Bill Maher is not a fan of Islam, and in a recent interview with Charlie Rose, he made no bones about drawing the distinction between the Islamic faith and Christianity, which was especially surprising since Maher is an outspoken atheist.
At one point in the interview, Rose tried comparing Islam to Christianity, and Maher stopped him dead in his tracks.
“No, that’s not true. Not true,” Maher said. “Vast numbers of Christians do not believe that if you leave the Christian religion you should be killed for it. Vast numbers of Christians do not treat women as second class citizens. Vast numbers of Christians … do not believe if you draw a picture of Jesus Christ you should get killed for it. So yes, does ISIS do Khmer Rouge-like activities where they just kill people indiscriminately who aren’t just like them? Yes. And would most Muslim people in the world do that or condone that? No…. But most Muslim people in the world do condone violence just for what you think.”
Maher pointed out a Pew poll of Egypt a few years back where 82 percent of participants said that stoning was the appropriate punishment for adultery, and more than 80 percent thought death was the necessary punishment for renouncing the Muslim religion.
“So to claim that this religion is like other religions is just naive and plain wrong. It is not like other religions,” Maher said, pointing to an op-ed piece in The New York Times that detailed the fact that in Saudi Arabia, just since August 4, “they have beheaded 19 people” with most being for non-violent crimes “including homosexuality.”
“Right, okay, so we’re upset that ISIS is beheading people which we should be upset about but Saudi Arabia does it and they’re our good friends because they have oil. Okay. But they do it too. This is the center of the religion,” Maher said.
Before your Christian friends start sharing this on Facebook, remind them that Bill Maher is no friend to Christianity, as seen in his 2008 film Religulous . However, he clearly shows a contempt for the Islamic faith that goes well beyond his ire for any other type of religion.
He has also recently aided conservative websites with talking points like this sympathetic look towards Open Carry laws.
(Bill Maher 2016 running for the GOP, perhaps?)
Seriously, what do you think about the comments from the story and video above? Is Bill Maher right to trash Islam, or does he misunderstand the faith?
[Image via Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com ]