Stark himself, it appears, and perhaps some of the contributors to this thread, write as though religious competition is like a footrace, where the athletes begin at the same starting line. Of course, Christianity and Islam had very different starting points and the leading actors in each sought to establish themselves under very different economic, social, cultural, and political conditions. It occurs to me that, given another 600 years to develop without being harassed by the Christians, an even "better capitalism" might have developed from an Islamic tradition. Or if Islam was not inhibited earlier by an already developed religion and later by the technology produced mostly through capitalism, perhaps the finish line of a "victory of reason" would have been reached sooner as well. Pat Gunning