Religulous

Last night I got a chance to watch "Religulous" with Bill Maher. I patiently awaited for this documentary to come out on video because I knew it was going to be worth watching (an honor that I don't attribute to most new films). I consider Bill Maher to be an intelligent, somewhat rational person that has the gift of humor and I wasn't disappointed.

Maher takes on the usual documentary format with himself interviewing different religious people, mostly questioning their belief structure and sometimes mocking them. What is an overwhelming observation in the movie is how different all of these people interpret the teachings of thier gods. Maher doesn't just pick on Christians but takes time to question Muslims, Jews, Mormons, and other religions as well (the Church of Cannabis).

Although it was humorous and true to its title, I thought that he could have done a much better job looking at the social issues that he brought up with the interviewed (i.e. - free speech in Holland & gay rights). There was also a big jump at the end to his final monologue which was a very serious call to arms for all nonbelievers to stand up and start pointing out inconsistencies to belivers. This might have been sold better if he spent a minute or two more connecting why faith in something that doesn't exist can lead to death and suffering for all. I think that the average person, whether or not they believe in Dog, has a hard time connecting their two-hour family Sunday church session with death and destruction.

A great website that breaks this issue down some more is www.whywontgodhealamputees.com

Above I mentioned Maher as somewhat rational. While I think that he is headed in the right direction with religion he is an avid supporter and voice for environmentalism. He is a firm believer in Global Warming and thinks that we are polluting ourselves to death. I have been having discussions recently with friends about how environmentalism is becoming the next religion and is preaching all the same ways that religions does: man is flawed and bad (destroys environment), we should suffer (by getting rid of our best energy sources), collectivism (this won't work if everyone isn't on board), and altruism (give, give, give to the rain forest, Sierra Club, Al Gore, etc...). The parallels are astonishing and I am upset with Maher and his short sightedness with environmentalism. I'll probably post on this later on.