John Rhys-Davies: "There Is Something in Islam That Is Belligerent, Offensive, Insidious"

While speaking with Larry King, the actor accuses Muslims of enslaving others: "If you’re a black person in this country, and you are not outraged about this, then a lot of your ancestors would be wringing their hands."

As news networks and some Hollywood celebrities are tiptoeing around the notion of Islamic terrorism, Lord of the Rings and Raiders of the Lost Ark actor John Rhys-Davies is criticizing Muslims for turning a blind eye to violence and slavery committed in the name of their faith.

“There is something in the nature of Islam that we are not prepared to recognize, and this is our own political fear,” Rhys-Davies said on PoliticKING With Larry King. “There is something in Islam that is belligerent, offensive, insidious and ideologically opposed to the values that we believe.”

As he spoke, King appeared to squirm a bit uncomfortably before interrupting to ask: “In the whole faith?”

Rhys-Davies made a few exceptions, particularly those who practice Sufism — “an extraordinary bunch of spiritual people” — then added: “There are contradictions in the whole faith. If Muhammad is the last prophet and nothing that he says or does can be contradicted … then you’re always going to have people coming back, like these ISIS people, and saying, ‘But, in fact, slavery is justified.'”

Rhys-Davies said radical Islamists are enslaving Christians and others in some parts of the world, and accused leaders in the U.S. and Europe of doing little to stop them.

Even Muslims he knows and likes “don’t dare to say” that slavery is wrong, he said.

“I tell you, if you’re a black person in this country, and you are not outraged about this, then a lot of your ancestors would be wringing their hands, and weeping in shame. Come on!” said Rhys-Davies.

“If your faith in anyway can justify slavery, then I don’t think there’s a place for you in my society. I do not want to share society with you,” he said.

“I’m damned if I’m going to sit around in a world that will sort of turn its eye to a new form of slavery of the worst sort," continued Rhys-Davies. "I’m outraged when I see published on the Internet Islamic justifications for slavery.”

The actor was interviewed by King prior to the murder of 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., this week, a crime that the FBI is investigating as an act of Islamic terror, but the interview was posted on Friday.

Rhys Davies was promoting Return to the Hiding Place. Recently released on DVD, the film tells the true story of Christians in Holland hiding Jews from the Nazis.

The 26-minute interview also touched on political correctness, which Rhys-Davies asserts has hamstrung free speech, especially in the media and at universities.

“We have to risk saying things that will upset people,” he said. Paraphrasing Machiavelli, he said: “Our princes do not understand that there is a beast … some problems cannot be solved by gentleness.”

“There is something about Christianity that offers hope,” Rhys-Davies told King. “From early Christianity, we got the right of free speech, the right of the individual conscious … the jewel in the crown is the abolition of slavery.”

“My country is pretty morally vacuous,” the Welsh actor said. “There are still moral arguments in the United States. They have almost vanished from Europe.”

Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com