I have just seen the movie and I must say unfortunately there is more mockery than comedy involved. But then again when your director is the same guy who made Borat, you know the if your purpose is to provoke your viewers, you'll get the job done. And with Bill Maher, the film does its intended purpose perfectly and to set the record straight, I like this movie.
Personally, I've been scouring the net to find the purpose of life as told by Christianity as they usually use it as a selling point. (literally selling point, in the movie with large elaborate churches and filthy rich pastors selling dvds which their church-goers must buy to be saved)
and 100% of the time I get a one word answer. Jesus.
"A man who is himself is born from a virgin and sends his son who his himself on a suicide mission in order to help everyone."- Bill Maher makes perfect sense.
Religulous goes into why ordinary people who use the same amount of brain power as anyone else choose to wall their "god part" while being perfectly rational about everything else...like santa claus. The answers he gets usually telling of how weak this wall is and how people CHOOSE to keep reinforcing it because the more they do it, the higher their chance of getting into heaven. More importantly the idea of ignorance is bliss. That belief without question and giving your daughter to rapists in order to protect angels is behavior that is rewarded. And people still thinking that their dear holy book is self evident when the only historical evidence is has is itself and that..isn't..exactly evidence
Very few people really know what the Bible means. they just use it to fit their means and goals and integrate it into their lives. Hate gays? Proof in the Bible. Love gays? Proof in the Bible. The one thing we can definitely count on is that the book was written and changed by countless numbers of authors and can be interpreted in many different ways. Interpreted by HUMANS. That makes believers who think they are sticking to the ultimate “Word of God” look even more ridiculous.
Bill really appalled that people actually believe these beonze age myths that were (eg. Senate member who says IQ isn't a requirement for the senate and the Republican debate where 3 nominees did not believe in evolution) written at a time where people believed the world was flat and the sun moved round the Earth but overlook these thing to make themselves more comfortable with their faith and make cop-outs of which ever part they choose to believe and discard the rest. Which brings the question, is there really such a thing as being moderately religious? It makes you ask the question.
Do you really believe in a talking snake?
Do you really believe in Adam and Eve?
Do you really believe 10,000 species of animals(since they dont believe in evolution)
can be placed in a boat?
Do you really believe Jonah could live in a whale for 3 days?
Do you really believe in a virgin birth? (Hero pattern)
He then starts with the danger of evangelical right wing politics.
"Light houses are more useful than churches" - Benjamin Franklin
Appalled at how ridiculous they can get.
(mormon video, what they really believe)
eg. Creation museum where they assert that men lived alongside Dinosaurs.
eg. The world is 5000 years old
eg. that 60% believe the rapture will happen in their lifetime.
The final part he delves into is of course the end of the world. The problem with political monotheist religion (all 3 of em)
"The LORD is a warrior! The LORD is his name." - Exodus 15:3
And the final narrative which I find is the most meaningful of the entire film. may not be perfect word or word but its something like,
This is not the time for countries to be steered be irrationalists. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. And people who preach faith are keeping man in a bondage of fantasy that has justified so much lunacy and destruction.Faith is dangerous because faith makes people think that they they have all the answers. But because no is really talking to them, it creates a void. A void which is filled with Humans, by Humans who have their own agendas, limitations and corruption. If anyone tells you they know, I promise you they do not. Why? Because they do not posses any mental powers I do not. Man needs to be humble and rational. Because we have a record of getting things dead wrong.
Because while waiting for god to arrive, we may have already driven ourselves to extinction.
While the movie is meaningful and provacative, the screenplay is messy and fails to piece a perfect story from beginning to end. Borat meets Michael Moore is probably a good way to describe it and while I did find the movie humorous with religious leaders getting dumbstruck at every other question and how quick they are to respond. However I can see some people frowning for the entire duration and I guess that just makes my experience better.
While surely not a masterpiece of satire like Borat, it will remembered as part of the Atheist resurgence which started with Richard Dawkins and his book, The God Delusion.
Despite so, his message is not so straightforward as to say religion is bad and that god doesn't exist but to appreciate the world around us and to do our part to save our home and ourselves. Because we only have one life.
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Summary: Not an excellent movie, but remains to be intelligent and witty while staying true to the genre, to be provocative and oh so funny. Loved Borat and Bowling for Columbine? You'll definitely like this. Hate Borat? I wouldn't recommend it to you...unless you believe in talking snakes. In the words of Bill Maher "The film's intent is not to offend, but if it does..."
-Panzerz
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9 comments:
I cannot say with certainty that the world doesn't need religion to some extent.
I do recognise that religion is going to be here for a long time. But still, it doesn't prove that its real and whats the use of continuing in delusion?
Even if it benefits you, look at the flipside. Bill Maher also said in the movie, "your harmless beliefs comes at a large price."
Religion is no longer just about comparing clothes on sunday. There are people out there who share very similar ideals with you who want to blow up buildings, blow up themselves, interfere with science and medicine(vaccination), segregate and discriminate others.
Religion polices billions. It's far from perfect or even great, but it's needed. It's either that or an iron fist.
But isn't it the reason we look towards man-made laws which we can alter as society progresses rather than have ourselves to follow bronze age laws? Sure, the religious have a greater punishment, hell, as the celestial equilavent of jail but its exactly the problem. Religion promises the sweet release of sin by just accepting the god, with the delusional belief that they are saved/free of conscience.
Ironically, the religious are picking and choosing according their verses according to the man-made laws we follow today!
Anyway, do you mean stuff like since god doesn't exist, the $10 you owe me doesn't need to be returned because there is no supreme CCTV to punish you? Then this becomes an issue of personal morality, do YOU require a god to tell you what is right and wrong?
"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed." - Albert Einstien
Purely ideological, but so true.
I don't suppose that it occurred to Albert Einstein that Christianity, if not Judaism and some other world religions, is based on the premise that we human beings are a sorry lot indeed, and thus perhaps we *will* only be "good" out of fear of punishment and/or hope for reward. . . ;-)
That is not my own personal theology or philosophy, even though I can honestly claim to know that God exists as a result of profound revelatory religious experience, but I feel that it is worth pointing that that fundamental aspect of Christian theology is entirely in line with Albert Einstein's saying.
Here is some counterpoint to 'Religulous' -
'The Atheist Supremacist's Song'
Apparently some less than bright "Bright" saw fit to post 'The Atheist Supremacist's Song' to Richard Dawkins' very own web site. Doh. . .
Based on that, and some other less than brilliant thoughts of disciples of Richard Dawkins, I guess IQ isn't a requirement for being a "Bright" or even an atheist. :-)
So what if religion makes billions become morally bankrupt conformist hyprocrites? They're still being policed, they're still going to lean towards peace (religious militants are usually the minority for larger religions).
I don't require a God to tell me what's right and wrong, but plenty of others do.
I'm actually quite honored to have a complete stranger place a friendly comment on my post. Thanks.
To give a short response to the issue of morality, Scandanavian and Western European countries have a high persentage of atheist/agnostics (Sweden, Denmark and Iceland all have 80ish% and they're always ranked high as some of the happiest nations.)
I'm not asserting that society without religion is perfect. I'm saying that normal, rational human beings like you and me are surely able to lead lives without religion. I had the luxury of being born into a non-religious family.
As for the many attributing faith to strong religious experience, I personally respect it. Unfortunately, many people feel the same as you, about bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and UFO abductions. ;)
Albert Einstien was a pantheist. His only "religion" was a deep admiration of the known universe. While it may seem poetic and beautiful, it is by no means theistic.
As for arrogant Atheists, it really is because of the constant weak arguments put forth by theologians which either show that they know either nothing or very little about evolution. I believe "The Way of the Master" by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort is very telling of this.
I don't claim to know everything, but I think as outsiders to mordern religions such as Scientology and parodies such as the FSM, I think you and I both know know how I feel towards monotheistic religions as well.
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