Religulous is a documentary in the style of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock. The story is not simply about the topic (In this case religion), it is about one person's journey to understand that topic. In Spurlock's 'Super Size Me' he strived to understand McDonald's. In Moore's 'Roger and Me' he strived to understand the relationship between Flint, Michigan and GM. In 'Religulous' Bill Maher, noted agnostic TV host on HBO, goes on an odyssey to understand a topic that has always perplexed him, Religion. The first scenes are Maher talking to his family, asking them about the family religion. Maher's mother was Jewish, and his dad was Catholic. Maher was raised Catholic until age 13 when his dad simply stopped going to church. So Bill stopped to. Funny thing is, his dad never told him why. Maher tries to get the reason out of his mother who has survived his father. She shrugs and suggests it had something to do with the church's stance against birth control. They laugh at the silliness of the reason but it goes to show that in Bill's family, religion had died a quiet unmourned death. As Bill grew up though, he noticed that religion meant a whole lot more to other people's families then it did to his. So much so, that people would fight and die for the beliefs that Bill's family had given up so willingly. This tickled Bill's keen sense of humor and it fueled much of his early standup and later career. That lifelong wonderment and subsequent paranoia has culminated in this movie, in which Bill argues that religion (Not just one sect, but faith in general) is irrational and dangerous. To prove this point, Bill goes out and talks to extremists of the three major religion. Among them the owner of the Creation Museum (dinosaurs live with humans), A Jew against Zionism (he attended Iran's Holocaust Denial Conference), a Puerto Rican preacher claiming to be the second coming of Jesus, Ex-Mormons, an Islamic terrorist rapper, and much more. There are a couple of things that make this movie especially thought provoking and not simply a misunderstood polemic against religion.
For one, Bill Maher is knowledgeable. In that, I mean he has obviously read the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran. He has knowledge of the actual tenets of those religions that many of the followers don't even know about. (Some of the preachers too. Bill informs a very well-dressed preacher that Jesus didn't take kindly to rich people. The preacher is under the impression that Jesus wore fine linen all the time.) How do I know that Bill knows. Well I received a Catholic education from Kindergarten all the way up to College. I haven't read the Koran or the Talmud, but I know for certain that Bill correctly quotes the Bible every single time he brings it up.
Another thing, Bill Maher is polite. Yes he makes jokes and challenges the people he talk too, but he also actively listens and builds off of the opposing conversation. In this way he differs from a Michael Moore in that he is less confrontational in the dialogue. In this movie you will see those people offer their opinions. The director, Larry Charles, may inform us through subtitles and movie clips of Maher's opinion of what they're saying, but these people do receive a fair shake I believe. Some dialogues are quite friendly. I especially liked Maher's talk with the fake Jesus at Florida Bible Amusement Park, his talk with the Islamic scholar in the Dome of the Rock, and the two priests at the Vatican.
Bill Maher does make some concessions to the good aspects of Religion. He says at one point, 'If you're in jail, and you say all I have is Jesus. I understand that." There is a touching scene at a trucker's chapel when after Bill questions the very existence of Jesus, the people there insist on blessing Bill and do so in a sincere and contrite way. They really want the best for the poor lost man. Most of the people Bill meets are nice and very rarely do the conversations turn particularly hostile. (Only a couple do and interestingly both are Jewish in nature. One is an Ex-Jew for Jesus who I thought Bill was a little rude to, and the other was the 'Jew against Zionism' that I thought was super rude to Bill. Both you can say are traitors to their own religion.)
Bill Maher isn't trying to convert anybody. The tone of his inquiries are curious in nature. He doesn't think anyone will, but he wants someone to explain why they could rationally believe in Creationism, talking snakes, miracles, freedom of speech in Islam, modern day prophets, and the apocalypse.
The Apocalypse is something actually Maher may agree with fundamentalists on. He says though that it will not come about by God's will, but the will of fundamentalists who want it to come about. Maher is genuinely afraid of what a 'Sarah Palin' would do with the nuclear codes, and suggests that extremists would purposely bring on global warming to hasten the end of days. Does he have a point? Is he right to be so worried? I, myself, take comfort in knowing that weapons of mass destruction take a high level of scientific sophistication and that someone who doesn't believe in Evolution wouldn't be smart enough to build an atomic bomb. Then again, Al Qeada didn't have the education needed to construct airplanes.
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