O'Reilly: Bill Maher 'Is Correct' on Radical Islam

The Fox News Channel’s “O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly defended comedian Bill Maher over his recent comments regarding radical Islam on Monday. 

O’Reilly laid out opinion polls that bolstered Maher’s opinion, reported “35 countries practice some kind of Sharia Law, that means they are governed by people who abide by principles of Islam that are controversial to say the least, in some places you can even be stoned to death for committing a sin. A study published by the pew research center asked Muslims if they favor Sharia Law, in Afghanistan 99% do. Pakistan 84%. Iraq 91%. Egypt 74%. Jordan 71%, and even in Great Britain, a national opinion poll found that 78% of British Muslims believe people who criticize Mohammed should be prosecuted by civil authorities.

He argued “Mr. Maher is correct on the overall effect Islam is having on the world right now. The truth is, many Muslim nations have not confronted Islamic terrorism, have not attacked violence in the name of Allah, and have not even condemned the jihad. There is exception to the rule, but they are few. Therefore, militant Islam continues to drive worldwide terrorism and have plenty of sanctuaries from which to commit their evil.” And “Ben Affleck should well understand that he himself would be beheaded in a heartbeat by these ISIS animals, and though even though they are the most extreme element of the jihad, they are not that far away from their fanatical cousins. You may remember that hours after America was attacked by al Qaeda on 9/11, thousands of Muslims, regular folks, celebrated in the streets. They were happy. More than 3,000 innocent people, including Muslims, were murdered. again, these people are a minority but they were not called out in any official way by Muslim nations around the world…most Muslim nations are not joining with the West to confront that [terrorism] therefore, criticism of Islam’s role on the world stage is certainly valid: the Muslim world needs to take a hard look at itself.”

(h/t Mediaite)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett