NEW YORK, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Ben Affleck appeared on Friday night's episode of Real Time With Bill Maher to promote Gone Girl, but it was his angry showdown with host Bill Maher and author Sam Harris that took center stage.
The back-and-forth began Harris, co-founder of Project reason and author of The End of Faith, argued that liberals have "failed" to defend women, gays and free-thinkers in the Muslim world.
"We have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where every criticism of the doctrine of Islam gets conflated with bigotry toward Muslims as people," Harris said. "It's intellectually ridiculous."
The 42-year-old actor and Argo director accused Maher and Harris of making negative generalizations about Islam based on the actions of a few radicals.
"[Your view] is gross and racist," Affleck said, looking visibly incensed. "It's like saying, 'Oh, you shifty Jew.'"
Harris also said Islam was the "mother-load of bad ideas."
"How about more than a billion people who aren't fanatical?" Affleck added. "Who don't punch women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches, pray five times a day, and don't do any of the things you're saying of all Muslims. It's stereotyping,"
"It's 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," Maher said.
"What is your solution? That we condemn Islam?" Affleck hit back. "We've killed more Muslims than they've killed us by an awful lot, and we've invaded more Islamic nations. Yet somehow we're exempted from these things because they're not 'really' a reflection of what we believe in?"
