Twitter war: How a 'Muslim atheist' ripped apart a Christian apologist on Donald Trump and ISIS
In what will go down as a golden battle of wit and tweets, Twitter titan Ali A Rizvi (Pakistani-Canadian author, musician and physician and an avowed "Muslim Atheist") took on CJ Werleman (whose book The New Atheist Threat: The Dangerous Rise of Secular Extemists was an international bestseller) on what he thought was an insult to "liberal and atheist Muslims". Rizvi, who is penning his first book The Atheist Muslim: Losing My Religion but Not My Identity, is a self-proclaimed champion of reform from within Islam in order to take on the twin menace of both radical religious fundamentalists like ISIS and their white, xenophobic counterparts in Donald Trump, Tea Party and the European neo-Nazi groups. CJ Werleman, on the other hand, is a staunch anti-atheist, who, however, considers atheism as a typical Western phenomenon, citing Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens in any argument, but never for once digging into the rich history of atheism in Islamic and other religious traditions.
It all started when a Twitter follower of Rizvi pointed out that CJ Werleman had said "OMG! Look how Fascist Atheism is spinning Trump, whose view they share" as a comment to Rizvi's tweet "Liberal failure to take on Islamism from position of moral strength/honesty has enabled Trump to do it frm a position of xenophobic bigotry."
Rizvi then bludgeoned Werleman with an eleven-point sledgehammer of a tweet-storm, dissecting each and every baseless allegation that the latter has been hurling at Muslims and atheists. Read them below!
@aliamjadrizvi hope you remember (when next you compliment him) that buffoon CJ, calls you a Fascist. pic.twitter.com/B3NjKuMUm9
— Tom Witheford (@ThomasWitheford) December 9, 2015@ThomasWitheford I hear you. Doing the JerrySpringer thing is @cjwerleman's schtick but I'm more interested in good ideas, even if from him.
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 1. Backing your MENA liberal counterparts like RaifBadawi; not sympathizing w/ideology oppressing them; https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman Not confusing oppressive belief systems w/the ppl victimized by them. Attack the 1st, protect the 2nd. https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 3. Opposing misogyny & bigotry in the Quran just as you do when it's in the Bible or in a Trump speech. https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 4. Not holding "them" to a different standard as you would hold your fellow Westerner. https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 5. Not excusing killing of apostates & sex slavery of Yazidi girls as "reaction to US foreign policy." https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 6. Learning to differentiate b/w criticizing an idea (Islam) & demonizing people (Muslims). https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 7. Seeing how ridiculous it is if you criticize the US & someone says "Not all Americans!" every time. https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 8. You know you'd never call Galileo & Darwin "House Xtians." Afford same respect to Muslim dissidents. https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 9. Understanding what George Orwell said about people like you in 1942: https://t.co/eDxeHUFbOa pic.twitter.com/CL3peznvLF
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 10.Helping ur liberal MidEast counterparts responsibly fight Islamism; not letting Trump fill the void. https://t.co/3dNFpE4p4E
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015.@cjwerleman 11. And finally - never beginning a statement with "I'm not defending FGM, BUT...": pic.twitter.com/OvVlnsE2vd
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) December 9, 2015