Religulous (2008)
Directed by Larry Charles
Written by Documentary
Starring Bill Maher
Release Date October 1st, 2008
Published October 1st, 2008
I struggled for a very long time with atheism. There was a sort of emptiness to not having faith in something bigger. Confronting the world knowing there was no plan, no creator who could set things right if things went horrible was a frightening concept. It was only in the wake of 9/11 that I realized the whole god thing didn't make sense for me.
Bill Maher's new documentary Religulous is the perfect movie for me because it affirmed everything I have ever believed about organized religion. Part polemic, part comedy, all passion, Religulous will anger many and convert more.
The premise is not Bill Maher trying to convince you to give up your faith. Rather, he is curious about certainty. How and why can anyone be so certain about something that cannot be proven. A number of random Americans, some at a truck stop church in a converted truck trailer, then across the US and to Israel and Palestine give Maher reasons why they believe. This however, only sets Maher off further.
The question turns on the person answering it however. How can it be faith if you feel the need to defend what you believe with proof. Maher saves his biggest satirical bombs for a trio of easy targets. Arkansas is the home of the Creation Museum, a place where people can see paintings and sculptures of people in Jesus's day and age riding dinosaurs, which proves not the coexistence of Jesus and dinosaurs, but rather, Hanna and Barbara.
Then there is the Gay No More organization where Maher encounters a very confused man who believes he is former gay thanks to Jesus. In a conversation that last maybe five minutes the man contradicts himself on the issue of being born gay. Then Maher travels to a Christian theme park where Maher is the one nearly knocked off his high horse. Ever so briefly Maher is confronted by someone, an actor playing Jesus, who has a good sound reasoning for his belief buried inside a complex metaphor.
While Religulous is a grenade throwing polemic against organized religion, and quite a powerful one when it wants to be, it's also very funny. Watching Maher with his mother confronting when they began to drift from the church is revealing and sweet. Then there is Maher's interactions in the Vatican where he encounters a pair of priests who defy conventions and work for the Vatican.
One of these wonderful old priests is the Vatican's own science expert who blows up the idea of a creation museum. Even the Vatican thinks that's crazy. The other knocks his own church for its excesses and simply urges people to believe regardless of where or why. This gregarious gentlemen is no doubt a favorite of Maher's, interviewed right outside the Vatican, he laughs off nearly all of the hardcore believers in his urging toward a faith that doesn't require proof.
The final thesis of Religulous turns on the dangers and excesses of organized religion. It's about the need to check the beliefs of our leaders before we elect them. How religious beliefs can be a danger to the world when the powerful mix with the faithful. President Bush is an evangelical christian who believes the world will end in his lifetime. How do you figure that belief plays into his views on the environment? Or our current economic crisis? If you don't believe there is a future beyond your lifetime, what do you care if the thieves are robbing the temple?
When Congress opens a session with a prayer, how many of those Senators are praying to a god they believe will return in their lifetime?
Can you trust a politician who tells you they can leave their faith at the door? How can you tell you at every turn how much their faith shapes what they believe? The next time a politician tells you they believe in the state of Israel shouldn't you ask them if they believe it is because the Jewish people deserve a homeland or because they believe that Israel is where Jesus will return and the Jews need to be there to be converted or die when he comes back?
These issues of the faith of our political leaders are dangerous to us all and need to be checked. Somehow it has become taboo to question people about faith. Thus, who better than the former host of Politically Incorrect to force the question.
Will Religulous give some people the urge to abandon their faith? Maybe. But if you are truly a person of faith nothing should shake that. The real, relative importance of Religion is to ask you to be smarter about faith and the faithful. There are inherent dangers in being blindly certain of just about anything. Blind certainty, blind faith, these are as dangerous to all as they are comforting to some. Bill Maher shines a light on these dangers and hopes that satire is the best way to illuminate them.
For those who think Maher is simply being mocking and self-serving , the comedian states clearly that he is not certain there is no god. Rather, he states plainly, he just doesn't know. He has a lot of questions and the people who try to answer them often only make things worse.
