Bill Maher's HBO show "Real Time" devolved into a shouting match on Friday night as he sparred with his guest Ben Affleck over Islam. <br /> <br />Alongside panelists Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times and author Sam Harris, Maher began one of his signature diatribes on what he called the anti-liberal character of Islam. <br /> <br />Harris, a prominent critic of organized religion, lamented the backlash against his and Maher's remarks on the influence of the Muslim religion. <br /> <br />“We have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where criticism of the religion gets conflated with bigotry towards Muslims as people. It's intellectually ridiculous,” Harris said. <br /> <br />Affleck, appearing on the show to promote his new film Gone Girl, couldn't contain himself. <br /> <br />"It's gross, it's racist," Affleck said of Maher's point. <br /> <br />Next came a kind of tag team match as the movie star and the comic ranted at each other, with Kristof chiming in for Affleck and Harris continuing to back up Maher.
