Bill Maher’s controversial, blunt commentary on religion often draws harsh criticism, especially from the devoutly religious. This time, though, it is not some nut from the religious right with a persecution complex criticizing him. The latest source of criticism comes from none other than highly respected religious scholar Reza Aslan.
On this past Friday’s episode of?Real Time,?Maher went after President Obama and other liberals for saying that the militant Muslims in Iraq and Syria were not truly representative of the Muslim faith. Maher pointed out the practice of female genital mutilation and other human rights abuses that are prevalent in countries dominated by Islam. Reza Aslan, however, said that Maher’s comments are misguided. In an interview, Aslan said:’
“Well, I like Bill Maher.?I have been on his show a bunch of times. He’s a comedian.
But, you know, frankly, when it comes to the topic of religion, he’s not very sophisticated in the way that he thinks. I mean, the argument about the female genital mutilation being an Islamic problem is a perfect example of that. It’s not an Islamic problem. It’s an African problem.”
Image Credit: The Raw Story
Aslan went on to remind everyone that there are countries that are dominated by Christian beliefs who practice female circumcision at very high rates as well. However, Aslan hit the nail on the head himself. Bill Maher is a comedian. He is not a religious scholar, and nor has he ever claimed to be one. His primary purpose is to make people laugh. Is there truth to what he says? Of course there is. But no one can expect a comedian to give the same level of complex commentary on religion or anything else as a serious scholar would. Of course Maher’s opinions on religion are unsophisticated to someone like Aslan. They should be.
Aslan continued:
“But, again, this is the problem, is that you make these facile arguments that women are somehow mistreated in the Muslim world ? well, that’s certainly true in many Muslim-majority countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia. Do you know that Muslims have elected seven women as their heads of state in those Muslim-majority countries? How many women do we have as states in the United States?”
Well everyone knows that the United States is a rather misogynist nation. That’s not exactly news to anyone who is paying even casual attention.
Aslan also pointed out that there are countries that are predominantly Muslim that respect women. Aslan concluded:
“I mean, again, this is the problem is that you’re talking about a religion of 1.5 billion people, and certainly it becomes very easy to just simply paint them all with a single brush by saying, well, in Saudi Arabia, they can’t drive and so therefore that is somehow representative of Islam. It’s representative of Saudi Arabia.”
Aslan does make a good point there. Tarring that many people with one brush based on one defining characteristic such as religion is never a good thing. However, I have to kind of, in a broad sense, agree with Maher. There are some very disturbing things about the Muslim religion, and many other religions. We would do well not to look the other way.
Watch a clip of Aslan’s comments below:
