Ayaan Hirsi Ali debates whether Islam is a religion of peace, wins in a rout

Intelligence Squared hosted some intellectual heavyweights on Oct. 6 to debate the motion: "Is Islam a religion of peace." Those who took part included Maajid Nawaz, the founder of the counter-extremism Quilliam Foundation, who argued in favor of the resolution, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Dutch MP and critic of Islam, who argued against it.

The result? Hirsi Ali won in a landslide. Intelligence Squared polled the audience before and after the debate, and she prevailed over almost all of the undecided audience members and even a segment of those who had previously disagreed with her. Here’s the hard data:

Before the debate:

41% FOR
25% AGAINST
34% UNDECIDED

After the debate:

36% FOR
55% AGAINST
9% UNDECIDED

This will be painted as a chilling sign of the rise of Western anti-Islam bigotry, but I’m not so sure that’s clear. Obviously, Islam isn’t a "peaceful" religion any more than, say, Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism. If the audience was only convinced that the violent tendencies in Islam are on par with those religions, that does not necessarily mean that they’re all about to become fans of Geert Wilders. If anyone had asked my vote, I would have told them that it’s a stupid question.