Review: ‘Religulous’

Melissa:

Wow! If Bill Maher doesn’t have any enemies, I GUARANTEE that he does now! In the new documentary Religulous Bill Maher travels the globe to question the religious for proof of a god. His journey starts with his own personal story with religion. He grew up with one parent being a Catholic and the other a Jew. Despite all of this he was raised catholic until his parents decided to remove themselves from the practice of churchgoing.

Maher does not sugar coat his atheist ways. The first group that he interviews congregate in a church that looks like a shed. When asking the members if they had any proof that there is a God… one man babbled that no one was going to question his God and left. Another tells his story of life in the church of Satanism as a high priest, but still offers no rational evidence or proof, other than the fact that he is a complete moron!

Maher interviews heads of religious groups, the regular churchgoer, the everyday man, and everyone in between. The thing that I have to respect about Bill Maher is that if he wants to make fun of you, he will make the jokes directly to your face. That’s exactly what he does in this film, and it’s HILARIOUS! I’m sorry, but the people that he interviews have it coming when they can’t answer a question directly or give an answer that makes any sense! The majority of people that he interviews in the film have the mentality of a bag of hair. They aren’t the best educated, and even if they are, they do not give any rational answers, but simply hide behind the notion that you can’t explain God, he just is.

One interesting fact that Maher discussed in the film is that the majority of violence in the world happens because of religion. When you think about it… it makes sense. How many suicide bombings, or terrorist attacks have been carried out between religious groups? How many crazy mothers who have killed their children, husbands who have killed their wives, or serial killers who have murdered and tortured hand fulls of people have said that a higher power told them to do so? Heck, how many cult leaders convinced their followers to drink the punch so that they could be with a higher power?

Maher also covers religion and politics. It is truly amazing how many people voted for George W. Bush not because they were republicans, or that they agreed with his foreign policy plan, but because he is a Christian. Wow! Jesus led his people in the right direction there!

Just so we are clear, because I know that some will take my last sentence as me calling religious individuals idiots, I am not saying that. I do agree with Mahers’ portrayal of individuals that do not research their beliefs, and just blindly stand by faith.   So many people in the movie misquote the Bible, or contradict their religion. How can you believe in something that you don’t take the time to try to understand! I think that is a big point in the film that most people will miss because it isn’t directly said.

One example of the stupidity in this movie comes when Maher is interviewing a flashy pastor. Maher asks the pastor if his congregation knows that they are paying for his expensive suit, gold jewelery and fancy shoes with their donations. The pastors response… That Jesus would want him to look good, and that Jesus dressed well! When Maher pointed out that Jesus wore a cloth garment and sandals, the pastor claimed that the garment was made out of the finest linen and that Jesus was brought gold at the time of his birth. WHERE IN THE BIBLE DOES JESUS SAY THAT HE WOULD LIKE US TO BE FASHIONABLE!!! Didn’t Jesus live amongst and work with the poor? I highly doubt that he strutted up to his followers flashing bling and high fashioned linens! His name was Jesus, not J to the C!

Another thing that Maher points out in this film is the similarities of many different religions. More than one religion has recorded that their god was born to a virgin mother, was a carpenter, died, was risen on the third day, and even walked on water. The funny thing is that these were all recorded before Christs birth!

I have tried to keep this blog more about the movie than religion itself, but that is a hard thing to do with an associates degree in world religions.   If you are open to the learning about other religions, faiths, beliefs, or lack of beliefs, then go see this movie! You will thoroughly enjoy it. If you are stuck in your ways, believe what you believe, and are easily offended, then I recommend you stay home and watch The Passion of the Christ!

[rating:5/5]

Zac:

Bill Maher and Larry Charles bring the funny with this documentary that looks at religion and the absurdity that people let guide their beliefs and views on politics.

Now, I will say this right now, if you hold any religious belief’s this film might offend you, in fact, I can almost guarantee it, but if you are coming from the same state of mind as Maher, like I am, then this film will have you laughing while nodding your head as you move along with Maher through various religious landmarks and hotbeds around the world. The film consists of a mixture of interviews with everyday people, to extremists, to people in power over certain views on religion. The topics discussed are all the excepted, the “magic” of the stories, miracle believability, the science of it all, carrying out the word of the bible versus the word of Jesus, etc, etc… Maher simply goes around asking questions, and asking the interviewees to take them out of context and view them as if they were told to you from somewhere else besides the bible, would you believe it?

Maher is great at playing the devil’s advocate and he spends much of the film doing it here. Though, that is not to say that he will shy away from sharing his grounded and educated approach to all things religion. From born again Jews, fundamentalist orthodox Jewish priests who denounce the holocaust with Iran’s president, Scientology, Islam, Mormons, Catholicism, he goes after it all, and by only stating the facts of what these people believe in he gets laughs, and doesn’t even have to show people defend it.

I will say though, there are a few bits that just didn’t work; the Israeli who comes up with ways to get around the Sabbath was a bit dull, as was an Islamic rapper, but most of the time Charles and Maher do a good job of bringing the funny. Though, when it comes to the Islam portion towards the end, Maher’s views on Islam are a bit to generalizing, but he also wasn’t able to get an interview with many Islamic people that were overly accommodating. But, he does not take the moment to point out that just like in America, the people in power and voices of Islam that we hear are that of the ones in power and might hold an extremist view of the religion. Also by the end, Maher is basically making a call for arms for people to make a change and make their voice heard if they are not of religious affiliation, that we can not continue to let this world be destroyed over petty beliefs and that we should be more worried about right or wrong in politics on not trying to adhere to the ideas of ones religious beliefs.

The film in the end though is extremely eye opening at the fact that people are so blind to the absurdity of their beliefs and that they have no defense to their arguments outside blind faith. The film will offend many, but is a joy for those who see eye to eye with Maher, and simply hold the stance of “I don’t know?” when it comes to the higher questions of humanity and the unknown. But most importantly it opens your eyes to how crazy it is that the people in power across the world are driving many important decisions that could effect us all by their beliefs in ideas and stories that were formed by men simply pawing for a way for more power, which is exactly what these people that use religion as their defense are doing today.

[rating: 4/5]