This important question was asked and answered by Clayton M. Christensen on 16 May 2009 in a commencement speech given at Southern New Hampshire University.
I encourage everyone to read this speech. Here are a couple of quotes from it that caught my attention:
Too often, as a result, we overlook an obvious fact: finding the right answer is impossible unless we have asked the right question.
You just think that because democracy works for you that it will work everywhere. It only works where there is a strong foundation of this particular type of religion.
Those who seek to minimize the role that religions can play on the public stage are … seeking to minimize the very institutions that have given us our civil liberties in the first place.
The full speech can be found here: “The Importance of Asking the Right Questions”
(Thanks to Marie Norris for introducing me to this speech.)