Bill Maher on terrorism: 'I never hear anybody go 'Merry Christmas'' before a bomb goes off
Atheist TV host Bill Maher took issue with the assertion that Christianity and Islam are essentially similar when it comes to religiously-inspired terrorism.
In a panel discussion on his show, "Real Time with Bill Maher," last Friday, he argued that people cannot say that the recent terrorist attack in London had "nothing to do with Islam."
Louise Mensch, a former Conservative member of the British Parliament, objected to Maher's remarks and pointed to the case of 1995 Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
"It has nothing to do with Islam the same way Timothy McVeigh had nothing to do with Roman Catholicism," she said, according to The Christian Post.
Maher responded by saying: "Every time some bomb goes off, before it goes off, somebody yells 'Allahu Akbar!' I never hear anybody go 'Merry Christmas! This one's for the flying nun!'"
Fellow panelist Timothy Snyder of Yale University came to Mensch's defense and asked whether people would call it "Christian terrorism" when Christians commit similar acts.
Chris Hayes of MSNBC also disputed Maher's assertion and noted that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) "blew up London for 15 years."
"Are there Christian terrorist armies now ... like ISIS, al Qaeda, al-Shaabab, Boko Haram? Are there armies like that in the world that aren't Muslim? ... Can we get real?" Maher replied.
During overtime on his show, Maher asked whether a European country would have the same values and same laws if its population becomes 51 percent Muslim in the future.
"Would you ask that question about Jews ... about Catholics?" Mensch responded, arguing that Islam itself is not the problem.
When Mensch brought up the Westboro Baptist Church, which is known for protesting military funerals and carrying homophobic signs, Maher said that it was "false equivalency."
Maher has frequently hosted Muslims and ex-Muslims who wanted to reform Islam. In May 2015, he interviewed Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim turned atheist who does not hesitate to say Islam is not a religion of peace. In her book "Heretic," she presented her arguments on how Islam should be reformed.
The 60-year-old TV host had also directed his criticisms toward Christianity in the past. In 2008, he made the documentary "Religulous," in which he challenged all kinds of religious beliefs.