I like Bill's post RE: gradual change. But I like it best with the western notion of democracy as arbitrator.

I accept that we will always have extremes in belief. I believe that as long as those extremes don't infringe upon another's rights, then it's best to leave hands off of them.

And I think that democracy is the best tool we've come up with so far to make sure that the extremes don't drive the machine.