@mushroomanjcc1954

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Bro I'm have to fully disagree with the old testament being worse than the Quran. I dont remember the old testament being cool with multiple wives, especially children
@isthisajojoreference

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I could be absolutely wrong about this but I'm highly suspicious of the 'polls' Sam Harris is referencing. Giving him the benefit of the doubt that they do exist and the numbers he's saying are accurate to them, how were these polls conducted? My guess would be that if you were going to poll British Muslims they would have went to mosques because that's where it's easiest to find Muslims. If that's the case then those polls would be heavily biased towards more conservative views in regards to the cartoonist being prosecuted.
@nexttime3502

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Stop interfering in Muslim word.
@andyb1653

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

It's almost as if listening and understanding nuance is better than being reactionary. Imagine that.
@sohaylmusic

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

All of you so racist asses
@MikeInDubai

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Ben Is a moron
@withbirds

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

love your stuff – ik this is an old video, but I think there’s some mis-info in here. don’t think it’s the right conclusion for someone to take away from this is that Islam and Muslims are the source of the “shitty views” held. I recommend checking out Hakim’s video on a lot of the islamophobia that gets pushed with small sample sized statistics, missing context, and ignoring the root of issues. for instance people cite increased approval for Bin Laden, which they attribute to radically violent views when in reality it’s more correlated with support for the one dude who fought the U.S. especially given our subsequent interference and murder in predominantly Muslim countries. The video for reference: https://youtu.be/E5KH-BSqqKI
@dukedematteo1995

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I lost so much respect for the progressives that thought Affleck was great here. So absurd.
@chrisAclaes

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I wonder how you feel about this exchange now that Harris has revealed himself to be intellectually bankrupt.
@haywirelive

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I dunno man I just don't think it's correct to extrapolate "20% of the Muslim world supports hateful, violent ideas" from one poll about opinions regarding one specific prosecution case with one specific sample of people. To take the result of that poll then site an arbitrary scholarly consensus about the behavior an entire group of people is something I think indicates argument from bad faith (no pun intended). The argument that Islam is not a race is only used to undermine the fact that race is not the only way people can be categorized and otherized. Not to mention that most people implicitly associate muslims with a certain race anyway. When someone calls an islamophobic person a racist this is what they mean. Being this anal about the semantics of that statement I think also belies a bad faith argument. When you really look into it, these arguments are meritless. They are ideas used to justify unjust hierarchies, powerful self interests and privileges, like any bigoted idea. To blame the oppressed group for these ideas is to buy into them yourself.
@roblonsote

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

True that, the catholic church had it's revision in the form of the new testament, unlike the quran which has no big revisions at all, but it's up to the islamic people to do a revision of their religion, it is their fight and no one should intervene in that, BUT, if a country gets attacked by terrorists… that should be dealt with immediately, a few countries attacked terrorist stronghold, supposedly, It could've been revenge to, France sending Rafale fighters, Russia launching missiles from the black sea, I don't mention the US because it's obvious it's the foreign country with more presence in the middle east. Aaaaany way, the point of all this is that it is the 21s century struggle of the islamic people, not the rest of the world.
@erichnk

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

The problem with Sam Harris and many of the "new atheists" is that they scapegoat Islam for what is essentially "blowback" for murderous actions by the US and especially Israel. And, in Sam's case, even go so far as to tacitly support further larger scale murderous actions, like the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Which will, of course, cause further blowback, as, in the immortal words of Malcolm X, "the chickens come home to roost".
@Ag____20000

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

5:22 what about Israel ? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 , isn't that have to do with the Old Testament ?
@maxtew6521

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Love that Tide poster on the wall. RTR!!!
@Charrison9918

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

A very good summary in layman’s terms! 👍
@turtle4llama

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

The root of the problem /isn't/ Islam. Violent extremists are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and atheist. If violent extremism is tied to faith, muslims would somehow be magically more violent, but they aren't. They share about the same amount of violence as Christians their nearest neighbor in size. Saying that violent jihad is a tenet of Islam is like saying child rape is a tenet of Catholicism. It isn't. Are there bad people? Yes. Do their actions have anything to do with faith? Fuck no. ISIS has converts who were raised in the west in non-Muslim families, what is the cultural pressure on those assholes? It's not Islam. By reducing terrorists of any religion to their faith and then attacking that, you are playing their game. They don't give a fuck about faith, they want to be violent against the world that didn't give them everything they could ever want and have an excuse.
@TheEmmaHouli

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Just to point out Mayer's position on islam is well known- when Ben is telling Bill what Bills views are, it's not strawman, it is the literal words Bill has used in the past.
@arronisgoodboy9169

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I disagree to a point when you state that "it's a religion, or a race", while at face value that's true however you can't ignore that it is generalized and treated as a race. Islamiphobia is used as an excuse to target brown people largely in the middle eastern region and while I completely understand that it's okay to criticize the ideas of that religion (my friend is an ex-muslim, and we talk about how our religions have hurt us for being transgender), you can't deny that while Christianity has it's own blatant problems that go ignored and easily forgiven while Islam is only seen in its most extreme scariest form. You can't divorce the issue from race because my friend still suffers from islamiphobia even though they aren't Muslim anymore. In this case it's been tied to racism, and it doesn't really matter to bigots what religion they have or what ideas they embrace. They see all brown people and assume that their terrorists, their concern for what ideas their religion hold is a distraction to justify bigotry.
@lynnerson

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Honestly it just seems like these discussions/criticizing religion is useless. You can have opinions on the certain ways people carry out religious text, but this? Pointless. Extremely pointless. There’s always hypocrisy in these discussions, and it’s always a continuous loop of the same gibberish from both sides. People don’t have talks like these unless they’re trying to put PEOPLE down(why Ben and many others bring up racism), because after all, isn’t there something to criticize in literally every religion?
@hamobu

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Yes Bill and Haris did criticize Muslims and not Islam. Look up islamophobia network.
@alchemist_one

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I think Batman was coming more from a place pure roids more than pure emotion.
@TheRenegadeMonk

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Dude…. you let me down. The people who made those poll's in the reports, tell you that there are too many factors involved to draw the line of conclusions that Maher and Harris jump to.

There is a reason that the West had no problem with the world's 1 billion Muslims until 9-11. The vast majority are just trying to get on with their lives.

How can you not see the relationship between the advocacy of racial profiling and the profiling of millions of people based on the fact that they the name of a religion??

Wahabist Islam is a big threat but it is based in Saudi Arabia so no sanctions there. But many other varieties exist and are in fact more prevalent.

Turn your nuance powers back on and stop falling for such lazy thinking!
@ThaBlkRainbow

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I can agree with you but only to a certain point.

Polls do not show conclusive evidence about an entire culture. All polls have short comings and depending on how questions are worded or asked, can change the answers you receive.

Example) If you had a poll that asked only white people if they believe racism is a problem in America, there would be a majority of white people to say no, but does that mean American White people's culture is inherently racist? I don't think it can be summed up that easily.

I don't think Ben A. was the right guy to focus on in this debate but I don't think he is entirely wrong.

I am always a bit annoyed to hear old white guys with no real connections to a culture outside of their own, comment or critique other cultures as if their biases have nothing to do with it. I am also annoyed when old white guys critique American Black/African-American culture as well. It seems as if they are cherry-picking parts to criticize without thinking about the other positive side of the culture.

Now, I completely agree that we should call a spade a spade wherever it is. Bigotry knows no color, gender, nationality, or other divisions.

However, I find it a bit hypocritical to talk with absolute authority that Muslims are so bad, as if we don't have our own problems.

Bill has often tried to make distinctions about how some Muslim cultures treat women, gay people, and others. He has made several cases about how Muslims are OK with honor killings, and other hardline stances. But I don't hear much of his criticism towards the rape culture, homophobia, and rampant sexual assault that pervades every piece of American culture with the same intensity.

And despite America putting on a show about how tolerant we are of other religious viewpoints, we have a pretty strong and powerful Conservative Christian contingent that is horrifyingly good at putting their priorities first.

We see with the Hobby Lobby decision, the successful closures of multiple abortion providers, and even more draconian attempts to stop women from having complete autonomy over their own bodies. Not quite burka, but not quite free either.
@georgegreig8054

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

but you know Affleck is Batman etc ha ha ha
@a.j.digiovanni3489

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

oh my god THANK YOU, finally a sane perspective on this issue
@noslohcinkin

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

@the1janitor…..Especially relevant after the NYE Cologne Attacks is the important difference between racism, and the quite reasonable contempt for religion, and it's ok to ask why the attackers have something in common, and ask if it comes from a common cultural/religious background. For some time the guys that got hold of the "Left" banner have told us we must respect all other cultures and belief systems, however batshit crazy they are. That in itself is racism, a kind of patronising condescension, the soft bigotry of low expectations.
@bassekaman8315

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Mate your criticism is off base. Sam Harris was talking like Islamaphobia, a word you didn't say once as far as I noticed (which is odd in a conversation about islamaphobia but I digress) was basically any criticism of Islam. That's not what it is at all. Its targeted xenophobia of Muslims. You can say its not racism but its essentially the same as anti-Semitism, fine its not quite racism but it may as well be.Also Sam and Bill called Islam the motherlode of bad ideas, which is wrong and disingenuous. Islam is not the worst possible collection of ideas in existence andyet here are two white men proclaiming it on national television. If you add the context of the numerous wars caused by the US that have radicalised people all over the world, and not even just Muslims, its ridiculous to suggest that Bill and Sam weren't being islamaphobic and that Ben was in the wrong in this discussion. last point is that its 1.6 billion people so even if its 90% that's still millions of role you're generalising as a problem. The real problem is religous fundamentalism. That's ISIS and radical Islam, Israel and Zionism, and Christian fundamentalism that manifests itself in groups like the KKK but also in Russian and American exceptionalism. How can Islam be the mother lode of bad ideas with so much competition.
@juandom6432

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Ok? You're sayin that everyone must point out Islam problems and never deny it, and you say again, that would be the best behaviour. So, why it is racist to say that there is a "problem" with americans from african descent in USA?
It's the firt time I watch your videos, and I dont think that you're not a racist bastard, you seem to be a cool tolerant guy. But your way to depict Islam as a "religion of problem" is kinda subjective. Catholics and Jews do horrible things also, I dont think you ever asked from those people to face the consequences of actions done by some idiot fanatic guys.
@misszombiesue

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

You talk a lot about the importance of having friends who think differently from you, but I feel like being anti-religious would make it difficult to have friends that are religious. What do you mean when you say anti-religious? In general, you seem really "live and let live" but being firmly anti-anything sounds like you can't do that when it comes to religious people.
@BsideBias

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I completely disagree with pretty much EVERYONE in the Video and you. Yeah OK Batman goes a bit over the top but they ARE attacking Muslims. Statistics aren't always accurate and what's worse is that their and your interpretation of statistics is not fair.

Muslims wanting the guy to be prosecuted is not an extremist opinion. It's not. It's understandable given their religious culture that to them what happened was more than just a slight against their opinion, there will always be culture clashes when big things like that happen. If Christians were polled about their acceptance of gay marriage they'd look just as extreme.

Although like many I agree that Islam is problematic – women's rights etc, the idea that your average works in your office is your mate kind of Muslim has to make up for violent or extreme Muslims is fucking ridiculous. It's just not how anything works. You can't say to any minority or oppressed people well some of you are being dicks so the rest of you need to set them straight and take responsibility. That is so clearly racist.
@greenghost2008

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Fuck Islam.
@josephinegeoghegan2913

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

I've met plenty of white Muslims in the UK and one in Ireland. I don't think anyone should walk around saying 'that person is a terrorist.' I am very close to some muslim people and yeah, one person in particular I know frequently jokes about being profiled as a terrorist. I would say, as being brought up catholic, people use religion to take advantage of their evil inclinations and yeah, the identity of some religions makes certain things more likely. I think child abusers became priests because they knew they would be let close to kids. People wanted their kids to be good catholics for complex reasons involving their identity as Irish, being colonized, politics and just generally to be good people. So they let priests take total advantage. And you can be discriminated against in terms of more than your religion, because of your religion (Catholics in Northern Ireland were discriminated against in terms of their education, their ability to buy property) so saying it's 'not racial' is true but sectarianism is really dangerous and its not something most people are familiar with or something we even seem to acknowledge anymore. Now Muslims come from countries where they have very little opportunity or quality of life and mix that with the deep psychological experience of believing in a God when they have so little else to believe in, that can easily be taken advantage of. Then they go abroad and people are racist and they have less opportunities also, still. And sorry, but certain religions do tend to occur in certain countries with certain races, so I don't believe it doesn't originate from racism, and you have to acknowledge that racists use religion to justify their own hateful agenda also. And every time David Cameron says stuff about how it used to be legal to just live inside the rules of the law but now he's cracking down, I get the fucking creeps.
@TMA2

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

bravo, brother. great take on this. and with(out) your permission i'm going to steal "full affleck"
@samantham3366

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

The idea that Islam is made of pure evil and should be destroyed is islamophobia (and it's kind of a problem) The ideology that some of the religion's elements should be criticized is not.
@Sweence

March 13, 2026 at 5:34 am

Love this guy!. Subscribed!