( CNN ) -- Bill Maher , the man famous for hating religion , is now becoming infamous for hating one religion in particular : Islam . On last week 's episode of his HBO show , `` Real Time , '' Maher got into a heated exchange with Ben Affleck over Maher 's use of sweeping generalizations to define Islam . In fact , Affleck went as far as to dub Maher 's views of Muslims as `` gross '' and `` racist . '' ( Maher had no Muslims on the panel in discussing Islam -- but that is typical for his show . ) Maher 's anti-Muslim comments are nothing new . I first noticed Maher 's Muslim problem in 2010 when he said on his show , `` The most popular name in the United Kingdom , Great Britain -- this was in the news this week -- was Mohammed . Am I a racist to feel that I 'm alarmed by that ? Because I am . ... I do n't have to apologize , do I , for not wanting the Western world to be taken over by Islam in 300 years ? '' This was not about so called `` radical Islam . '' Rather , Maher seemed alarmed that Muslims were growing in population . Flash forward to 2012 , when Maher discussed how women are unfairly treated in certain Muslim countries , which is truly an issue deserving of discussion . But Maher chose not to rely on facts ; instead , he offered anecdotal evidence to support his argument , saying things like , `` Talk to women who 've ever dated an Arab man . The results are not good . '' Well , my Sicilian mother not only dated an Arab man , she married him . And by all accounts , `` the results '' were great . Maher kept on advancing stereotypes about an entire people based on little evidence . He ratcheted up his anti-Muslim commentary while a guest on `` Charlie Rose '' last month . He said that it is `` naive '' to think that Islam is n't more violent than other religions and mocked President Obama for commenting that the terror group ISIS was not Islamic . Maher 's remarks dismayed American Muslims across the country but won applause from all the hosts on Fox News ' `` The Five . '' When you 're a progressive and a gaggle of Fox News hosts praises your views , you know something is seriously wrong . In recent weeks on his show , Maher gave us a long rant rallying liberals to stand up to Islam . For support , he cited the high instance of female genital mutilation in the Muslim-majority countries of Somalia and Egypt . Look , I agree with Maher that FGM is horrific . But as religious scholar Reza Aslan pointed out on CNN , FGM is based on African culture -- not Islam . African Christian-majority nations also have very high rates of FGM . In fact , there are far fewer reported cases of FGM in Muslim nations outside of Africa . Maher continued his personal jihad by claiming that Islam is like the Mafia , in that you will be killed if you attempt to leave the faith . Maher then cited a Pew Research poll that he claimed found that 90 % of Egyptians supported the death penalty for those who left Islam . I 'm not sure where Maher got his numbers , but a 2013 Pew poll actually found only 64 % of Egyptians supported this -- still alarmingly high , but not 90 % . More importantly , Egypt does not define the Muslim world . Rather , Egypt is simply one of 47 Muslim-majority nations . That same poll found that in Turkey , a nation that has almost as many Muslims as Egypt , less than 5 % supported the death penalty for leaving Islam . Maher also has left out that only 13 Muslim nations have penalties for apostasy , while 34 do not . So who truly defines Islam ? To Maher , clearly it 's the worst of our faith . That 's something you would expect to hear from a far-right bigot , not a liberal . New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof , who was also a guest on last week 's show , attempted to make that very point . Kristof , who was interrupted before finishing his thought , remarked about Maher 's comments on Islam : `` This does have a tinge a little bit of how white racists talk about African-Americans . '' Kristof was right . How can Maher not see that he 's mimicking that same type of hateful mindset ? I 'm all for a discussion of the need to reform the laws in certain Muslim countries , especially on issues of rights for women , minority faiths and gays . But painting all Muslims by the most extreme of our faith is wrong . This is the kind of bigotry that Maher would 've rallied against in the past . My fellow liberals should no longer give Maher a pass . His continuous drumbeat of reckless comments about Muslims is contributing to a climate where American Muslims are increasingly seen as `` the other '' -- or worse , as the enemy . Just because Maher is progressive on certain issues does not excuse his bigotry on this issue .
. Obeidallah : Bill Maher is becoming infamous for bashing Islamic religion . Others : Maher has made a number of anti - Muslim comments that some call racist . Painting all Muslims by the most extreme of our faith is wrong and reckless , he says . Obeidallah : Just because he is progressive does not excuse his stance on this issue .