When liberals clash. Last night Bill Maher and Sam Harris tried to discuss the liberal reticence to talk about how Islamic beliefs foster oppression and violence. Things did not go well.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Bill Maher and author and neuroscientist Sam Harris battled actor/director Ben Affleck on Real Time on Friday concerning Maher’s recent remarks criticizing Islam. 

“Why are you so hostile about this?” Maher asked Affleck. 

“It’s gross, it’s racist,” Affleck replied. 

“It’s so not,” Maher insisted, though Affleck compared it to using the term, “Shifty Jew.” 

“You’re not listening to what we are saying,” Maher insisted. 

“You guys are saying, if you want to be liberal, believe in liberal principles,” Affleck said, referencing Maher’s monologue last week. “Like, we are endowed by our forefathers with inalienable rights, all men are created equal.” 

Harris, who had complained about criticism of the Muslim religion being dismissed as Islamophobic, countered that liberals should be allowed to criticize bad ideas. 

“Islam is the motherload of bad ideas,” Harris argued.

 “Jesus,” Affleck said in frustration. 

“That’s just a fact,” Maher said, backing Harris up.

I sort of watched this whole exchange with the same discomfort that a child feels while watching his parents fight. In this case I really empathized with both points of view, but also felt that Harris and Maher were trying to make a nuanced point but could not get past Affleck's hyperbolic responses.

Ultimately I have to side with Harris and Maher in recognizing that simply because somebody COULD be labeled an Islamophobe for daring to criticize a religion that is often under attack by bigots,does not mean that one should not continue to make critical observations and ask probing questions about the tenets of that religion, or the actions of those that follow it.

In some ways it is similar to being labeled a "Trig Truther" for making reasonable and obvious observations about Palin's last pregnancy, or a "9-11 Truther" for suggesting that the 9-11 Commission's report is unsatisfying and still leaves many questions unanswered.

Here at IM I have often been criticized for not talking about the atrocities that occur in Islamic states and instead focusing on the scandals that plague Christians in this country as well as their attempts to hijack our secular government. 

Of course the reason for that is because it is always better to deal with garbage rotting in your own backyard before complaining about the smell coming from your neighbor's.

To be honest I am almost completely repulsed by virtually every story I hear coming out of many Islamic countries. Yet on the other hand I, of course, have met a few Muslims who were extremely pleasant people.

My over under on all of this is that a number of  religions left unfettered represent great danger to those not in a position of power.


While I would more aggressively condemn fundamentalist Muslims for supporting murder in the case of apostasy, female genital mutilation, and barbaric practices in response to sex acts not sanctioned by the Koran,  I am quite confident that if fundamental Christians, and yes even Jews, lived in an environment where nobody dared to challenge them, they would gladly indulge in similar oppressive activities themselves. (And in some places that is happening as we speak.)

There are currently so many atrocities committed by those hiding behind the Koran, that I almost would not know where to start. However that does not mean that I believe the extremists overseas present a more imminent danger to this country than our homegrown extremists here, because I don't.