Detail from "Cultures Collide"

Culture evolves.  It is a deep-rooted transition into being, based on years of past practice.  To force a culture to change is nearly impossible,  in my opinion.  In US history, the Christian churches felt they were doing God’s work to descend on an established culture and “convert” them.  Religion is also an evolution in cultural practice.  I was made increasingly aware of this through Dan Brown’s book, The DaVinci Code.  To see how modern religion is a combination of many beliefs and gods was eye-opening to me.

To force rapid transition on a culture has gone on probably as long as man has ventured outside of his boundaries into the realm of anther’s.  Is what was done in the past a whole lot different than what is attempted to be done in the Middle East today?  Is it possible to force a culture to change rapidly?