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shafique wrote:Spencer running away from debates, must read:
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/06/danios ... -a-debate/

The record of Pope Pius XII is controversial, but there has been a good deal of misinformation publicized about it. In reality, he helped save many hundreds of thousands of Jews and was memorialized at Yad Veshem.

The Council on American Islamic Relations says that its mission is "to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue," and "build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding." The UK "Islam Is Peace" campaign says it wants "to create dialogue."

And over the years I have participated in many discussions and debates with Muslim spokesmen, including, among others, Salam Al-Marayati of MPAC, Hussam Ayloush of CAIR, Hussein Ibish, then of the ADC, As'ad AbuKhalil, who calls himself the "Angry Arab," Muqtedar Khan of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, and, years ago on MSNBC, CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper. I was once even on a BBC panel with the jihadist Sheikh Omar Bakri. Bakri differed markedly from those and others "moderate" Muslim spokesmen in that he actually made arguments for his positions, and did not content himself simply with making personal attacks and heaping abuse upon his opponent. Insults are not arguments, but all too many Muslim spokesmen in America today seem not to be able to distinguish the two. You can see Ayloush and AbuKhalil slinging mud lustily and avoiding substantive issues in earnest here.

Meanwhile, others whom one might expect would debate in a more civil and rational fashion refuse to debate at all. Akbar Ahmed of American University was allowed to comment on my interview with C-Span's Brian Lamb in 2006 before that interview even aired. In the course of doing so, he said: "I know the work of Dr. Spencer and I know a lot of these arguments because I’ve been a scholar of Islam for the last several decades. So, I’m very aware with all my friends and colleagues. And we interact with them. We debate. We discuss." But he ignored my invitations to debate or dialogue (with the exception of one noncommittal email saying he was looking forward to "talking soon"), and responded to my statements on C-Span with evasions and irrelevancies. Others who have attacked my work but declined to discuss it or debate me include Ahmed Afzaal, Omid Safi, Jamal Badawi, and non-Muslim academic propagandist Carl Ernst.

This is not to say no one has been willing to discuss these matters with me. Ali Eteraz was willing, but he proved not a little disingenuous. And so it remains true that Islamic spokesmen, while denigrating and dismissing my work, have never actually refuted it.....

shafique wrote:Spencer running away from debates, must read:
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/06/danios ... -a-debate/

Danios at Loonwatch wrote:In the same post, Robert Spencer bellows:

Bob wrote:The list of the Leftist and Muslim academics and apologists who have refused my challenge to debate is very long; they know they can’t refute what I say on the basis of evidence, so they resort to broad-based smears and personal attacks — and haughty refusals to debate.

I accept your challenge, Spencer. I agree to a radio debate with you on the topic of jihad and “dhimmitude”, namely chapters 1-4 of your book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). It will then be seen if you can defend your own writing, which I argue is a load of sensationalist crock.

Will you accept my challenge to debate or cower in fear? My guess is that you “know [you] can’t refute what I say” and will “resort to…haughty refusals to debate.”

I predict that the JW minions will give excuses to explain away why their master Robert Spencer will refuse to debate me, instead of urging him to enter into a debate as they always do with other people who challenge his ideas. They already know that Spencer does not stand a chance in a debate with me, which is why they will continue to generate excuses to exonerate him from his intellectual cowardice. This is because deep down inside they know–as does everyone else who has followed his and my writings–what the outcome would be.

shafique wrote:Bob Spencer's erudition has been exposed, again:

The record of Pope Pius XII is controversial, but there has been a good deal of misinformation publicized about it. In reality, he helped save many hundreds of thousands of Jews and was memorialized at Yad Veshem.

When this is actually a complete lie. Pius XII has not been memorialized at Yad Veshem.

http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/06/robert ... xii-wrong/

..

Danios wrote:I predict that the JW minions will give excuses to explain away why their master Robert Spencer will refuse to debate me, instead of urging him to enter into a debate as they always do with other people who challenge his ideas.

shafique wrote:You do realise that Bob issued the challenge, aren't you? The loon distortion field can't really change this fact - can it?

event horizon wrote:debating loons and that he sees the futility of doing this.