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Joel Mathis

Ian Burma is the author of "Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance."

Ian Buruma isn't panicking.

Yes, Theo Van Gogh was murdered after making a controversial short film about Islam, "Submission." Yes, another Dutch provocateur has raised hackles in the Muslim world by making his own, similar film, "Fitna."

But Buruma, author of Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance is seemingly unworried that such incidents represent a "clash of civilizations" in which Western values will be buried by radical Islam, thanks to a tide of immigrants flooding Europe.

"I would would say the majority of Muslim immigrants are A) peaceful and B) integrated up to a point," he said. "Certainly up to the same point as any recent immigrant, whether you're Italian or Irish. But there is this revolutionary core."

That core, Buruma said, is made up of fundamentalists who can be found in any religion.

"People are overreacting now," he said. "Some people seem to believe that the only way for a citizen of a liberal democracy to be integrated is to be fully integrated into the culture and to reject their own. I think it's unecessary to demand that. It'll happen naturally. ... I don't think you can force it. What is necessary is that you make sure people abide by the same laws and are integrated citizens."

Buruma was interviewed by Joel Mathis on April 3, 2008 at the Hall Center for the Humanities on the University of Kansas campus.