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Religulous
Bill Maher has taken his crusade against religion to the big screen.
Maher, who has been picking on organized religion for years on his TV shows "Politically Incorrect" and "Real Time," zealously traveled the world for "Religulous," his documentary challenging the validity and value of Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths.
Raised in a Roman Catholic household by a Catholic father and Jewish mother, Maher decided at an early age that the trappings and mythology of the world's religions were preposterous, outdated and even dangerous.
"Religulous," directed by fellow doubter Larry Charles ("Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"), is intended to inspire similar skepticism in others -- and perhaps get nonbelievers to talk more openly about their lack of faith.
"I'm not looking to form an anti-religion religion. That would defeat the purpose," Maher said in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, where "Religulous" played in advance of its theatrical release Friday. "It's the nature of the people who are not believers that they're individuals, they're individualistic. They don't join and all lock arms and say, 'We all believe this and so it must be true because we have strength in numbers.' "
The numbers Maher and Charles really hope to grab are general audiences simply looking for a fun night at the movies.
Maher, 52, who started mocking religion back in his early standup comedy days, has no misconceptions that "Religulous" will shake people's lifelong convictions to the core. He's mainly looking for laughs such as those the film elicited from the enthusiastic crowd at its Toronto premiere.
"I was so gratified to finally go to a screening with people last night and hear how big the laughs are," Maher said. "Because we set out to make a comedy. I always said, my primary motivation was I'm a comedian, and this is comedy gold.
"When you're talking about a man living to 900 years old, and drinking the blood of a 2,000-year-old god, and that Creation Museum where they put a saddle on the dinosaur because people rode dinosaurs. It's just a pile of comedy that was waiting for someone to exploit."
Charles shot 400 to 500 hours of material around the world as Maher visited a Christian chapel for truckers in North Carolina, a gay Muslim bar in the Netherlands, the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, and Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy places in Israel.
Maher meets with priests at the Vatican, chats with rabbis and Muslim scholars in Jerusalem, encounters street preachers in London, and hangs out with the performer who plays Christ in a crucifixion enactment at the Holy Land Experience theme park in Florida.
They left Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism alone largely for budgetary reasons, saying the extra travel and expanded scope would have made the film too unwieldy.
They also figured that Christianity, Islam and Judaism were the trinity of faiths at the heart of Western conflict.
Charles grew up Jewish and once considered becoming a rabbi but was discouraged by his parents, who told him to "get bar mitzvahed, get the checks and then get the hell out," he said. He said he now shares Maher's position: Heavy on doubt about the existence of a supreme being, even heavier on certainty that organized religion is hazardous to humanity's health.
"If I believe that Jesus is God and you believe Mohammed is God, then no matter how tolerant we are, we are never going to meet," Charles said. "All you have to do is push that one more step, then somebody's like, 'You're in the way of people believing in Jesus,' and 'You're in the way of people believing in Mohammed,' and the only answer is to kill you.
"Unfortunately, that sort of thing dominates the religious landscape, not the Mother Teresas of the world. She becomes the aberration. ... The altruistic wing of religion has been minimized and this militaristic, warmongering fundamentalism has become the dominant presence."
Charles said he assembled the 100-minute film from 14 hours of prime material. He has suggested to distributor Lionsgate that the 14-hour cut could be edited into half-hour segments and sold to television as a series.
Never one to soft-pedal his own opinions, Maher openly scorns remarks made by Christians, Jews and Muslims he interviews. He hopes audiences will laugh with him, and that "Religulous" will stand as a testament for people who share his scorn.
"It is a sobering thought to think that the U.S. Congress has 535 members and there's not one who represents this point of view, and yet there are tens of millions of Americans who feel this way," Maher said.
"Comedians have always made jokes about religion. It's a rich topic. I did when I was a young comedian, but they weren't jokes that got right to the essence of it, which is, this is dangerous and this is silly."
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I really like Real Time with Bill Mahar, but I am not sure how I feel about this upcoming show. He does make some anti-religious remarks in Real Time but usually I can get past them since there is mostly a political focus. I am not sure how I will feel about a whole series / movie poking fun at religion. I can see humor in some of the hypocrisy that can sometimes be shown in organized religion, but in general don't find anything funny in poking fun at people who have faith.
Re: Religulous
Maher was on The Daily Show talking about this movie the other day, and I could see how some would be offended--but I'm sure he's probably fine with that and it was probably his intention.
H and I will probably go see it this weekend, so I'll report back.
my read shelf:
I am open to seeing how extremists can be divisive and dangerous and showing the hypocrisy that can be found through a comedic lens. But there will be stuff like this...
"When you're talking about a man living to 900 years old, and drinking the blood of a 2,000-year-old god, and that Creation Museum where they put a saddle on the dinosaur because people rode dinosaurs. It's just a pile of comedy that was waiting for someone to exploit."
....which has nothing to do with divisiveness and everything to do with making fun of someone's faith. I wish I knew how much of each was going to be in the movie before I watch it and get pissed off. Maybe you can screen it for me Bunny!
He said he now shares Maher's position: Heavy on doubt about the existence of a supreme being, even heavier on certainty that organized religion is hazardous to humanity's health.
Yeah, I won't be going. I don't think it will do all that well at the box office, either. It'll break even because of European box office sales. That's my prediction.
Side note, this paragraph seems awkward to me:
Charles shot 400 to 500 hours of material around the world as Maher visited a Christian chapel for truckers in North Carolina, a gay Muslim bar in the Netherlands, the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, and Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy places in Israel.
The first two locations seem to be novelty locations, which is fine. But then to lump together the Mormon Tabernacle and Israel after them is a little out of place. Just needs more words...'[trucker chapel, muslim gay bar] as well as more traditional religious landmarks including [tabernacle, Israel]' Sorry, that just bugged me a little.
OMG. Now I really am not sure about seeing it. That's horrible. So he's just an atheist, he's not a rational thinker or a skeptic. Wow.
I live rather close but have never been. I'm just too cheap to spend the money on something I'd only be doing as a lark, but I know it would be an interesting experience. A friend of mine says it's very well done and worth the trip.
I assume he's referring to the Eucharist.
I would assume so. I'm not aware of any other blood drinking in the Abrahamic religions.
But now we have science. We KNOW that humans and dinosaurs did not live together. So this "I believe it despite all the facts, science and evidence to the contrary" is probably where he is going with the creationism stuff.
I have no idea what the blood drinking stuff is about.
I am sure though that some people will say that they don't pick and choose what they believe from the Bible. Overall I guess I fear that he will find the wackiest people out there and then say "See I told you people of faith are crazy" kind of thing.
I assumed the blood drinking reference was related to people taking communion but I could be wrong.
Yes, Reeve was around yesterday! I'm sure he'll see this movie.
Abraham? Hmm, no that's wrong. Methuselah.
Methelusah?
I am ashamed to admit that I don't know anything about Maher and am willing to watch this movie on cable.
FI and I were actually debating putting brochures to the Creation Museum in or OOT boxes (since it's so close to Cincinnati). But then we realized some of our more religious friends might be offended by our mockery, and thought better of it. ::sigh::
We're stuck in Cincinnati for two days after the wedding but before we leave for the honeymoon, though, so we're definitely going to go - just for some fun.
Yeah, Maher is kind of a nut. He's proud of not believing in medicine. He believes in astrology, too. Paranormal probably isn't the right term, but he's definitely not a skeptic.
What's wrong with making fun of beliefs? What makes them above criticism, skepticism, and subsequent "making fun of" when they fail against those standards? Especially when some beliefs are definitively wrong like creationism. If I started going around preaching my belief in a flying pink unicorn who wants everyone to save their turds and worship them, I'd be mocked. What makes mainstream religions any different from that?
He can do that if he wishes, but if that is the majority of the movie then I probably would not enjoy it.
No, but I do listen to Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. It's awesome. They were just talking about Maher this week in something unrelated to his movie.
I forgot to mention he's also anti-vaccination.
I mean, I'll still see the movie, and I'll probably enjoy it, but I just think he's living in a glass house.
Well, that is completely fair and makes perfect sense.
it seems like the same old same old to me. Its annoying to have people who don't understand spirituality and faith saying its "false" or bad" because of some stupid mythical legend loosely associated with it. I don't see how proving the earth wasn't made in 7 days somehow debunks Jesus's teaching to love thy neighbor. I don't see how making fun of "900 year old people" somehow proves that god doesn't exist or that he doesn't love you.
I totally understand that its hard from non-religious people to understand how dinosaurs w/ saddles = stupid but then we somehow accept these other "myths". But seriously, maybe thats the whole point? Maybe they should bother researching spirituality like, at all, before just making fun of what they don't understand?
And I am not defending wacky christian or catholic views. I get that they are in all religions. But obviously they aren't the point. I don't get why non-religious people are so blind to that idea.
I have a problem with making fun of something you don't understand - even if that is something like creationism. He obviously misses the point of religion in general.
Oh. My. God. Crazy pants!
Seriously, you'd love the Atheist Experience. They're in Texas and they get lots of calls from people trying to prove God's existence to them. It's very interesting. They also started the wiki ironchariots.org, which is a great counter apologetic site.
To non-religious people, spirituality and faith are different than love your neighbor. Jesus telling people to love their neighbor can have nothing to do with existence of god and god's love if you want to interpret it that way.
People can understand spirituality and still mock it. Don't accuse people of not understanding something as the only reason they wouldn't accept it b/c I think you'll find that many atheists actually have quite a solid understanding of more than just the insane creationism and 900 year olds.