Just days after religious scholar Reza Aslan criticized him on CNN for his views on Islam, comedian Bill Maher decided to defend them, this time with actor Ben Affleck, among others, on his HBO show “Real Time” on Friday.

Under the guise of defending “liberal principles,” author and neuroscientist Sam Harris, who sides with Maher during the debate, argues that Islam is the “mother lode of bad ideas” in that it goes against gender equality and freedom of speech, among other progressive tenets.

Affleck, visibly infuriated by the ill-conceived defense of such attitudes, gets into a “yelling match” in which he voices his utter disbelief and disgust at their statements. “How about the more than a billion people who aren’t fanatical, who don’t punish women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches, and don’t do any of the things you say all Muslims do?” the actor points out to Maher as the comedian tries to brush it all off.

But no matter how often people such as Maher and Harris protest that Islamophobia is nothing more than a “meme [we’re sold],” their statements just go to show that this form of bias not only exists but is as rampant as ever, even in so-called liberal circles.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata

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