I highly recommend EVERYONE go see Bill Maher's documentary Religulous.

[msallied]

I just got home from a screening and I was blown away. I mean, I pretty much already had my opinions validated, but it serves as a reminder for everyone to know what sort of forces we are up against with a McCain/Palin ticket. That and it was absolutely, irreverently hilarious, as Bill Maher usually is.

[1corona4u]

1. I can't wait to see it, but I don't do theatres, LOL...

I'll just buy the DVD when it comes out. :-) Or do a ppv.

[msallied]

3. You will love it.

I was amazed by how many older people were in the theater I was in. I expected a much younger crowd, but I would say that my friend and I were the youngest ones in there. Most were in their 60s and 70s. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did.

[1corona4u]

10. I was raised with 2 religious parents...

forced to go to church, and Sunday school, and at about 13, old my sister and I said; no, we don't want to go anymore. My parents accepted it, even though they remained very religious until they died.

I've just never been able to reconcile anything the Bible says, and if something doesn't gel for me, I don''t buy it. :-)

[msallied]

12. Same here.

Well, my mom attempted to "find Jesus" when I was younger, and because of that my brother and I were shipped off to church every weekend. I don't think I ever quite bought it. Thankfully my father is not a religious man in the slightest and we share the same opinion. The way he described Holy War to me once was "My imaginary friend can beat up your imaginary friend." And that's pretty much stuck with me. I am thankful for my time spent in church if only because it makes me knowledgeable in debate.

[Kerrytravelers]

2. We saw it last night. I completly agree,

That is exactly what Mr kt and I were saying as we left. This is how we end up with people like Bush in charge. It lays out the case clearly.

:thumbsup:

[msallied]

5. I love how very laidback and rational he was.

And how the postures of everyone he was talking to were VERY defensive, when all he was doing was asking questions. It was just so damn brilliant, funny, and frightening really. All I kept thinking was "these crazy people walk among us."

[jesus_of_suburbia]

4. I'm going to see it this week. Cannot wait.

[msallied]

7. Probably the most entertaining two hours I've head in theaters this year.

Well, except for Tropic Thunder. LOL

[jesus_of_suburbia]

13. I'm gonna see that one too! LOL!

But I'll wait till it comes out on dvd.


The only movie I've seen in the theatre this year was "The Dark Knight".


I plan on seeing "Religulous" and "W".

[msallied]

14. Oh yes, W looks brilliant.

I saw the trailer for that one at Religulous. Also saw the trailer for "Milk," the Gus van Sant movie about Harvey Milk with Sean Penn. I am looking forward to that one too.

Tropic Thunder was a laugh riot. Loved The Dark Knight too.

[nam78_two]

6. I plan to see it soon-I like Bill Maher

I like everything I have seen/heard about it so far. The Bill Maher show was the only reason I ever had HBO for a bit, but then it seemed like too much of an expense for just one show.

[msallied]

8. I liked him before and I love him now. He's so unflappable!

I think I really take a liking to people who remain cool in the face of idiocy. Probably because I want to learn from them. How does he do it?? lol

[UndertheOcean]

9. Ok , what was I saying , right , I had to drive 16 miles to see it

the theatre close to home did not carry it , although its a college town

[msallied]

11. I feel very lucky it was in one of the two theaters here in town.

I hope that it ends up with a wider distribution soon. I know it probably won't reach Fahrenheit 9/11 status, but I'd love to see it reach a huge audience.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

15. There are lots of people even on DU who need to see this movie. Open your eyes, friends.

I'm glad you posted this, msallied.

And even though I've only seen the trailer, I'll say this:
I bet half of DU needs to see this (and we all know what I mean).



edit: After I watch it this week, I'll eat crow if I'm wrong in my suggestion that all of us need to see it.

[msallied]

19. I would tend to agree here.

Bill said himself in the film that people you could think were so rational about everything else can turn absolutely nuts once the subject gets onto religion.

[frickaline]

16. added to netflix

thx for the review, I definitely want to see it. I live in the boonies so its netflix for me but I'm still excited to see it when I finally get the chance.

[Hellataz]

17. I just saw it and it scared the shit out of me

Now don't get me wrong i love Bill Maher and I enjoyed the movie up until a certain point...that point?...the end when i was struck with the most frighting revelation (ironic choice of word). The part where it became crystal clear to me that I do not want anyone in any seat of power no matter what the country, to believe their religion so passionately that they take the stories from their religious books LITERALLY.

As I watch Bill talk to these people, not just every day people but ones in power, and listened as so many believed, TRUELY BELIEVED, that the end of days are upon us and that as long as they believe in their god they will be saved.

Here is why this scares the shit out of me.

First these people have no reason to cherish this life they have because they believe that the end of their life is actually the beginning. What's the point of taking care of the planet and striving for world peace if you don't believe the world will be around for much longer?

Secondly, I had this bad thought pop into my head, as i watched quotes from every religious book out there flash onto the screen, talking about the end of days. They all described WAR, wall of flames, everyone covered in blood...apocalypse. Well fuck! Isn't that what has been going on, i mean not on a world wide scale...YET. But seriously think about this, and if you do i guarantee it will scare you as I am now, Think of the people in power, the ones making the decisions to go into battle, launch nukes, suicide bomb...so on Think of these people as insanely religious, so much so that it's possible they think God has told them to wage these wars to bring upon the end of the world. The war starts off small, then never seems to end, we invade more countries, we lose allies, suddenly nukes are launched, then more nukes to counter those and BOOM...world gone!

FUCK.

The right wing conservatives that so tightly hold on to their beliefs, so unwilling to open their mind to science or any proof that goes against their religion, these are some scary fucks! These are the people who don't care about life or death because to them, this life means nothing, their end game is not peace on earth, it's getting to die and meet up with Jesus and live in paradise forever. And these people are in power, not just in foreign countries but right here in ours. There is nothing more irresponsible and dangerous then someone in power who believes with such certainty that their life and the lives of their country men are just a glorified "rest stop" on their way to heaven.

As for the rest of the movie, it was pretty interesting, lots of funny moments of course, but i learned a lot too.
Like how the story of Jesus, his birth, his miracles, his crucifixion... everything are plagiarized stories from previous Gods from way before Christ was even born.

Here's a site that describes in more detail of the Egyptian God Horus who's story mirrors the bible telling of Jesus:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm

and this site list the many other gods that share several similarities to Jesus "Supposed Unique" story.
http://www.geocities.com/inquisitive79/godmen.html

Bill did a great job in this movie, as I watched it I could see him try and understand religion, albeit while taking the occasional jabs at some for their very one sided stubborn thinking. His goal was to ask people of faith why they are so certain, to understand them and it was very telling to see how some got so very defensive of him just asking question, but most that did talk to him maintained their faith despite not being able to answer his questions and in some cases would tell Bill he was lying or making things up when he would quote from their own religious texts.

Overall Great movie, i can't wait till it comes out on DVD, and i hope it gets a more expanded release so more people can watch and at least be given the opportunity to not just believe but also THINK.

[msallied]

18. I agree with you completely here.

The ending scared the shit out of me too, because what it ended up doing was painting these supposed religious prophecies as self-fulfilling ones. There is nothing divine about that. It's as if we are foretelling our own doom and then making it happen. Turns my stomach, really. What made it worse was when the Jew for Jesus guy then said that he wouldn't care if a nuclear bomb went off because then he would be with Jesus and it would be okay. WTF?

These people are crazy. I'm sick and tired of feeling like some kind of a sick minority because I don't buy into these ridiculous fairytales. The cognitive dissonance was stifling. I loved how Bill Maher simply asked questions and let the kooks hang themselves. And I also liked how he showed some rational religious people as well. The priest from the Vatican Observatory was very cool as was that other priest in Italy that Bill was speaking with in Vatican Square. He was cracking me up, in fact.

[WAHman]

24. Funny Movie, Intellectually Dishonest

Hey all, the supposed Horus-Jesus link has been thoroughly debunked: http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/osy.html


Bill Maher's defense of criticism the film is that it is a comedy first, but clearly his ending diatribe shows that he is out to make an intellectual point, but in a deftly underhanded manner.

Clearly the film is a comedy, but it is a cheap shot to interview generally extremist, ignorant, or strange individuals (which are present not only in every religion but in ever political ideology, country, race, etc and should not be used to discredit any of those groups simply because of their existence) with few exceptions and then to heavily edit the actual interview (several scenes are cut off before a response can be given). You can make anyone look like an idiot (or whatever else you want for that matter) by editing interview footage- just ask Michael Moore, MTV, or FoxNews.

There are thousands of experts involved in Christianity and other faiths as well (note he leaves the Eastern religions out, for whatever reason) who are extremely intelligent individuals who do scholarly work and can offer nuanced, well thought-out responses to a lot of challenges. Religion is not bulletproof, but it is not without skilled defenders and apologists either. These individuals, save perhaps one exception, are suspiciously absent from Maher's film.

Religion has been used for many terrible things- like nationalism, race, politics, and any other source of power or control over people. Land, love/romance, money, resources, etc have all been the source of war and violence- that does not discredit our need for or the ideas presented by each of these things. It makes no comment one way or the other, except for the fact that people-run institutions screw up because man is imperfect.

Absolutely, religion is rightly criticized for its many flaws- as a man-run institution, it is full of them. People of faith should continually seek humility, as Christ (and others) teach, and earnestly seek the Truth. I personally believe faith is healthy with some doubt, and willingness to question and analyze oneself. To think of oneself and knowing all or perfect is folly and the source of many of humankind's greatest sins.

However, for Maher to romp through the film stating he is simply promoting doubt and questioning how people "know" what they believe (a valid criticism, and one to be grappled with for sure) to then turn around at the end of the movie and assert that he KNOWS there is no God is the height of hypocrisy- there is no proof of that either, and that takes just as much faith as to assert that there is a God. In addition, he claims that religious people have such an audacious ARROGANCE, to claim that they know something he does not. Guess what he does next? He asserts that 80-90% of the human race throughout history that have believed in some form of higher power, God, or the supernatural are INSANE, delusional, stupid, and dangerous. If that is not a textbook definition of arrogance (and hypocrisy), I don't know what is.


Overall:

Entertaining and thought-provoking, yes. Fair, credible, or reasonable final argument, absolutely not.

[1corona4u]

25. Well, I don't think any of us expected it to be a docu-drama.

:eyes: I expect people who will appreciate it are people, such as myself, that think religion is a joke. It has, to me anyway, not been proven true, and remains just another fable in my mind.

Oh, welcome to the board.

[polichick]

20. Glad to know you liked it - I'm going tomorrow. imo Bill has done...

...the country a great patriotic service by exposing extremism in such an entertaining way. Heard him interviewed on NPR today, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the film!

[msallied]

21. I would almost want to pay for an HBO package just so I could watch his show. lol

Thank goodness for the You Tubes. :)

[RTFirefly]

22. I had to drive an hour to see it...

... but I saw it last night, at an art theater in north Indianapolis. Loved the movie... especially how he did the ending. "So, you've been sitting here laughing for the last hour and a half at these silly people. Now here's what's not funny about it..."

Powerful stuff. Average age in the theater was well past thirty... no squealing babies like any other movie I've seen this year. It felt refreshing to feel like you were in the company of rational adults for a change, y'know?

[polichick]

23. Just got back from seeing it - GREAT STUFF! :)