Bill Maher denounced all religions as “stupid and dangerous” on Wednesday night during a discussion about the terrorist attack in Paris on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
During an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Maher reiterated his belief that the Islamic religion promotes violence after the attack which left two policemen and 10 staff members of the paper dead.
“We have to not avoid who did this,” Maher said. “Muslim terrorists. This happens way too frequently.”
Before launching into a defense of his stance on the Muslim religion, Maher commended the 10 cartoonists and journalists who were killed for their satirical cartoons.
“These guys had the balls of the Eiffel Tower,” Maher said. “Their balls were bigger than Gerard Depardieu ’cause they kept doing it.”
“This has to stop,” Maher said, returning to his main argument. “I’m the liberal in this debate. I’m for free speech. … It’s not my fault that the part of the world that is most against liberal principles is the Muslim part of the world.”
“We have to stop saying, ‘Well we should not insult a great religion,'” Maher continued. “First of all, there are no great religions. They’re all stupid and dangerous. And we should insult them. And we should be able to insult whatever we want. That is what free speech is like.”
Maher finished his discussion with host Jimmy Kimmel by emphasizing that the Muslim religion supports violence.
“I know most Muslim people would not have carried out an attack like this,” Maher said, “but here’s the important point: hundreds of millions of them support an attack like this. They applaud an attack like this. … When you make fun of the Prophet, you get what’s coming to you. … This is a problem in the world that we have to stand up to.”
Watch the video below, courtesy of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
h/t Salon
“there are no great religions. They’re all stupid and dangerous.”
I admit to having a lot of trouble disagreeing with that.
Says a man whose simplistic atheistic fervor is tantamount to religion.
Being an outspoken atheist is going to lead one down that path I do believe.
The only reason I don’t say stuff like Bill Maher does out loud is to avoid offending my religious friends. But I completely agree with the sentiment.
Me also.
Stupid ideas and beliefs should be called out early and often. And ridicule, while not a perfect foe for said beliefs, can be very useful.
Many faithful will only harden in their faith when presented with competing evidence, or simple debate/dialog – but ridicule and shame, while initially jarring, can be the seed the eventually grows into someone pushing their faith aside for good.
Go Bill go.