Religulous
Early on in Religulous, Bill Maher throws up a bar chart illustrating the number of people in America who are non-religious. That number is 16%, more than blacks, more than Jews, more than numerous other minority groups who seem to have no problem making themselves heard and getting Congress to do their bidding. Maher wonders aloud why non-religious people are so underground, and why they aren’t having an impact on the national discussion. His film is aimed squarely at that 16% of the country, and almost no one else. His goal, and he clearly has one, is to give those people the motivation they need to come out of the closet and do something… before it’s too late.
Religulous begins with Bill Maher, standing alone in Israel at a place called Meggido; a worthless pile of rubble where many of the planet’s religions believe the end of the world will begin. From there, Maher pushes us into an intense, honest, and brutally funny discussion of blind belief, presenting the possibility that maybe we should all consider doubt instead. We follow him around the world, as he travels from place to place talking to religious people of different faiths on different continents. The surprising thing here is that even though Maher definitely has an agenda, his movie never skews into the realm of propaganda.
It’s not propaganda, because Maher isn’t running out and finding weirdos to use in smear tactics against the devout. Typically anyone trying to make a case against God goes right to the pedophile priests and the suicide bombers, but Maher makes it a point to focus on normal, reasonably sane religious people. He’s not stacking the deck in his favor, because he doesn’t need to. He talks to truckers in a roadside chapel, he chats with random, middle-class tourists at a Christian-themed amusement park.
He talks to religious shop owners, small town preachers, televangelists, Jews for Jesus, fundamentalist U.S. Senators, Vatican priests, religious scientists, secular Muslims, gay Muslims, people in America, Utah (come on, we all know it’s not really America), Europe, and even in Jerusalem. Though those fumbling for an excuse to discredit him may claim otherwise, these aren’t extremists or lunatics. These are for the most part sane, rational, even intelligent people who believe something which Maher believes is insane.
I'm an agnostic atheist. I have read the Bible and studied religion academically because I find it fascinating. I don't believe for a minute that you need the Bible to tell you how to be a good person.
I don't proselytize about atheism and I find it distasteful when religious people proselytize to me.
I believe that everyone has a right to believe whatever they want. I don't know if there is a god or gods because no hard, irrefutable evidence has been provided to me, even though I have researched it, interviewed religious people from many faiths and studied it academically.
Maybe one day a god will give me irrefutable proof but until then I will choose to believe in the cold, hard facts in front of me.
Good luck with whatever you decide to believe in, whether it's atheism, or one of the many gods that are documented.
documenting the horrors of the religious psychopaths .. thanx!
Couldn't agree with Bill Maher more!
Complete waste of my 1hr40mins. I found this doc highly judgemental and biased. For starters he didn't ask the right questions from any of the people/scholars. Instead I found him targeting innocent people, mocking them and their faith. Throughout the film I found him calling other judgemental, as a matter of fact he had judgemental remarks/images/clips showing up on the screen constantly judging others and their faiths, demonstrating his arrogance and shallowness. He interviewed a Rabbi who was showing his support for Palestine and Bill completely portrayed him as a sold-out to Iranians. Does Bill know how many Muslims are killed in Palestine on daily basis by Zionists and their agenda to wipe Palestine of the world's map? He said muslim are highly defensive to outsider...what???.. Next, he targets gay muslims guys and that stupid muslim rapper.....?? in pursuit of finding out Islam....That was jokes mate. Moreover, he touched upon topics that are very misunderstood by the masses i.e. killing of Infidels and islam taking over the world? Bill, where does it says in Quran that Muslims should go round killing others and subsiquently take over the world? I bet he has never even opened Quran, never mind reading it. I guess it takes devotion to find out the depths of any subject or religion, which Bill completely lacks.
I just watched this whole video and found it amazing.It was worth every minute of the time spent!! It only confirms my own beliefs on the topic through 15 years-plus of research on religion, Christianity in particular, and my own experiences. It pointed out some things I didn't even consider.
If you are trying to justify how wrong any of this is, you are doing just what the video states you will do when you cannot face facts. I justified for years and years while a Christian, against my own thinking and doubts. I did the same when I left the church I was in trying to find the right one....the "true" one. There are none.
In over 41,000 different denominations of Christianity, how do you find the right "one"? And that is just in Christianity! In those Christian faiths all claiming to be right, they also condemn all the other ones to death if they do not join their church! Add to that the other religions of the world saying they are all right and all others deserve death!!
I have never, ever, been happier to have left religion behind after 50 years of it. the last 15 have been so much better, happier and content. I am now more "Christian" in Christ-like qualities than I ever was and more so than the vast majority of Christians out there!!!
Have you ever noticed how scientists always say, "We're uncertain...", and that religous people always have the answers, but it's the scientists who are seen as arrogant. Hmmm...
All have sinned and? greatly offended the Holy God of the bible.? The just punishment is death then Hell. That's not God's will. He loved you so much that He became a man in the person of Jesus Christ and suffered and died on the cross paying for the law you broke in His life's blood. Now He can legally dismiss your case. You must repent turn from your sin and trust alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation.
can I contact the maker of the on-line version to ask to be sent it personally - because I can't access it here , on-line because of copyright controls - the profit factor. Some of the corp-s that contributed to making it have stopped it being seen - in MY country (the country I live in) ...
countries just being those boundaried lands telling the oligarchs who their slaves are - where their slaves live, and where their ownership of pieces of Earth by which to make profit are.
OWNED THAT SENATOR. :D
I need the see the whole thing now.
Just sad that you said you're "somewhat Libertarian" and bash a little on Paul while saluting him and then vote Obama. -_- HOW.DOES.THAT.WORK.?????!!
What I know for a fact, is truth, or reality.(which is very little). The truth is I don't know if the bible is the truth or god's word, if I teach it to children or present it to a confused person as the truth that makes me evil or insane or lacking in integrity. I agree with Sabrina, we can all discover this truth which I see as self-evident. What your looking for , your looking with.
I watched an interview with Maher who said this is not a documentary; he said it is comedy, but of course w/comedy one can point out foibles. I haven't been able to watch the video yet, and am especially interested in the last part which I'm told moves from Christianity to Islam.
this is so true .. finally someone has documented the horrors of the religious m*rons .. thank you
I saw this documentary in the history channel. many people took video of everything. it was sad.
ANyways, so do you think New york is safe from now on OR can someone somehow destroy one of those tall buidings again without anyone catching them in time
I Loved this Documentary .... from start till the end.... the facts and question we awesome .... and the answers given by theists :P were horrible
I really can't believe in this modern world people still do everything in their life according to what there religion sayssss :O
Bill Maher is a hateful attention-grabber. I doubt he even means what he says, he's just doing it for ratings. If religion gives hope and some solace to people in their life, good for them. How does he know the truth? Has he been around for 16 billion years?
"The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we CAN imagine"...Issac Asimov. So this schmuck knows the answers? Rabbinicle scholars have wrestled with these questions for thousands of years. He's only a year younger than I am, for Christ's sake! And he started out as a COMEDIAN. I cannot believe that any thinking person would give any relevance to this guy or to anything he says. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? In what book of the Bible did Moses have an argument with God and win? What is the difference between good intentions and sin? It would have been different if he knew his subject matter, but he was obviously fed his questions by his staff, who, not believing in God, didn't even know the proper questions to ask. This was just silly and proves nothing. I'd like to see him debate Rabbi Yona Weiss.
we need more people like bill maher
After watching Maher in this moving last night, I was struck at how cowardly he approached this film. First, he lies about the purpose of the documentary when interviewing individuals. Second, he is well prepped with his initial questions and follow-up questions which relate to theological issues that most people don't think about nor talk about on a daily basis - to be fair, these people should have been given some prep time to help formulate their answers to such deep questions. Lastly, he uses editing to make sure only the most ignorant and fringe individuals are shown while proceding to use the examples in his blanketing views of various religions. This approach is like a professional debator disguising himself as a child in a junior high debate along with making sure the questions are all ones he has had a chance to choose and study for. Maher, if you really want to understand something as what you claim to be doing, why don't you be a man and ask questions to people who have a chance to prepare themselves in the same way you did and to be a part of a non-edited dialogue? Why don't you take on people that likely have the same amount of dedication as you do to their faith such as apologists?
Humans are what they are now because of the insatiable desire to find answers to whatever is happening around them. so for the scientifically not so developed humans religion was the answer, though the answer was not perfect in today's scientific era but still was an answer, so they hung on to it.
the first scientists were all called evil and against god but we have with time accepted science and more so the comfort it gave us. but now is the time logically to ask the right questions as the fundamentals of the thing called religion which made us civilized and cultured is itself going against that logic and causing the unnecessary pain as a society.
its time to think, with the capabilities of our brain that has made us the numero uno species on this planet and not wast all that our civilized societies have achieved.
biologically we are animals but the power to think and more importantly to think with logic is what makes us human beings....
Lol at the guy calling atheism a "religion" hahahahah. Publics education wrks fo meeeeee!
Let Me Just Say that I'm a Grown Man and Never Once Have I Understood Christianity or any other Religion Mainly Because I Have Enough Common Sense to Know How Un-Holy it is to Burn Innocent People Alive for Not Believing What You Think They Should. Til This Day I Am Criticized and Judged by My Parents For Not Wanting to Be Christian!.. Til This Day They
are Still Hypocrites For Instead of Embracing Me and Accepting Me as the Person I Am Knowing That I'm a Good Hearted Human Being Without Having the Same Faith as Them is Unacceptable to Them. Point is I Don't Believe in Religion of any Sort, I Don't Need Church to Have True Faith in Myself. I am Naturally a Drug Free Happy Hard Working Citizen that only Wants the best for My Children. That's It...Bill Maher Thank You!!.. Hopefully People of all Religions Will Wake Up and Realize God is In You So Stop Investing & Bringing Your Problems to Church Just Handle Them and let the God in You Work Through YOU!
gotta love bill maher
y is it backwards =(
science = atom bomb and M.A.D ... fact
Religion = War Fact
"Petros Petrosyan"
You have no idea what you are talking about, so please save yourself the embarrassment and shut up