The saddest thing for me is that Maher is so close to a good argument but falls in a pile of bigoted shit instead.

It’s not Islam per se that is bad, it’s any belief system’s claim of immunity to criticism. Once that’s in place, the belief system can be used to justify any base human impulse (because who are you to criticize it?)—-it’s not like Islamic extremists are doing anything beyond the pale for Christian or Hindu or Communist extremists, historically speaking.

Liberalism’s great strength is its acceptance of criticism, albeit imperfectly. That’s what Maher et al should drive home, but they don’t. :(