alt.education

on Sun 02 Mar 2008 07:21:35p
last_post@rogers.com posted
in news:58e2874a-3572-4437-bbb8-82583e57d60b@
60g2000hsy.googlegroups.com:

> Robert Spencer is a scholar of Islamic history, theology,
> and law and the director of Jihad Watch.
> He is the author of seven books, eight monographs,
> and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic
> terrorism, including the New York Times Bestsellers
> The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the
> Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad.
> His latest book is Religion of Peace?.

Bullshit. Spencer's scholarship prior to September 11, 2001,
resided entirely within the field of Catholic history. His
website JihadWatch was paid for by David Horowitz, who is a
self-confessed unapologetic American traitor.

Read Davey's Confession to a premeditated publishing of classified
material, not for any stated higher good, but with malice and
forthought intending to damage the United States. He also engaged
in conspiracy at the same time, and admits that publishing the
classified information aided two foreign governments, one the USSR
during the height of the Cold War.



Also noteworthy here is something the original poster felt better
left uncited; where it was published. It was FrontPageMag, which is
David Horowitz's publication.



Note that neither Spencer or Horowitz possess the integrity to
mention their chummy financial relationship on this page.

There is also substantial criticism regarding the scholarship of
Spencer's published books about Islam. Carl W. Ernst, William R.
Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and
Director of the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East
and Muslim Civilizations University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,
has this to say about Spencer's books:

Who are the publishing firms that publish Spencer's works?
Who funds them? Who supports his work? Some information on
these patrons is given below (the numbers refer to the
citations of the organizations marked in bold in the
paragraph above). This information is significant because
these books are not scholarly, and they do not pass the
review of blind refereed evaluation practiced by
university presses. They are instead supported by specific
political and ideological interests through think-tanks
and private foundations. They need to be evaluated
differently from scholarly studies, since their agenda
does not have to do with the scholarly goals of the
humanities and the social sciences. In particular, the
lectures given by authors such as Spencer on college
campuses may be misunderstood as being equivalent to
scholarly research. While it certainly may be acknowledged
that scholarship has political implications, independent
research needs to be distinguished from hired polemics.