On Twitter, the noted scholar of religion comedian sounded off about what motivates attacks like the San Bernardino shooting:
"W/ or w/out religion U wld have good ppl doing good things & evil ppl doing evil thingsBut 4 good ppl to do evil things that take religion"
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) December 4, 2015Steven Weinberg said that, and that's how you get ppl who "always acted normal" (don't they always?) dropping a baby off to go to a massacre
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) December 4, 2015Some things you can reliably count on Maher for in the wake of religiously motivated terrorism: a view of religion as totally separable from politics, history, and material circumstances; a literalist reading of religious texts; an absolutist, Manichean account of human nature in which some are inherently good and some are inherently evil; and an itchy tweeting finger. In that respect, Maher and the hardline fundamentalists he likes to skewer have a lot in common where it really counts.