Robert Spencer R. Spencer Robert Bruce Spencer is an American writer focusing on Islam . He is the author of six books on topics related to Islam and terrorism . He is the founder and director of the Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch websites , which concentrate on Islamic terrorism and related events . Biography Robert Spencer holds a Master 's degree in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 1986 . He began his career in 1979 at the University of North Carolina . His MA thesis is entitled `` The Monophysite in the Mirror '' and concerns the conversion of John Henry Newman to Catholicism in 1845 and Newman 's denunciation of the Church of England as monophysite . According to the biography at one of his websites , Spencer began studying Islam in 1980 during his first year as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina . He wrote freelance articles for various publications between 1980 and 2001 on Catholic religious issues . In 2002 , he became an adjunct fellow with the Free Congress Foundation . He wrote seven monographs on Islam for the Free Congress Foundation in 2002 and 2003 . He is a regular columnist for FrontPageMagazine.com , and Human Events . His writings on Islam and other topics have been published in various other publications . Robert Spencer is currently the director of JihadWatch , which became in 2006 a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Adjunct Fellow of the Free Congress Foundation . In 2006 , he participated in a workshop on terrorist threats jointly sponsored by the German Foreign Ministry and the United States Embassy Berlin . In the same year , he also participated in a workshop at the United States Central Command . He has discussed jihad , Islam , and terrorism on a variety of television networks , as well as on numerous radio programs . Views on Spencer 's works Daniel Pipes , Bat Ye'or , David Horowitz and Ibn Warraq are among those who have a positive view of Spencer 's works , while Carl Ernst , Mark Levine and Khaleel Mohammed hold negative views . Organizations such as CAIR ADC also hold negative views . Al Qaeda included Spencer in a list of `` Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants '' Khaleel Mohammed and Spencer have had detailed discussions on Front Page Magazine . Spencer 's responses to critics The neutrality of this section is disputed . Please see the discussion on the talk page . In response to criticism , Spencer claims that none of his critics have managed to substantiate their claims of inaccuracy in his work , but content themselves with broad and vague accusations . He says : `` I present the work not on the basis of my credentials , but on the basis of the evidence I bring forth ; evaluate it for yourself . One example : after I spoke at the University of North Carolina , Professor Carl Ernst of the university wrote a piece about me warning that my books were non-scholarly and were published by presses that he believed reflected a political agenda of which he did not approve . That kind of approach may impress some people , but Carl Ernst did not and cannot bring forth even a single example of a supposed inaccuracy in my work . I would , of course , be happy to debate Carl Ernst or any other scholar of Islam about Islam and jihad ; this is a standing invitation. '' [ citation needed ] . He has also said `` It is amusing to me that some people like to focus on my credentials , when I have never made a secret of the fact that most of what I know about Islam comes from personal study . It is easier for them to talk about degrees than to find any inaccuracy in my work . Yet I present the work not on the basis of my credentials , but on the basis of the evidence I bring forth ; evaluate it for yourself. '' [ citation needed ] . Spencer has criticized academics at his web site writing that he opted not to enter any PhD program because he `` could see [ in 1986 ] that Middle East Studies and other departments were becoming highly politicized and retreating from genuine academic work '' . About charges of `` bigotry '' and `` hatred '' from Ernst [ citation needed ] and others he says : `` It is not an act of hatred against Muslims to point out the depredations of jihad ideology . It is a peculiar species of displacement and projection to accuse someone who exposes the hatred of one group of hatred himself : I believe in the equality of rights and dignity of all people , and that is why I oppose the global jihad . And I think that those who make the charge know better in any case : they use the charge as a tool to frighten the credulous and politically correct away from the truth. '' [ citation needed ] `` Invitation to Islam '' On 2 September 2006 a video called `` Invitation to Islam '' featuring Adam Gadahn with a brief appearance also by Ayman al-Zawahiri . In the video , Gadahn named Spencer in a list of `` Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants '' which included George W. Bush , and that if he `` were to abandon their unbelief and repent and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies of God , it would be accepted of them and they would be our brothers in Islam . `` Spencer responded with an article in Frontpage Magazine ( `` My Invitation From al-Qaeda '' , September 6 , 2006 ) in which he publicly rejected Gadahn 's offer and responded with his own counter-offer : Meanwhile , Adam , I have an invitation of my own for you : I invite you to accept the Bill of Rights , and enter into the brotherhood of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison . My invitation does not focus on my religion , although I invite you to that also , but rather on a framework within which people of differing faiths can live in peace , harmony , and mutual respect – provided that none of the groups involved cherishes supremacist ambitions to subjugate the others . Books The Truth About Muhammad : Founder of the World 's Most Intolerant Religion , Regnery Publishing 2006 The Myth of Islamic Tolerance : How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims ( editor ) , Prometheus Books , 2005 . ISBN 1-59102-249-5 The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam ( And the Crusades ) , Regnery Publishing , 2005 . ISBN 0-89526-013-1 Onward Muslim Soldiers : How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West , Regnery Publishing , 2003 . ISBN 0-89526-100-6 Inside Islam : A Guide for Catholics ( with Daniel Ali ) , Ascension Press , 2003 . ISBN 0-9659228-5-5 Islam Unveiled : Disturbing Questions About the World 's Fastest Growing Faith ( Foreword by David Pryce-Jones ) , Encounter Books , 2002 . ISBN 1-893554-58-9 Video clips Video of Robert Spencer on FoxNews Google Video : Islam : What the West Needs to Know External links Robert Spencer 's Front Page Magazine column archive JihadWatch weblog Dhimmiwatch weblog List of articles by Robert Spencer `` Notes on the Ideological Patrons of an Islamophobe , Robert Spencer '' by Professor Carl W. Ernst of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Robert Spencer on Fox News Robert Spencer Interview on C-Span Publisher 's official book description of The Truth about Muhammad by Robert Spencer Hear Robert Spencer Interviewed A 40 minute Interview with Robert Spencer about most of the basic tenents of Islam ( Spencer follows a three minute intro ) Publisher 's official book description of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam ( and the Crusades ) by Robert Spencer References ^ ^ ^ CAIR : Islamists Fooling the Establishment by Daniel Pipes and Sharon Chadha , Middle East Quarterly , Spring 2006 ^ Eurabia : The Euro-Arab Axis , Bat Ye'or , p. 31 , 107 , 206 ^ ^ ( who contributed to The Myth of Islamic Tolerance : How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims , edited by Spencer ) ^ Link from a course website of Prof. Carl Ernst ^ ^ Home page of Muhammad Khaleel - Comments on his discussions with Spencer accessible at 8/28/2006 - The comments are archived here ^ November 11 , 2005 . CAIR press release ^ ADC Op-ed : `` Violence is a human , not an Islamic trait '' , American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee , February 3 , 2004 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Categories : NPOV disputes | Articles with unsourced statements | Islam-related controversies | Christian history | Muslim history | Roman Catholic theologians | Christian writers | American Middle Eastern studies | Critics of Islam | Anti-Islam writers In other languages : Deutsch 