Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart took a break from spouting his left-wing version of the news to interview Bill Maher, HBO’s favorite atheist talk show host. When the host of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart asked Maher if he ever felt he had affected real change in the political world, he replied that the “needle has moved” away from religion and towards legalization of drugs, two of Maher’s pet political prerogatives.
Maher continued his anti-religious spiel claiming that America is often behind in “the case in social issues” due to its “God-fearing” people. The Real Time host bashed Hillary Clinton for saying her favorite book was The Bible, even insulting President Obama for “spouting spiritual bulls***.” [See video below. Click here for MP3 audio.]
Maher claimed that the newest generation, the millenials, are “not religious” and that Hillary and Obama are a beat behind. The Obama donor called the president “a drop-dead atheist” who uses his allegiances to the church solely for political gain. According to Maher, atheists are “the single biggest minority in this country” which is “so wrong.”
While Jon Stewart expressed his surprise at Maher’s statements, he felt no need to defend organized religion or his own ethnic Judaism from the atheist’s disdain.
See transcript below
Comedy Central
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
June 23, 2014
11:23 p.m. Eastern
2 minutes and 26 seconds
JON STEWART: Let me ask you a question, it has worked. Can you point to that? Are there things that you have advocated over the years that you feel like, you know what, that has had some effect? We have had some issue in the conversation?
BILL MAHER: Absolutely. People used to ask me, would you ever run for office. That's such a silly question. I could never. And if I did, my slogan would be: Drugs are good and religion is bad. Which, uh you can't probably run for office on that in this country, but I feel like, you know, the needle has moved on both those. I think people have come over to my way of thinking. Drugs are good and religion is bad. I'm going to stick with that.
STEWART: I don't know about the religion thing. Do you think this country has moved... I still feel like this for a Western country is probably the most religious. Sort of God-fearing.
MAHER: Oh, by far. Oh, of course. I mean we’re, yes, as is often the case in social issues, a step behind other countries. And certainly about that, uh Hillary Clinton just said her favorite book was the Bible.
STEWART: Wasn't that, I thought that was so funny.
MAHER: You couldn't find something more violent like Game Of Thrones? That's so a beat behind, you know. That's just certainly not where the millennials are.
STEWART: What?
MAHER: Who are the millennials here? They're not religious.
STEWART: That was merely an indication that she's running for president. That was not, I don't think in any reality that is her favorite book.
MAHER: Oh, of course not. Well actually, you know what, I don't know about that. She may–you know who is a liar about this is Obama. Obama's always spouting spiritual bullshit, and I don't believe it for a second.
STEWART: You don’t think?
MAHER: He's a drop-dead atheist, absolutely.
STEWART: No. He spent, how many years did he spend in Reverend Wright's church? He spent a long time in Chicago...
MAHER: He never went. He joined because it was politically necessary.
STEWART: Oh, is that true, he didn't go?
MAHER: Absolutely not.
STEWART: Not to the picnics? Not to anything?
MAHER: No, nothing. He joined because he wanted to move ahead in that political world, and, of course, you had to be part of the church.
STEWART: But don’t they say though, that in this country, if you want to be elected, the one thing you can’t be-- you can be gay, a woman, you could be Jewish--
MAHER: You can’t be an atheist.
STEWART: You can’t be an atheist. I find that so bizarre.
MAHER: So bizarre and so wrong because it is the single biggest minority in this country.
STEWART: Atheists?
MAHER: Absolutely.
