Robert Bruce Spencer (born February 27, 1962)[1][2] is an American anti-Muslim[15] author and blogger, and one of the key figures of the counter-jihad movement.[16][17] Spencer founded and has directed the blog Jihad Watch since 2003. In 2010 he co-founded the organization Stop Islamization of America with Pamela Geller.[18]
Robert Spencer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Robert Bruce Spencer February 27, 1962 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MA) |
| Occupation(s) | Author, blogger |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Organization | David Horowitz Freedom Center |
| Known for | Anti-Muslim views, books and Jihad Watch blog |
Three of Spencer's books reached The New York Times Best Seller list.[2] Reports that two of Spencer's books were listed in FBI training materials and that he had given seminars to various law enforcement units in the United States stirred controversy.[10][19] In 2013, the UK Home Office barred Spencer from travel to the United Kingdom for three to five years for "making statements that may foster hatred that might lead to inter-community violence".[11] He has frequently appeared on Fox News.[20]
Background
Spencer was baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church and joined the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1984.[21][22] Spencer has stated that, under the reign of President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, his grandparents were forced to emigrate from an area that is now part of Turkey because they were Christians.[23] Spencer's father worked for Voice of America during the Cold War, and in his younger days, Spencer himself worked at Revolution Books, a Maoist bookstore in New York City founded by Robert Avakian.[24]
Spencer received an M.A. in 1986 in religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His masters thesis was on monophysitism and the history of the Catholic Church.[25]
Spencer has been harshly criticized by several clerics of the Roman Catholic Church because of his views on Islam.[22] In 2016, as a result of "personal reflection and historical study", Spencer returned to the Greek Orthodox Church.[26]
Activities and writings
Spencer has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history since 1980, but his publications on Islam and Muslims have not undergone academic peer review. They have been published by publishing houses that specialize in the writings of political conservatives, mostly Regnery Publishing or Bombardier Books.[27][28] He worked in think tanks for more than 20 years,[24] and in 2002–2003 was an adjunct fellow with the Free Congress Foundation.[29]
A 2010 investigative report by The Tennessean described Spencer as one of several individuals who "cash in on spreading hate and fear about Islam." The Tennessean investigation concluded: "IRS filings from 2008 show that Robert Spencer earned $132,537 from the David Horowitz Freedom Center."[30][31] In addition to being the editor for the David Horowitz Freedom Center's Jihad Watch blog, Spencer has also written for Breitbart News,[32] and has been a columnist for Human Events, PJ Media and FrontPage Magazine.[2][33]
Spencer co-founded the anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America (also known as the American Freedom Defense Initiative) with Pamela Geller in 2010. The organization is designated as a "hate group" by the Anti-Defamation League[34] and the Southern Poverty Law Center.[35][36][37] Together with Geller he led a campaign to stop the building of Park51, an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center, which they referred to as the "Ground Zero Mosque",[5] claiming that imam Feisal Abdul Rauf planned to build a "victory mosque" to celebrate the destruction of the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks.[2]
Ban from entering the UK
On June 26, 2013, both Spencer and Pamela Geller were banned from entering the UK.[11] They were due to speak at an English Defence League march in Woolwich, south London, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed by an Islamist. Home Secretary Theresa May informed Spencer and Geller that their presence in the UK would "not be conducive to the public good".[38] A letter from the UK Home Office stated that this decision is based on Spencer's statement that Islam "is a religion or a belief system that mandates warfare against unbelievers for the purpose of establishing a societal model that is absolutely incompatible with Western society. ...Because of media and general government unwillingness to face the sources of Islamic terrorism, these things remain largely unknown."[39] The decision was to stand for between three and five years. The ban followed a concerted campaign by the UK anti-racism organization Hope not Hate,[40] which said it had collected 26,000 signatures for a petition to the Home Secretary.[41] Spencer and Geller contested the ban, but in 2015 the British Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal, arguing that "this was a public order case where the police had advised that significant public disorder and serious violence might ensue from the proposed visit."[42][43]
The ban was criticized by author Douglas Murray. He has stated his belief that because Islamic supremacist hate preachers were and are still allowed to enter the UK, and because what Geller and Spencer say is much less objectionable than the views and statements of extremist Muslim clerics such as Muhammad al-Arefe (who was allowed to enter the UK shortly before Spencer and Geller were banned), the ban is unjust.[44] Spencer responded to the ban by stating that the UK had become a "de facto Islamic state".[2]
The government of Pakistan previously banned Spencer's book, The Truth About Muhammad, in 2007, citing "objectionable material" as the cause.[45] His book Onward Muslim Soldiers was banned in Malaysia the same year.[46]
Speaking engagements
Spencer spoke at Truman State University in April 2017 despite protests and a petition against him, having been invited by the Young America's Foundation.[47] He spoke at the University of Buffalo in May the same year, where he was shouted down and heckled.[48] He also spoke at Gettysburg College two days later; 375 alumni urged the college president Janet Morgan Riggs to cancel the speech, but the event went on as planned.[49] Spencer said, "There is one kind of diversity that is not valued generally in an academic setting and that is intellectual diversity."[50] Spencer spoke at Stanford University in November 2017, during which many students walked out.[51]
Spencer has claimed that "a young Icelandic Leftist" poisoned him in 2017 in Reykjavik, Iceland, after a speaking event where he warned Icelanders of the dangers of "the impact of Islam" on Icelandic society.[52][53] A medical report indicated he had been given MDMA and amphetamines.[54]
Spencer became a senior fellow of Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy in 2020, after years of consultations with the group. He is also a frequent guest on Gaffney's Secure Freedom Radio and Securing America TV.[2]
Influence and criticism
Spencer is known for his anti-Muslim views. He comments on radical Islam, Islamic extremism, Islamic terrorism, and Islamic supremacism.[55] His main thesis is that Islam is an inherently violent religion, and that extremists who commit acts of terror are simply following Islam's most authentic version.[2] According to author Todd H. Green, Spencer's commentary on Islam has been regarded as "hav[ing] made a huge impact on the misinformation about Islam that circulates so freely on the Internet, in the media, and in political circles."[56]
Spencer's 2008 book Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs has been seen to have developed one of the most important ideas of the counter-jihad, namely the "stealth jihad" idea that "terrorists aren't America's real Muslim problem", writing that "distracted by foreign wars and the prospect of domestic terror attacks, Americans pay little heed to the true agents of intolerance in their midst", namely the Muslim Brotherhood and its alleged American offshoots such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).[57]
The perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, cited Robert Spencer 64 times in his manifesto and wrote of him: "About Islam I recommend essentially everything written by Robert Spencer."[5][58] Spencer condemned Breivik and said he was unfairly blamed by the media for the attack,[12][59] likening it to Charles Manson drawing inspiration from The Beatles.[2] Breivik has later admitted that he has been a neo-Nazi since the early 1990s, who only in later years exploited counter-jihad writings.[60]
In July 2011, Wired magazine reported that two of Spencer's books were listed in FBI training materials. Both The Truth About Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam were recommended for agents hoping to better understand Islam.[19] His books were later dropped from federal training programs.[2]
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