I fell in love with Bill Maher during this movie. It was about two-thirds of the way through his new religion-based documentary Religulous and he was talking to two ex-Mormons who claim that the original Garden of Eden was in Missouri and said that after Jesus Christ comes again and God unleashes his apocalyptic fury on the pagans and the gays and abortionists and all the other left-wingers, the new paradise on Earth will be in Missouri again. To which Maher replied, “Branson, I hope.”

Yes, Bill Maher takes plenty of swipes at religious people of all kinds, from Catholics and Mormons to Muslims and Jews and just about everyone in between, yet he is not mean-spirited about it. Fans of his HBO talk show Real Time might be a little surprised to hear this, but it’s true. Maher is just asking questions, the kinds of questions most normal people are afraid to ask. Religion, Maher says, is the last great taboo on the planet. Doubt is his product in this film, and he sells it better than just about anyone.

What surprised me about Religulous more than anything was it’s importance. It is a great film, in my opinion, because it is trying to tell us something that we desperately need to hear. The Dark Knight, while brilliant, is kinda irrelevant. Religulous is actually important. There is a message in Maher’s madness and it’s a clear-cut one: “Religion must die for mankind to live… the hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people, by irrationalists… grow up or die.”

Now, maybe I’m the small-minded, highly-suggestible type, but doesn’t Maher have a good point? Organised religion demands irrationality, it stops logical thought. It is the cause of more death, destruction and despair than any other cause in the history of mankind. We live in the year 2009 and us gay people still aren’t allowed to get married. Why? Because God doesn’t want us to? Why aren’t more people sick of this bullshit?

But I digress, this is supposed to be a review, and not an anti-religious diatribe. Religulous is above all else a comedy. And there are plenty of laughs to be had. In one sequence, Maher interviews a Vatican priest who basically lays waste to common Catholic teachings. In another, he visits the Creationist museum in Kentucky, which promoets the idea that the Earth and the entire universe is only about 6,000 years old (there is even a model of a dinosaur with a saddle on its back). He visits a chapel for truckers, interviews gay Muslims, talks to the Vatican astronomer, walks out on a Rabbi who went to the 2006 Holocaust Denial Conference in Iran and (in a scene that pot-smokers the world over will appreciate) visits Amsterdam and a man who believes in talking to God through the magic of marijuana.

Now by no means is this movie perfect. Maher employs some of the same documentary editing tricks that Michael Moore is famous for, which will infuriate some people. And I’m sure that Maher’s crassness and confrontational manner will get in the way of people getting the message of this movie, which is a shame because it’s a powerful message.

But getting back to my original point: Religulous is not trying to disprove religion. Maher isn’t preaching atheism, he’s preaching doubt and rationality. Which I think we could all do with a little more of. This is a funny, insightful and, in its final sequence, frightening film as relevant to today’s society as any movie made since 9/11. Whether you are a religious person or not, you should see this movie. Everyone must see this movie. It is actually trying to say something important. The economy is in the toilet, our planet is self-destructing and we’re engaged in a seemingly endless war in the Middle East. Religious fanaticism is a battle none of us can afford to fight right now. I don’t want to offend anyone with religious beliefs on the site, I just want to make sure that in all the fuss over The Dark Knight, Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionare that this movie doesn’t get lost, because it’s important. As I said earlier, Religulous is saying something that we all have to hear. People need to realise exactly how dangerous religion is, there’s no point in pretending it isn’t destructive anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Dzt_Tp5VE

If you’re anything like me, this clip will both excite and frighten you.

Hey Chism,

I have to say I do want to see this film, but I honestly don't like Maher. I think he's a very arrogant and unclassy person, who will go for the cheapshot rather than the rational arguments he himself claims to be so devoted to.

LIke I saw an interview he did with Bjørn Lomborg a while back and basically he asked him a bunch of very valid questions, but with Lomborg's replies it became quite evident wasn't very schooled in the subject matter, only superficially. Then after the interview was over (it was via sattelite) he basically turned to his other guests who were Jeanne Garofallo and the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty and started making snide remarks about Lomborg and set up strawmen like "If this guy doesn't think global warming is happening...". This was after Lomborg in the interivew repeatedly had made clear he 100% believed in global warming and that it was a problem. Just such an unclassy thing to do. If you have questions, direct them at the interviewee, don't circlejerk your celebrity friends (MATCHBOX TWENTY!!) poking fun of the guy who you couldn't catch off guard to his face...sorry but he pisses me off.

But maybe this film just seems very irrelevant to someone like me how lives in a country that's in the top 3 least religious countries in the world. And I do think Maher becomes fairly extreme in his pro-rationalism in that clip. Faith can be dangous, but it can also be a comfort. Religion can incite hate and even war, but so can free speech.

I suppose in the US this is all very relevant, but Maher's style seems to be preaching to the converted, he doesn't seem to make an effort to actually convince any religious person, but only wants to ridicule them. And that's fine, because I guess you can't really be evenhanded about something like this...

Like I said, I'm gonna see it, and hopefully I'll get over my disdain for Maher. SO I guess my question is, is that possible, or do you have to find Maher sympathetic for the film to work?

And just in case anyone wonders, I'm agnostic myself.


I kinda feel like quoting Terry Gilliam's Munchausen film which in itself lampoons the age of reason, and is a defense of irrationality and belief in impossible things. Here's Jonathan Pryce's über-rationalist Horatio Jackson:

Horatio Jackson: Ah, the officer who risked his life by singlehandedly destroying...
Functionary: [whispering in his ear] Six.
Horatio Jackson: *Six* enemy cannon and rescuing...
Functionary: Ten.
Horatio Jackson: Ten of our men held captive by The Turk.
Heroic Officer: Yes, sir.
Horatio Jackson: The officer about whom we've heard so much.
Heroic Officer: I suppose so, sir.
Horatio Jackson: Always taking risks far beyond the call of duty.
Heroic Officer: I only did my best, sir.
Horatio Jackson: Have him executed at once.
Soldier: Yes, sir. Come along.
Horatio Jackson: This sort of behavior is demoralizing for the ordinary soldiers and citizens who are trying to lead normal, simple, unexceptional lives. I think things are difficult enough as it is without these emotional people rocking the boat.

Quoted from Death Monkey I have to say I do want to see this film, but I honestly don't like Maher. I think he's a very arrogant and unclassy person, who will go for the cheapshot rather than the rational arguments he himself claims to be so devoted to.

I can't argue the fact that a lot of Maher's tactics are dirty pool.He is arrogant and unclassy a lot of the time, and of course he goes for cheapshots, he's not the only one to do so. But it makes me laugh, I don't know why. I can certainly understand why some people find him less than amusing though.

Quoted from Death Monkey Like I said, I'm gonna see it, and hopefully I'll get over my disdain for Maher. SO I guess my question is, is that possible, or do you have to find Maher sympathetic for the film to work?

There are some of the same tricks used in the movie. He takes a couple of cheap shots and there's a little visual trickery (subtitles, cutaways, etc.) to diminish the credibility of his subjects, but I think director Larry Charles deserves as much blame for this stuff as Maher does. As for Maher himself, there will probably be a few moments where his detractors will roll their eyes, but he behaves himself mostly. Obviously, the movie will be more enjoyable if you're a fan of his, but even if you're not, it should work most of the time.

Well I just saw the film now, and I have to say I liked it more than I thought I would. I still think Maher draws an extreme conclusion and there are several factual errors in it, but it was interesting to see people's faith confronted and how they reacted.

One thing I think he got right was how people would defend their faith (Old Testament and Qur'an especially) with something like "Well that's outdated now."

If God is forever, if he's a supreme eternal being then he does not change, he does not become 'modern'. That's a debate I've often had with people about the number of modern muslims who for instance wears formfitting clothes and don't wear headscarf in spite of the fact that the Qur'an (or Hadith Bukkari or Hadith Muslim) specifically forbids this. IF Islam defined by the Qur'an and Hadith, then by definition these people wouldn't really be 'muslims'. Because like the Imam rightfully says in the film, as a muslim you have to believe evry word and every letter of the Qur'an as God's literal word.
What I tend to see then is a lot of people conforming their religion to their own way of life, and not the other way around. And I think that's a good thing because for me the value in religion lies in faith, not in certainty. Certainty makes you wanna convert other people, and disrespect their values and morals, because you know your own are right. I agree with Maher here again.

But that's also my main gripe with the documentary. Bill Maher focuses all the evils in religion and it's easy to hammer a point home if you show a montage intercutting nuclear bombs going off with prayer. The final remark "Grow up or Die" is extremely judgmental and kinda infantile. People would still be killing each other without religion. Ther would still be wars. He paints a quite naive picture of a religionless world, I think.

So again, I appreciate the insight into why people believe what they believe, but to me I can't bear myself to get angry over it. Maybe that's because I don't live in a country that's ruled by faith, who knows, probably...

But the South Park episode "All About the Mormons" really sums up my view on goofy religions:

Quoted Text Stan ends up shouting at the Mormons that they're ridiculous for believing in it without proof; they smile patiently and explain that it's a matter of faith, while Stan argues that it should be a matter of empirical evidence. He further lashes out at them for acting unusually nice all the time, claiming it blindsides stupid people like his father into believing in Mormonism (to which Randy Marsh unwittingly responds "Yeah!"). Afterwards, Stan's family apparently chooses to convert away from Mormonism and goes back to Catholicism, at Randy's insistence. Stan's anger doesn't much upset anyone in the Mormon family other than Gary, who confronts Stan and the other boys the next day, pointing out that he believes his religion does not need to be factually true, because it still supports good family values and helping the poor. Gary condemns their bigotry and ignorance, stating:     "All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls."

Having just finished watching this film, it's easy to see why religious types do not like Bill Maher.  He listens to them make their argument regarding their religion and then he asks questions, using logic and historical facts.  These people then stop talking to him, some from anger and some from shame.

And he didn't single out one religion.  He interviewed Jews, Muslims and those of various Christian sects.  He inserts numerous video bites in the film to dramatize his point and add humor where it's needed.

It was entertaining and very educational, though it's not for everyone.


Phil

Meh, Bill Maher reminds me of Craig Wasson... I, in fact, do believe they are one in the same and he realized his career was going nowhere, what with his awesome bean dick shot in "Ghost Story" and realized he needed a name change and with it a change in media direction.

I also feel his depiction of Missouri is wrong, as is most of Hollywood's.  Kansas City is a very versed area.  In fact, I believe being from the midwest has helped me more culturally than living anywhere else that I've lived for periods of time.  

And we all know when the rapture hits Jesus will take refuge in Napoleon Missouri, pop 501 for 30+ years.     As a Jew I find him offensive at times, but I think he's Jewish too if memory serves so it kind of null and voids it.  But Mormons are everywhere in Missouri.  I mean, thick!  They won't go away, either.  You see 3 over your shoulder and it'll soon multiply into 10 + 4 on bicycle.  Nutty bastards.

I will admit that Maher can get under your skin, but his depiction of religion and its followers is pretty spot on.  He doesn't rely on blind faith (like those he pokes fun of) but on facts which he readily brings to the table.


Phil