Saudi Executions, ISIS Atrocities and Media Silence: Bill Maher Draws a Connection [WATCH]

A resurfaced clip of Bill Maher discussing radical Islam with Charlie Rose remains striking, especially because an editor inserted comments from an Islamic speaker that appear to reinforce Maher’s argument. The addition gives the already heated exchange an even sharper edge, as reported by Townhall. The interview took place in 2014, when the HBO host appeared with Rose, a journalist and former CBS News anchor who was later caught up in the Me Too hurricane. Their conversation focused on radical Islam and whether moderate Muslims could meaningfully counter its most illiberal teachings. Maher, who considers all religions stupid, argued that Islam stands apart because of beliefs he described as particularly illiberal. That position has led many progressives to call the comedian a bigot, but Maher insisted he was simply addressing what appears in the religious text. Rose began by asking, “Would you come to this table and have a debate about this with a moderate Muslim?” Maher immediately replied, “Find one, yes. Find one.” Maher then raised comments made by Howard Dean, who had distanced Muslims around the world from radicals by saying, “I’m about as Islamic as they are.” Maher rejected that distinction and argued that a broader connection exists between radicalism and beliefs held across the religion. Rose challenged the suggestion by asking whether Maher meant every Muslim could become a radical. Maher instead emphasized that “There are illiberal beliefs that are held by vast numbers of Muslim people.” Rose answered that vast numbers of Christians also hold troubling views, but Maher strongly disputed the comparison. He maintained that the scale and severity of the beliefs being discussed made Islam different from other major religions. The edited clip then cut to a speaker from Islam Net, who declared, “These are general views that every Muslim actually has. Every Muslim believes in these things. Just because they are not telling you about it doesn’t mean they don’t believe in that.” Maher contrasted Muslim attitudes described in the discussion with the beliefs of Christians. He said vast numbers of Christians do not believe a person should be killed for leaving Christianity, and he also argued that Christians do not broadly support killing people for drawing Jesus Christ. Maher then made his central claim even more bluntly, saying, “But most Muslim people in the world do condone violence just for what you think.” Rose pressed him to explain how he could know that. Maher answered by pointing to polling from Egypt. He said, “First of all, they say it. There’s a Pew poll of Egypt from a few years ago: 82%, I think it was, said stoning is the appropriate punishment for adultery; over 80% thought death was the appropriate punishment for leaving the Muslim religion.” Those figures formed the backbone of Maher’s argument that Islam should not be treated as interchangeable with other religions. He told Rose, “So to claim that this religion is like other religions is just naive and plain wrong. It is not like other religions.” Rose responded that he did not believe the Quran taught Muslims to commit the acts being discussed. Maher flatly rejected that defense and argued that the text itself contains disturbing instructions concerning the treatment of nonbelievers. “Well, you’re wrong about that. The Quran absolutely has on every page stuff that’s horrible about how the infidel should be treated,” Maher said. The inserted Islam Net footage was presented as additional support for his warning. That speaker also described stoning for adultery as “the best punishment ever possible for humankind” when it comes from the Quran and Allah. The edit was a pointed touch because it placed the speaker’s own words directly alongside the concerns Maher was voicing. The article’s conclusion is unapologetically critical: Christians do not engage in these practices on a mass scale, and people can leave a church without fearing death. Maher’s willingness to state that distinction is why the clip portrays him as unusually clear-eyed among liberals with prominent weekly platforms.

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