Bill Maher had Iranian-American comedian Max Amini on his podcast, Club Random, where religion came up. Maher is a hard critic of organized religion. He’s not an atheist but a very vocal agnostic. He thinks all religion is stupid, the institution of it, but there is one that is not like the others, and that’s Islam. He’s tired of the talking point that his pointed criticisms are overgeneralizations and marginalize moderates. There are none regarding the latter, and, sorry, but Maher and others do think this religion has bad ideas: stoning women because they were raped is high on the list. When Amini tried to claim that the Bible and the Quran are essentially the same book, Maher said he had to pump the brakes:
Bill Maher shuts down Max Amini mid-sentence after he suggests the Bible and the Quran are the same book with different details.
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) August 17, 2026
Maher is an atheist. Even he couldn't let that one slide.
AMINI: "If they just took the good things [from each holy book] and didn't bother with… pic.twitter.com/wyGbrCOirP
MAHER: "I gotta stop you there, man... It's not really accurate, because the Quran and the Bible are not like the same book, just in a different language. They're just not."
"First of all, the Bible is two halves. One is the Prince of Peace, whose message was very different than Muhammad, who was a warrior. Christianity is founded on being a martyr and suffering."
"Islam, their best century was their first. They came out of the desert and conquered the whole world, and they didn't do it by asking. It doesn't happen that far, that quickly, by asking. There's a reason why the Saudi Arabian flag is two swords."
"Okay, everybody was like that back then. They were just very successful at it. But that influences what's in the book."
"The Bible is an anthology of so many different authors over different eras, and some of it is batshit, and some of it is poetry."
What they did agree on was that the Iranian regime is awful. Amini said he can’t visit because he speaks against the government. Maher then said that while the Minneapolis raid wasn’t good — I disagree — he added that the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti don’t make this Tehran West.
"ICE shouldn't have killed those people. But it's not the same thing. It just isn’t. Get over silliness, you know,” he added. This is a state regime that’s killing people wholesale.
💥NEW: Bill Maher *DEMOLISHES* US-Iran comparisons🇺🇸
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) August 18, 2026
Maher: "Would you go to Iran?"
Iranian-American comedian Max Amini: "I CAN'T! They'll KILL me! I speak against the regime."
Maher: "One reason the Far Left just hates me is that I keep it real about this sh*t."
"ICE… pic.twitter.com/7r9qsiNDjx
It’s remarkable how anti-American propaganda spreads like wildfire among the far Left.