A conversation with a Leftist activist
AAABTonto: This is an article by Robert Spencer that he posted at Jihad Watch, I thought you all might enjoy …
Recently a man named Richard Potter, who describes himself as a “social worker and activist” and is a contributor to Your Middle East, began writing me rude messages on Twitter. We ended up having a long exchange about debating, and ultimately he sent me a long email explaining why he thought my work was “belittling” to Muslims.
Since I think Potter’s beliefs and assumptions about my work are commonly held, at least among Leftists and Islamic supremacists, and since views such as his are obviously mainstream given the British banning and other cancellations of my talks, I thought I’d present Potter’s letter here with my answers interspersed, by way of explaining why I do what I do. Note that this is not a back-and-forth, but my responses to his many particular points in one long email. (Potter’s spelling and grammar are unaltered from his original email.)
Potter: Your attacks on Islam are belittling and hurtful to Muslims in the same ways that attacks on the bible, Catholicism, and Christianity are belittling to their believers.
Spencer: So you think that Christopher Hitchens’ attacks on Christianity are just as bad as my writings? Do you think there is any place for criticism of a religion, or do you think that religions should be off-limits to criticism? I am a Christian myself and don’t think that attacks on the Bible or the faith are in the least belittling as such — in fact, I welcome them. If one’s faith can’t withstand critics and criticism, then I am not sure it is worth holding.
Potter: I could very easily point out the correlation between violence against Homosexuals in America and Christianity, especially because it is supported by scripture.
Spencer: Could you really? Could you point me to a case where someone attacked a homosexual and quoted scripture to justify it? I can give you 1000 cases (and more) where Muslims killed someone and quoted Qur’an to justify it. Is it wrong to point out that they do that? Is it belittling? And if you come back and say, “No, but you tar all Muslims with responsibility and guilt for such instances,” I would ask you to provide even one example where I’ve actually done that.
Potter: I could point out that the Catholic Churches belief in the limit to err within it’s own hierarchy and scriptural supported belief to handle matters internally has led to an epidemic of pedophilia and child abuse,
Spencer: You could make a case for that. Are you saying that it would be inherently wrong or belittling to do so? Or are you saying that because a case can be made against the Catholic Church, one should not make any case against Islam?
Potter: I could point out that the scriptural support that it is good and justifiable to own slaves lent itself all too easily to centuries of it in the United States, and it still continues in parts of the Global South today with similar justifications.