is out to corner all the jobs/food/water/everything. Gotta drive 'em away from our waterhole.

From a slightly different angle, consider also that the largest bloc of my coworkers is Indian. American jobs are going to India, but it makes a huge difference that I'm working with these Indians toward a common goal with a common payoff. We all have a stake in peaceful coexistence because it has a tangible reward. (It's remarkable how removing the distraction of survival competition makes it easy to remember how cool Indians can be. They're good coworkers.)

I think that improving the circumstances under which different groups have to coexist will make all the difference in the outcome. As for Muslims moving to Europe, assimilation into the economic and political life of their new countries will be enough to tip the balance toward them becoming simply Europeans of Muslim faith. If the secular parts of their lives are happy, they'd feel less pressure to circle the tribal wagons and cling to religion for support and community.

Further south, the people aren't immigrants in a foreign land, but a similar dynamic applies. The old primate tribal instinct kicks in when they look at how their economies are dominated by Western interests, which system trumpets to the world the benefits it produces; then compare those benefits to the impoverishment of their own countries, and come to the very obvious conclusion that our tribe must be holding out on their tribe. They're Muslims, we're mostly Christians, voila! identifying labels. That's how the conflict in Northern Ireland came to be thought of as Catholic versus Protestant.

All this nonsense blaming the problem on a clash of religions...would anybody be listening to the jihadist imams if their bellies were full and their lives as comfortable as Westerners? We'd all benefit if we could figure out how to share a little better. Didn't our parents teach us as kids that it's good to share? Why are they wrong now?

Or, to quote the words of one of our nation's great Presidents, "It's the economy, stupid." Make cooperation with Western civilization pay off.