Bill Maher: If You Don’t Defend Freedom to Insult Prophet, You’re an Extremist Muslim

Outspoken liberal comedian Bill Maher took to social media on Wednesday, illustrating his longstanding belief that Islam is not a religion of peace, following the brutal terrorist attacks by radical Muslims at the offices of the Paris-based Charlie Hebdo magazine.

In his tweet, Maher wrote that condemning an attack is not enough and alluded to a previous statement he made last year, in which he pointed to the violent reaction extreme followers of the religion elicit when Islam is made fun of; a reaction that differs starkly from any other organized religion of modern time.

This past October, Maher got into a heated debate on his show with actor Ben Affleck when Maher said that Islam is the “only religion that acts like the Mafia that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book. There’s a reason why Ayaan Hirsi Ali needs bodyguards 24/7.” Affleck disagreed, suggesting that Maher went too far and then attempted to compare his statement to calling someone a “shifty Jew,” which was seen as a grossly contrived misstatement on Affleck’s part.

Charlie Hebdo magazine has poked fun at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the past. Yet, the only religious group that has ever reacted violently to the satirical cartoons has been Islam.

On Wednesday, several celebrities took to Twitter to send out their condolences to France for the loss of life at the hands of terrorists. Affleck did not post a reaction to the radical Islamist attacks. He did, however, tweet about the Peoples Choice Humanitarian Award he received for his work on his nonprofit, the Eastern Congo Initiative, which Affleck founded in 2010.

“I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. But I’m not sure that ‘humanitarian,’ until recently, has been one of them,” Affleck said during his acceptance speech.

Adelle Nazarian is on Twitter @AdelleNaz