IT’S BOLLYWOOD VS. THE TALIBAN: And I’m betting on Bollywood, even without the wet-burka scenes. And then there’s the rapidly-growing Nigerian film industry, whose themes aren’t exactly friendly to radical Islam.

These are two reasons why I think that those who seem, like Jim Pinkerton, to think that Islam is an insurgent force overcoming a decadent Christianity on its way to global domination are totally wrong. The Islamic world is, in fact, intellectually and spiritually impoverished (Iran has some good filmmakers, but they’re largely crushed by the mullahocracy, and beyond that, the Islamic world has very little to offer). The violence of radical Islam is a sign of decline, not a sign of vigor. For vigor, look to Lagos, Bollywood, or the global home of vigor: America.