Year: 2008
Director: Larry Charles
Country: US
Language: English
As a man of no religion, I feel I can review this film objectively. I am aware of the evils organized religion
can cause, yet I tend not to forget about the good organized religion has done.
Bill Maher’s Religulous is a ridiculously one sided “documentary” about the
major organized religions such Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism and also
includes many other smaller developing religions like Scientology. Bill Maher feels that they’re all crazy and
fears that they may lead mankind toward its doom.
Sure the film is funny, but intelligent? No. This film could
only appeal to shut-in atheists who know very little about religion and could
care less about respecting others who have beliefs that are somewhat different
from theirs. He visits many places across the world such as Israel, Great
Britain, Utah and the Vatican, you think Maher would find at least one
intelligent religious person to converse with, but no. Maher intentionally
picks the dumbest people he can find to have an “intelligent conversation with.
I say “intelligent conversation” because it’s more like he asks them a question
only to shoot them down and make them feel like idiots. He likes to ask stupid questions to stupid people and then insult them, talk
over them, interrupt them. He edits the
film to make the people he interviews look stupid.
Who are the people he interviews? A rabbi who regularly attends holocaust
denial conferences, “Jews for Jesus”, an
actor who plays Jesus, a man who thinks he’s the messiah just because his name
is Jesus. Really? Maher, you can’t
preach against religious ignorance if you are religiously ignorant yourself.
Maher is a hypocrite who lacks any basic knowledge about organized religion,
other than “religion can cause hurt”. This is why he chooses not to interview
intelligent people, because if he got into any type of religious debate with an
intelligent theologist, he would be easily crushed. He asks the actor who plays
Jesus, “Why doesn’t God just wipe out the devil?” and when the actor can’t
answer the question, because he’s an ACTOR, Maher acts all smug. There is an
intelligent answer to this question, though I don’t want to get into a big
religious debate here, and I’m sure Maher would be stumped if somebody
intelligent gave him that answer.
While Maher points out one side, though very poorly, that
religion can cause great pain to people. He doesn’t acknowledge the good that
religion has done. He doesn’t acknowledge that people are the problem, and that
people regardless of religious affiliation can be corrupted. Though not all
people are corrupt, not all people use religion as a crutch or barrier. Some
people use religion as a way to better understand mankind, to better help mankind. To dismiss all religions and followers of
that religion as “foolish” or “crazy” is extremely ignorant. Mankind cannot
progress with extreme fundamentalist atheists like Bill Maher who attempt to push
people apart because of their religious ideals.
In conclusion, don’t watch this crap. This is easily one of
the worst documentaries I have ever seen. Maher uses sleazy editing and
ignorant ideology to tear his slow witted (he chose the people he wanted to
interview) interviewees apart. It holds no truths and exposes Maher as a true
hypocrite. I belong to no religion, yet I am greatly offended by how blatantly
ignorant he is. If you don’t like the religion, at least you can be respectful
of the people who believe it. 0.5/5
Awesome review!!!
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