My understanding is that the religion itself has many tenets which inhibit both socialogical and scientific change. Not that Christianity didn't have some of those same characteristics at various times, but...
It's fairly easy to abandon Christianity and continue to live in a Christian society, whereas this is harder in a muslim society, combined with the very act of abandoning Christian thinking often provokes mindsets and tangential thinking which can lead to advancements. I don't think it's a coincidence that muslim countries generally seem to have advanced about 300 years of our advances in the last 1300 years or so, and that's being generous in how the time is scaled...
But would it have remained that way had it been embraced by a Roman Emperor in its infancy? My guess is that it would have been tweaked here and there to accommodate the culture that had adopted it and in the end it would pretty much resemble what we have today.
But it's only a guess.
As an aside, Christian fundys might not be as radical as their Muslim counterparts, but what _popular_ religion is closer to fanatic Muslims than Christian Fundamentalists? I think they have a good deal in common.
Doug
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