Robert Spencer

Co-founder of Stop Islamization of America, director of Jihad Watch; vice president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, or AFDI.

Robert spencer

“Of course, as I have pointed out many times, traditional Islam itself is not moderate or peaceful. It is the only major world religion with a developed doctrine and tradition of warfare against unbelievers.” - Robert Spencer

Robert Spencer

Co-founder of Stop Islamization of America, director of Jihad Watch; vice president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, or AFDI.

Robert Spencer is co-founder of Stop Islamization of America, or SIOA, and director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. As a subsidiary of the Freedom Center, Jihad Watch’s primary purpose is to conduct research “regarding the current state of radical jihad theology and ideology." Spencer’s activities are funded in large part through the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Spencer has authored or co-authored several books, including The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America with right-wing blogger and anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller. Along with Geller, Spencer is co-founder of the groups American Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization of America.

Spencer is the primary driver in promoting the myth that peaceful Islam is nonexistent and that violent extremism is inherent within traditional Islam. “Of course, as I have pointed out many times, traditional Islam itself is not moderate or peaceful,” said Spencer. “It is the only major world religion with a developed doctrine and tradition of warfare against unbelievers.”

In recent years, Spencer’s comments criticizing Islam have become so loathsome that fellow conservative Charles Johnson—founder of the popular, right-leaning blog Little Green Footballs—believes he has “crossed the line from simply criticizing radical Islamists to relentlessly demonizing all Muslims.” 

Spencer has also routinely appeared alongside Frank Gaffney on panels parroting each other’s fear mongering about radical Islam’s infiltration of America. Furthermore, Spencer supports Gaffney’s conspiratorial claims that President Obama is a radical undercover Muslim, and that his religious identity and support of an Egyptian democracy amount to an endorsement of the Muslim Brotherhood and its alleged “Islamist” agenda. Robert Spencer and his blog were cited 162 times by Anders Breivik, the confessed Norway terrorist.  

Robert Spencer photo by Robert Spencer under CC-BY-SA-3.0