Robert Spencer was born in 1962 and is of Greek heritage. His grandparents came from what is present day Turkey. He received his M.A. in the field of early Christian studies, and is a self-proclaimed devout Catholic. According to one source, Spencer was a religion teacher at Aquinas High School in the Bronx where some of his former students remember him arguing for the Bible and against birth control. Students mentioned that he now has between 6-8 children.
Robert Spencer claims that his interest in Islam began with him learning about the roots of his family history in Turkey.
“[M]y family is from what is now Turkey and actually that is the beginning of my interest in the subject of Islam that my grandparents shortly after World War I were offered the choice of conversion to Islam or exile from the land where they had lived for many hundreds of years – that is my family had lived. They were – those chose exile and they came to the United States. They, despite their experiences which involved some violence and some of the – some killings of some of the family members, they were – they spoke in a uniformly positive fashion about life over there and made me become quite fascinated with it such that I took the first opportunity I could when I went to college to read the Koran and to begin studying Islamic theology and history.”
The bloody and confrontational circumstances surrounding the purported personal history of Spencer’s family provide a logical explanation for the animus towards Islam and Muslims in much of the polemical work that Spencer has produced since achieving a public profile through his David Horowitz funded website, JihadWatch. It also explains his hostility to Turkey, and the reason he would join a genocidal Facebook group that called for Turkey to be “ethnically cleansed” of Turkish Muslims.
JihadWatch, the website that is administered by Robert Spencer was founded in 2003. Since then Spencer has published thousands of articles and blog postings, has had numerous speaking engagements, (mostly at Conservative gatherings) and has laid claim to ten books on the “threat” of Islam.
Spencer’s attack against Islam can be broken down into two categories: polemical and activist:
Anti-Muslim Polemicist:
Spencer’s polemical attack is based on his personal study of Islam since he has no formal training in Islamic studies. Spencer employs a number of arguments and tactics in his polemics: projecting the actions of an individual as an inherent trait of the entire group, taking the most extreme opinions and interpretations of Islam and asserting them as correct, normative and mainstream, conflating culture with religion, guilt by association, regurgitating Orientalist ideas, and weaponizing, revisiting and at times forging history to suit his arguments. He consistently forwards conspiracy theories about “Stealth Jihad,” “Eurabia,” genocide in Bosnia never occurring or being exaggerated, eminent “Islamization of America,” and the infiltration of Congress by “Muslim spy interns.”
Spencer’s activist attack against Islam and Muslims initially took the form of speaking at Conservative conferences, Churches and Synagogues, on college campuses for David Horowitz’s sponsored “Islamo-Fascism Week,” on Christian TV Networks such as Pat Robertson’s CBN, giving classes on Islam to the FBI, and engaging in debates with the likes of Dinesh D’souza who dubbed him an “Islamophobe.”
Anti-Muslim Activist:
However, since the cementing of his friendship and alliances with Pamela Geller, European anti-Muslim activist Anders Gravers (leader of SIOE) and radical Dutch Euro-supremacist politician Geert Wilders, Robert Spencer has embarked on a course of institutionalizing and organizing against Islam and Muslims under the rubric of “fighting the Jihad.” He is now co-founder and leader in two new anti-Muslim organizations, Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI) and Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA).
The creation of these two groups by Spencer must be read in the larger context of a growing movement of anti-Muslim/Islam organizations across the country. They are part of what Homeland Security has dubbed the “rise in right-wing extremism” since the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. For Robert Spencer this all boils down to a “Crusade against Islam,” a religion that he views as the “chief rival” to Catholicism, that is “incomplete,” “misleading” “downright false,” and a “threat to the peace and well-being of the Western world.”
I have all the information on Spencer, his address, real date of birth, and information on his family. I want nothing more than to share it, please e-mail me.
His current information should be kept private, but since many of the most famous anti-Muslim activists fake their backgrounds for increased credibility (like the Caner brothers), I’d be curious what the Turkey connection is. He says that his family was going to be forced to convert AFTER Ataturk came to power? That just makes no sense to me. What is the historical incident to which he is referring when he says they chose exile over conversion?
The historical incident? Never heard of wars? Try the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Turkish_War_%281919%E2%80%931922%29
Let me clarify, my holding of this information in no way, shape, or form is a threat against Mr. Spencer. He has the right to lie through his teeth. The only value of this information is to reveal who he really is. We should also keep in mind that he and his cohorts have never shied away from getting personal with people who make them look like fools.
I’m only curious about where his parents and grandparents are from. His answer to C-Span was very enigmatic and makes no historical sense. Lamb tried to ask him, and he muttered something about “what is now Turkey”. So where exactly is he from?
Isn’t it obvious? He’s from hell.
I recently heard a rap song in Greek whose lyrics referred to the fact that the “Turks still have the City” (meaning Constantinople [Istanbul] which is referred to that way in Greek sometimes). So if he uses the phrase “what is now Turkey” might be some measure of Greek nationalism more than anything else. Maybe.
What lies is Spencer telling?
Aoa
kindly if u have robert spencer id send him these links from me with respect
not those kind of respect but respect which every human should have
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/TrueIslamicConceptofJihad.pdf
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Murder-in-the-name-of-Allah.pdf
and tell him that it is gift for you and please read and try to understand that
wssalam
M.chaudhry
Why not confront Spencer’s arguments? Because you can’t. Islam is pure evil; every page of the Koran proves it. More than 60% of the Koran is hate directed against kafirs, particularly Jews and Christians.
yeah moron this site or the other site loonwatch does confront these arguments for example taqiyya http://spencerwatch.com/2010/08/15/silencing-spencer-taqiyya-and-kitman-are-part-of-judeo-christian-belief/
Abdullah,
That will be unnecessary. We have no interest in Spencer’s private life. We are only interested in exposing the shallow, deceptive, and bigoted nature of his anti-Muslim work.
- SW Admin
That kind of information is highly dangerous. Considering that Spencer was mentioned as a Zionist Crusader in Al Qaeda videos means there must be at least one nutjob ready to kill him.
An attempt on his life would make him a martyr for his idiotic cause. No one wants that.
Thank you for this website, a good rebuttal to Mr. Spencer’s bigotry-riddled “Jihad Watch” …hopefully projects such as this will help to expose the bigots of this country who have been clever in making Islamophobia fashionable–especially the Far-Right.
Spencer’s life is defined by two things, a hatred of Turks and a hatred of Islam.
And a hatred of the Truth.
How accurate are Spencer’s claims about his grandparents?
Spencer is a Catholic? I always thought he was Jewish.
Hey! Take it easy on the freak. He needs the money he gets from selling bigotry to feed his 8 kids.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/37045_David_Horowitz_Begs_for_Money_for_Robert_Spencer/comments/#ctop
He may be Zionist, but not Jewish.
He seems to have contradicted himself on numerous interviews. Here he refers to himself as of “Middle Eastern Descent” and a “Melkite Catholic”.
http://www.catholicreport.org/?id=130
He also took offence when a wikipedia page identified him as Catholic but evidently he is as eager to promote the Catholic religion as he is to destroy the Islamic religion.
Yeah, He seems very Jewish in terms of looks but its probably just a coincidence. But his support of Zionism is quite worrying.
Since he has problems with Turks, he always soils himself when “Islamism” is on the rise in Turkey. He could be Armenian also.
Great bio on Spencer. The best summation of who he is yet, and honestly I haven’t found much personal info on him before.
Thanks again.
Six to eight children? I feel bad for those poor innocent souls.
Concise biography. Imagine if you really started digging what you could find! People need to read this biography and realize that Spencer is to Islam what David Duke is to Jews.
Since his hatred towards Turkey and Turks is so deeply rooted within his soul,he could be an Armenian. And because the Turks are Muslims,his obssession and consequently hatred developed against Islam and all Muslims,as a by product of his fundamental hatred toward the Turks.
The smaller the mind ,the greater the hatred and in time the greater the ego as well. It is like a consecutive reaction. One reaction leads to the second reaction and to third and fourth etc…..PITY!
Spencer is Greek; the Greeks have historically had conflicts with the Turks and other Muslims (the Ottomans conquered Greece and Constantinople, for example), and there’s still a lot of anti-Turkish sentiment in modern Greece.
http://www.linktv.org/programs/trails_balkans_ep13
^ Forward to 6:30 and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
He’s also not happy about Turkey’s control of North Cyprus. He brings that up whenever someone mentions Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Also, Spencer joined a genocidal Facebook group called “The Campaign for the Reconquista in Anatolia”. Its goal was to ethnically cleanse modern-day Turkey of its Muslim inhabitants and replace them with Christians.
Advocate the total Reconquest and complete reassimilation of the Anatolia penninsular, eastern Thrace, northern Cyprus, Greater Armenia, The Pontus and Antiochia through the medium of Greek, Armenian, Cypriot, Byzantine, Pontic and Syriac National Sovereignty and on an unconditional basis.
http://www.loonwatch.com/2009/04/robert-spencer-wanna-be-conquistador/
Nassir, that piece is already linked in the article,
It also explains his hostility to Turkey, and the reason he would join a genocidal Facebook group that called for Turkey to be “ethnically cleansed” of Turkish Muslims.
Poor Robert Spencer. He says radical Muslims want to get him (and maybe they do), but his own readers might go on a pogrom and mistake Spencer for a Muslim. Spencer just can’t win!
Assalamu Alaikum (Peace be with you),
You have a great site. I am curious to know about Robert Spencer’s background. He says that right after WW1, Robert Spencer’s family was given the choice of conversion to exile in Turkey.
There was a major population exchange between Turkey and Greece i.e. after WW1, which is called the Treaty of Luasanne, in which literally all the “Greek/Turkish Muslims” from Greece had to move to Turkey, and all the “Greek/Turkish Christians” had to move to Turkey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lausanne.
Even then, Turkey still had Greek Christians in several regions after WW1. For example, the founder of RIM (Research in Motion — makers of Blackberry) i.e. Mike Lazaridis is a Greek ( Christian I assume) whose parents migrated to Canada from Istanbul, Turkey in 1966.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lazaridis
Thanks,
So let me get this right… His family lived under the Shari’ah-implementing Ottoman Caliphate for 700 long years, and then when the Ottoman Caliphate is abolished, and militant Western-backed secularists take over, all of a sudden his family is forced to convert to Islam?
Is this guy for real? Can he get by on anything other than the surety that his audience don’t have a neuron between them?
First of all, he is claiming that he is Greek, but Greeks are Orthodox Christians and not Catholics!
Why is Spencer being more than a bit vague about where he was born ? Sounds kind of strange to me . But as usual islamophobes are acting like chickenshits , I’ve seen this happen with my own 2 eyes . And I’m surprised that dweeb/wimp even has children at all and furthermore I feel sorry for them .
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spencer_%28author%29 Spencer is a practicing Melkite Greek Catholic.
Spencer believes “Islam contains violent and supremacist elements,” and that “its various schools unanimously teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers”. However, he rejects the notion that all Muslims are necessarily violent people. He has said that among moderate Muslims, “there are some who are genuinely trying to frame a theory and practice of Islam that will allow for peaceful coexistence with unbelievers as equals,” Spencer has also said he would welcome any Muslim who renounces jihad and dhimmitude to join in his “anti-jihadist efforts”, but feels that anyone pursuing his called-for reforms will face a difficult task, because “the radicals actually do have a stronger theoretical, theological, and legal basis within Islam for what they believe than the moderates do.” He has also argued that many so-called reformers are not interested in genuine reform, but instead are aiming to deflect scrutiny of Islam.
Perhaps his family’s move had something to do with their religion, but it’s hardly believable that they would be forced to convert unless it was some kind of bureaucratic corruption type thing, as in “We’ve been ordered to move all Christians out of this place(as per the Treaty of Lausanne), but if you convert you’ll be allowed to stay.” This would be similar to the much earlier practice of Muslims bribing Ottoman officials to list them as Christian so as to give up their sons to the Janissaries.
I really can’t see another way, as even the Ottoman empire did not force conversion on people.
I do accept as true with all the ideas you’ve introduced to your post. They’re really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very brief for starters. May just you please extend them a little from next time? Thank you for the post.
Islam is the disease, and Spencer is the cure!
how lame… throwing the blame (and trash) on the messenger… please take care of the sick religion of Islam, stop killing so many innocents all over the globe and maybe people will some day accept you as a religion and not a cult of psychotic murderers….