Watch as Bill Maher takes on Christian and Islamic fundamentalists over their anti-gay positions, reminding Americans that both religions' holy books call for the execution of gay people.
Bill Maher jumped into the nation's recent debate over so-called "religious freedom" Friday night, reminding Americans that religious fundamentalists aren't out of the mainstream, they are the mainstream.
First, the 59-year old atheist opened his "New Rules" segment by telling the religious right that they've already lost.
"Conservatives have to admit they've lost the culture wars when they're reduced to demanding the right to not serve wedding cake to gay people," Maher preached. "That's the biggest problem facing America, not climate change, or terrorism, or the wealth gap, but gay cake? It's not like gays are asking bakeries to make a giant penis cake that goes from soft to hard and squirts out butter cream," he mocked.
And then Maher told some big truths that most Americans have chosen to ignore recently.
"Ever since Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed his Religious Freedom Restoration Act he and like-minded conservatives have been trying to have it both ways. They hate discrimination, but they love the Bible, a book that commands you to discriminate. That's what it says. Gay is an abomination and we must destroy it by denying it pastry. Of course the root of this problem is that more than half of all Americans believe that the Bible is the actual or inspired word of God. But, now 55 percent also support gay marriage - which must be very confusing. On the one hand, clearly, God has spelled it out. He hates fags. But, you like your gay neighbors Rob and Larry. But, the Bible tells you to kill them. Yes, it literally says kill them. What to do?"
Maher used the example California's Christian attorney Matt McLaughlin, who recently made headlines by paying $200 to file a ballot initiative that, should the voters of California pass it, would mandate the execution of every gay person in the state, or, "any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification." McLaughlin's Sodomite Suppression Act calls for gays to "be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method."
McLaughlin, Maher notes, says that it's "better" that non-gay Californians kill the gays rather than have to suffer "God's just wrath."
And more truth-telling.
"Now I know you're saying, 'this guy is so far out on the fringe,' but that's the scary thing: he's not. And this is what never gets discussed in these 'religious freedom' issues. The reason fundamentalists are so stubbornly anti-gay is they truly believe that condoning homosexuality will bring on God' wrath."
Maher went through a list of professional anti-gay haters, including Rev. Jerry Falwell, whose Liberty University is were Ted Cruz chose to announce his candidacy for president. Also on Maher's list were Pastor John Hagee, televangelist Pat Robertson, who is the head of Regent University, and Bob Jones University founder Bob Jones III.
"Take fundamentalists at their word. They literally believe this stuff," Maher observed. "If you believe that God wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah for being too gay, then, yeah, he must be itching to hit West Hollywood," Maher quipped.
Maher then turned his focus, as he recently has tended to do, on countries that have a majority of citizens who are Muslim, like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan.
"Suffice it to say, in many Muslim countries, you wouldn't have to work hard at all to get signatures on your 'kill all the gays' ballot initiative. In ten such countries, it's already the law."
And he reminded that Mohammad calls for the killing of anyone who engages in sodomy.
Maher then called for moderates to "hijack" Islam, as, he observes, happened with Christianity.
"People say ISIS hijacked Islam. No actually, the opposite is true. Religions do have hijackers, but the hijackers are the moderates, and I thank atheist God for them. They're the ones who took a Sharpie to the Bible and redacted all the crazy parts until there was almost nothing left to read - like an email from Hillary Clinton. And now someone in Islam needs to do that with the Koran."
"There's so much wrong with America these days, take pride in the one thing that is legitimately better. We don't let fundamentalists rule our shit. What's the proof? Our gay battles are over cake. And even then, not once has one of these religious freedom laws been used to deny a gay person his wedding cake. It doesn't happen. What happens is, there's a lawsuit, it goes to court, and the judge says, 'bitch just make the cake!'"
In the end, isn't it time to put hate in the name of "religious liberty" back on the shelf, where old books, and not people, live?
Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1OBnGuJw6k
Image: Screenshot via YouTube
Thanks to Crooks & Liars and Towleroad for portions of the transcript
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