Religulous

Full disclosure: when Bill Maher states at the outset of Religulous that he thinks that religion is a detriment to the progress of humanity, I'm right with him (I'm saying "Amen," to a certain effect). For the rest of the film I'm right with him as he points out the idiosyncrasies and nonsensical quirks of the three major religions (he seems to have no problems with the religions of the Far East) and lets the true believers make ridiculous statements. So if I find this film, which is now part of a continuing vocalization of atheist principles, which started in the books of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, to be the "gospel" truth, how is it as a film?

Pretty good. Certainly it is not objective. As I said, Maher makes his case right up front, and anyone who has any knowledge of him as a performer would not be surprised. When, in a discussion with a neurobiologist, they agree that religious belief is a kind of mental disorder, it's a good indication that this film isn't for everyone. But it is a slick and effective jeremiad, and frequently very funny. It was directed by Larry Charles, and is often a collage of of cultural detritus. Whenever some kind of provocative statement is made, there is some film clip that is used as illustration. When an ex-Mormon reminds Maher that they believe that American Indians are a lost tribe of Israel, we get a clip of Mel Brooks in full Indian-chief regalia. Funny stuff.

But at times the film suffers from the Michael Moore syndrome: the smug superiority of the host. Maher and Charles often utilize the Daily Show style of interviewing--whenever a subject says something silly, we get Maher doing a deadpan response, and when he asks them a question, we often see them staring into space, unable to answer. How much of that is a product of editing is hard to know.

Also, it doesn't take a genius to make mincemeat of religion when limiting one's self to the extremes. Maher talks to an evangelical who was once gay but is now "cured," a rabbi who doesn't believe that Israel should exist (and is seen cozying up to the leaders of Iran), and a Dutch minister of some sort whose entire church revolves around marijuana. When, at the end, Maher says that without religion the world would be a better place, he neglects to mention that there have been atheistic societies--Hitler, Stalin and Mao all had no use for religion, and their nations were not exactly paradises on Earth.

But he does score a lot of points, particularly because he knows his shit. He points out that before Christ, there were several similar myths--Horus of Egypt, Mithra of Persia, and Krishna of India--all products of virgin births, all resurrected, all healers. He also points out than many of Christianities tenets, such as original sin, are not mentioned in the Bible. He scores a nice coup by getting on camera the Vatican astronomer (he mentions that seems like an oxymoron, like "Gay Republican") that the Bible can not be used as science, and that creationism is a bunch of nonsense. He also has a great quote by Thomas Jefferson that I'd never heard of before: "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man." That kind of takes the wind out of the sails of anyone that says the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation.

The answer that most people of religious belief give when confronted with the irrationality of their particular religion is that the questioner doesn't understand--it's all about faith. Maher has a pretty good answer for that: "Faith makes a virtue of not thinking, it's nothing to brag about." And While Maher certainly realizes that religion isn't going anywhere soon, he does call for those who are part of the sixteen percent in the U.S. who have no religious affiliation to start being more vocal, and to stop allowing the radical religious groups co-opt the political power. Hallelujah!