But above all, we need a tolerant and democratic society there.

A revived permissive society is not the answer.

The most important lesson is that Islamic organizations can provide the backbone of a tolerant civil society.

Even a tolerant country such as Sweden must not tolerate those who preach intolerance.

Integrating the Mediterranean world into a tolerant community that ensures the peace and prosperity of all its peoples can happen today, because it has happened before.

Despite this, the country has for a long time been regarded as having a very tolerant society, which affords equal rights to all people no matter what their ethnic background.

And as a result it's a very tolerant community, which is different, I think, than something like this, which is in Schaumburg, Illinois, where every little set of houses has their own cul de sac and drive through Starbucks and stuff like that.

While stories from the two young women's friends paint Hicks as an angry man who scared them on occasion, Hicks' wife has portrayed her husband as a tolerant man and claimed that the triple murder was prompted by a parking dispute.

Above all, Swedish politicians must speak out when minorities become the target of hate crimes. Even a tolerant country such as Sweden must not tolerate those who preach intolerance.

Although the image that Italy presented of itself was of a tolerant and open society, it was sometimes tarnished by the racist or xenophobic conduct or statements of Italian nationals or other persons on Italian territory, and by the fact that such statements appeared to go unpunished.

Integrating the Mediterranean world into a tolerant community that ensures the peace and prosperity of all its peoples can happen today, because it has happened before. Such an achievement would offer the world a needed alternative to the increasingly questionable model of economic globalization.