Yea, to piggy back on the end, it seems Aslan's argument is self-defeating in some ways:
He points towards secular countries with majority Muslim population to contrast against SA or Iran but neglects to mention:
A) Secularism by definition for the most part is political and legal structure that is NOT theological in nature (i.e., people wish to separate the religion's laws, structure and way of life from day-to-day law and justice).
B) There are significant sub-populations in some of those countries that have very Extreme views. It's like I mentioned above with
@Ritzy Sharon, depending on how many people feel that way and have power, being a secular country doesn't make it fool proof from religious influence in legislation and justice (The United States and the Conservative Right being a great example of this). When a shooter killer a doctor who performs abortion or Mormon Church role in prop 8, I don't any sane person would argue that religion plays no role in that.
But Maher is a c*nt. I'm in the same boat. At times he'll drop shyt I agree with, but he's a c*nt on a lot of issues.