In their eagerness to play the race card, liberals will occassionally (?) get carried away.

That's what happened to actor Ben Affleck who got into a shouting match with HBO's Bill Maher and neuroscientist Sam Harris over Maher's scatthing monologue on the show last week that harshly criticized Islam:

“Why are you so hostile about this?” Maher asked Affleck.

“It’s gross, it’s racist,” Affleck replied.

“It’s so not,” Maher insisted, though Affleck compared it to using the term, “Shifty Jew.”

“You’re not listening to what we are saying,” Maher insisted.

“You guys are saying, if you want to be liberal, believe in liberal principles,” Affleck said, referencing Maher’s monologue last week. “Like, we are endowed by our forefathers with inalienable rights, all men are created equal.”

Harris, who had complained about criticism of the Muslim religion being dismissed as Islamophobic, countered that liberals should be allowed to criticize bad ideas.

“Islam is the motherload [sic] of bad ideas,” Harris argued.

“Jesus,” Affleck said in frustration.

“That’s just a fact,” Maher said, backing Harris up.

Note to Affleck: While there are certainly black Muslims, the majority of Muslims are non-Africans - Semitic Arabs (Caucasians), and Asians. To try and smear an opponent by calling him racist is so typical of many liberals who, when they feel themselves losing an argument, whip out the race card - even if it's silly to do so.

Another exchange reveals that Maher and Harris appear to be the only ones on the panel who truly understand Islam:

Journalist Nicholas Kristof then cut in, telling Maher he was painting an “incomplete” picture of the religion by failing to account reformers like activist Malala Yousafzai.

“Or how about the more than a billion people who aren’t fanatical, who don’t punish women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches, and don’t do any of the things you say all Muslims do?” Affleck said.

But Harris countered that the strongest voices in Islam belong to not only extremists, but conservative Muslims who, while criticizing terrorist groups, still follow practices that keep other members of their communities “immiserated.”

“It’s the only religion that acts like the mafia,” Maher said. “They will f*cking kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.”

Maher's beliefs about Islam are not surprising given his antipathy toward all religions - especially Christianity. His 2008 film "Religulous" trashed Christians for their belief in an afterlife and the second coming. But at least he has no illusions about the "religion of peace."