MARK TAPSON has this to say…

During a panel discussion on religious liberty last week at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., prominent atheist professor Phil Zuckerman declared what we’ve all known but that many still refuse to admit: it’s acceptable to criticize Christians but not Muslims because Christians won’t violently retaliate, reports CNS News.

Also on the panel was Kirsten Powers, a Democratic pundit and recent convert to Catholicism, who questioned why the left targets Christians who oppose same-sex marriage but take a hands-off stance toward Muslims for the same belief. She cited Steven Crowder’s hidden video recordings made earlier this year in which Muslim bakers in Michigan refused his request to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding:

“If these had been Christian bakeries, it would have been on the front page of the New York Times, so I’m wondering why we’re able to have this amicable, disagreement with Muslims for having this view. Why are we not able to do that with Christians?

Zuckerman, a professor of secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, responded:

“I absolutely agree that it is okay for those on the left to critique, mock, deride Christianity, but Islam gets a free pass, which is so strange, because if you care about women’s rights, if you care about human rights, if you care about gay rights, then really Islam is much more problematic – sorry to paint Islam with a huge brush – and much more devastating.

“As an atheist – where on planet Earth is the death penalty meted out to atheists? It’s only in, I think, 24 Muslim countries.

“Where have human rights flourished the most? In Christian nations.

“I see Christianity as a great friend of secular culture. I see Islam as much more of a threat, much more debilitating. I’m not talking about Muslim individuals that I happen to sit next to on an airplane or are my neighbors. I’m talking about doctrines and those that have the power to enforce those doctrines in the form of Sharia law.

“I would never write the same kind of stuff that I do about certain religions – Judaism, Christianity, LDS, whatever – as I would about Islam – just straight up fear.

“I know what keeps me from critiquing Islam on my blog is just fear. I’ve got three kids, so I know I can say anything about Christianity or Mormonism, and I’m not living in fear, which is a testament to Christianity and Mormonism, and that’s wonderful. Thank you.”

Thank YOU, Professor Zuckerman, for openly admitting that the atheistic left is perfectly happy to bully members of other religions that turn the other cheek but doesn’t have the courage to challenge, much less confront, members of a religion that will kill you for it.