Tossed alongside the upcoming line-up of faith-based films is an intentionally controversial “documentary” that is sure to rile many of the millions of Americans who consider themselves to be faithful adherents of a particular religion.
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(Photo: Lionsgate)Bill Maher interviews the man who plays Jesus at the The Holy Land Experience in Orlando for his film "Religulous."
"Religulous," featuring Bill Maher, host of "Real Time With Bill Maher" on HBO, was originally slated for a release date coinciding with this year’s Easter holiday, but post-production delays resulting from a screenwriters guild strike pushed the release date back to July 11 and then to Oct. 3 – its current release date.
Weeks before the film hits theaters, critics have been quick to weigh in on "Religulous," which Maher himself admitted will offend “any religious person.”
“[Maher] thinks religion is a big crock of spit,” wrote Los Angeles Times blogger Patrick Goldstein, who described "Religulous" as “a comic bookend to Sam Harris' 'The End of Faith,' a humorless best seller that views religion as a bastion of superstition and moral hypocrisy.”
“[E]veryone in this movie has one only one thing in common,” added author Kris Rasmussen in “Idol Chatter,” the religion and pop culture blog of Beliefnet.com “[T]hey are made to look as stupid as possible – some just didn't need as much help with that as others.”
For the self-described documentary, which Rasmussen called “more of an ambush-style reality TV show,” Maher traveled to a few of the world’s most prominent religious destinations, such as Jerusalem, the Vatican, and Salt Lake City, interviewing believers from a variety of backgrounds and groups.
Among those interviewed by Maher was a man playing Jesus at a Holy Land theme park in Orlando, Muslims at a gay bar in Amsterdam, and Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, a Puerto Rican heretic who calls himself both “the Second Coming of Jesus” and “the Antichrist.”
To obtain interviews, Maher admittedly lied about himself and his film.
"We never, ever, used my name,” Maher said. “We never told anybody it was me who was going to do the interviews. We even had a fake title for the film. We called it 'A Spiritual Journey.'”
The result, according to Spoutblog contributor Karina Longworth, was a film “not about finding out what makes religious people tick, but about using the tics of mostly fringe religious people to prop up the thesis Maher came in with. Which is – in a nutshell, but totally without irony – that everyday religious practice will soon result in global apocalypse.”
Longworth said Maher approached each subject “as if in a sincere attempt to gather information, and then – both in the room with his verbal mockery and attacks, and on a super-diegetic level with the cutaways and after-the-fact on-screen titles illuminating what Maher’s thinking in the moment – turns the situation into an opportunity to gather comedy at the unwitting subject’s expense.”
“Maher telegraphs an extremely hostile self-rightousness (sic) about what he’s doing,” she added.
Although Maher was born and raised as a Catholic, the standup comic intellectually gave up on organized religion as a young man and has since been highly critical of it, skewering it as a bunch of ancient superstitions that do more harm than good.
"Religion is the ultimate taboo, and the one in most need of debunking," Maher, 52, said last week during a press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival.
According to Entertainment Weekly film critic Owen Gleiberman, who gave a relatively favorable review for "Religulous," Maher apparently sets out “not to question religious dogma but to bury it” through the upcoming film.
“He's out to burn holes in the Bible and to trash its literal followers – to declare open season on their contradictions and hypocrisies, heaping ridicule upon all they hold dear,” he wrote in Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch Blog.
Beliefnet’s Rasmussen, meanwhile, who saw a screening for "Religulous" at the Traverse City Film Festival in early August, said she expects Maher to continue to promote his film “as a call for religion in all shapes and sizes to commit a quick, painless death so intelligent civilization can flourish.”
“I know some readers may think I am exaggerating when I say that, but I am actually only paraphrasing the final comments of Maher himself at the end of the movie,” Rasmussen wrote.
In the closing scene of "Religulous," Maher reportedly tells the audience "We need to grow up or die."
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Just a thought for the especially loving christians here anticipating eternal torture for Maher's wisecracks .. how many of your dead relatives have reported back to you on how things are going for them?
I'd think a certain SomeOne who's supposedly concerned about *your* fate could do WONDERS by allowing just a teensy little bit of that sort of thing .. strange .. all we get are 2000-year-old books of dubious and ridiculously convoluted origins.
What you'll really have to face after you die (assuming there's any consciousness to face it - and you don't know anymore about that than I do, do you?), is what a silly ninny you were wasting so much energy on fantasies a two-year-old could easily puncture if he wasn't engulfed by cultural brainwashing to the contrary.
This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that they can see through the idiocy of similar fantasies from *other* cultures.
Hat's off to Bill Maher for extracting some much needed humorous relief out of humanity's seemingly limitless gullibility ..
And he's absolutely right: today our species confronts challenges to its survival that demand *rational* coordinated action, which we can no longer afford to have warped or fragmented by competing fantasies adopted from ancient (and extremely ignorant) barbaric cultures.
(Stoned anybody to death for gathering firewood on Saturday lately? Or not screaming loud enough to be heard when she was raped? .. just a couple of the milder laws mixed in with assorted genocidal atrocities in the Good Book)
Mr.Maher background coming from Catholic stock shows why he doesn't respect the Christian teachings because he was never taught the trueteachings of Christ ,but the idolatry mixed with truth(which is what Catholic teachings are).
FUNNY...Did Bill go to MECCA? No problem mocking the religions of grace....Jews, Christians, Mormons....but, stay away from the people who will cut of your head....the guy is GUTLESS. If you are going to do it, go to mecca, go to New Delhi....
Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
"Maher has the same right as anybody else."
It is better to be thought a fool than to make this kind of documentary and remove all doubt. :)
Mr.Maher reminds me of something I learned a while back.
To the degree we hate sin, we love the sinner. Help me Lord!!!!
Maher's whole way of life is to make people he doesn't agree with seem stupid. He doesn't have all the answers. He seems to believe that believing in anything is a waste of time and energy. I have said it before to someone who thought they didn't have to believe there was a God to get into heaven, "I guess there's always finding out the hard way." I would love to see what God would say to Maher when he is standing in front of Him. His "comedy" isn't going to get him out of that boat. It is unfortunate though that he couldn't find someone who could truly testify for him.Christianity isn't about religion it's about a relationship with Christ. It's too bad that that has been lost at some point. I hope that other Christians including myself can help spread that message a little more lovingly.
Maher has the same right as anybody else. Can't please everyone.
To be honest tamna that sounds like most people, be they believer or not....we are all those things sometimes be it to others or ourslelves.
Groups such as the Viswa Hindu Parishad and BJP who support violence against christians in India are allowed to have non profit status in the US. ofpbjp-usa.org, vhp-america.org, vhp.org.uk.
The next time I make a "documentary" about lying, self-righteous, ignorant, arrogant, hypocrites, I'll start my interviews with Maher.
philo777,
>> Gee, at least Mahr was up-front about his lying <<
Ah, yes. So he was "HONEST" about his "LYING". That just makes up for everything. Oxymoron?
"way to go for proving that some christians believe in trashing others simply because they disagree with your bias."
I've always believed you should return things others have lost. In this case, Maher clearly lost a bunch of his garbage and reg599 was simply returning it. It's just a matter of being polite....
In my case it's just a matter of wanting Maher to stop littering America with half composted garbage which he calls truth. :)
todays winner of the sean hannity personal attack award is reg599
your entry of
"The older Bill Maher gets the more he looks like Uncle Ernie in the movie Tommy....all he needs is a trenchcoat. Attacking religion is the last desperate act of an aging and largely untalented comedian faced with his own mortality."
way to go for proving that some christians believe in trashing others simply because they disagree with your bias.
you are entered in the finals for the father lorini award. ie the really smart bishop who condemned gailieo. hang in there dude. i think you can make it to the finals
Good job, believer.You said it better than I did.Maher has an agenda here, and obviously he is going to find examples that support that agenda and parade them out for all to see.
GE, excellent points, I'm sure he unfortunately had no problem finding people who fit those descriptions.
pvlman, did you ever think there might be a lot of film on the production room floor of those Christians who he interviewed who had a strong faith as well as a strong grasp on their knowledge of the Word of God and he and his producers simply picked and chose those interviews that would assist them in their mockery of Christianity?
Actually, the fact that Maher can find so many who can't answer his questions is not so much an indictment of Christianity, but a statement of how Biblically illiterate those who call themselves Christians are.Plus, anyone can say they are a Christian, and even those who truly are may not be spending time in His word.We shouldn't blame Christ or Christianity for that.
The older Bill Maher gets the more he looks like Uncle Ernie in the movie Tommy....all he needs is a trenchcoat. Attacking religion is the last desperate act of an aging and largely untalented comedian faced with his own mortality.
Whatever....Like others before it, this will soon pass, darkness does, what darkness is...Our God reigns !!
Well if the Christian faith and Christians are what they believe themselves to be. Maher should be able to walk up to any one randomly, and find some one that could give him the answers. Than again with multiple Christian denomination, Christians can't agree to what the truth is. same exists for the Jewish and Muslim faiths.
Bill Maher also said that babies with
downs syndrome should be aborted or killed
shortly after birth because they have no
quality of life. Gods love must really be
convicting him.
Ben Stein is not Christian.
"when unbelievers have anything to say about faith, it's usually a lie."
Gee, at least Mahr was up-front about his lying, unlike Ben Stein and that ridiculous farce he did on evolution. How much did that gross? Seven million was the last figure I heard, and that was with many showings in churches, etc..
From what I've seen of this flick from Mahr, it's meant to be a joke, not a serious "debunking." Stein's was meant to be serious and turned out to be a joke that no educated person would take seriously.
I don't know who Mahr targeted this "documentary" at, but I can tell you there is no big anticipation within the humanist community for it. I would probably see it if it played here, but it probably won't given the area I live in. So, I'll rent it from Netflix, maybe.
It's good to know that Maher admits lying throughout his "spiritual journey" in making this film. It will hopefully set a precedent for everyone who sees it ... when unbelievers have anything to say about faith, it's usually a lie.
We still need to pray for these people, and react with the love of our Lord and Savior.
"that everyday religious practice will soon result in global apocalypse."
The worse part is it may be true (although he has all the wrong reasons). The statement refers to religion vs. a relationship with Christ. It is refering to beliefs which must be defended. My relationship with Christ isn't defended but explained. One doesn't defend what is true. It needs no defense. It only requires explaination.
Those who get into the defend mode don't understand that in a question with 2 options, Jesus always took option 3! It really made the religious leaders mad....
"We need to grow up or die."
Interesting that his version they are one and the same.
In the closing scene of "Religulous," Maher reportedly tells the audience "We need to grow up or die."
It's sad that he has chosen the latter. This one needs much prayer.
Suffice it to say that the movie/documentary isn't going to rile me, because I don't plan on going to see it.And since I took HBO out of my home, his TV show won't either.Good point, SolaScriptura.
All that critics of each age have ever proven in their tired and weary statements about their own superior intellect and how they have removed the "religion" is that when they are gone from this life, the Word of God still stands.
This is not to sound self-righteous but if this man alarms you, be aware that he is not the first nor will he be the last
Bottom line, unless the Holy Spirit removes the blindness from his life he will continue to hate God, and none of us are better than him, because we all hate God until Christ reconciles us to God the Father through His blood
Pray for his salvation
Mayer doesn't offend me, It's not about me, It's about God, It's about Jesus.
He does offend God, and it is God he will stand before one day wreather he believes it or not.
By the Grace of God Mr Maher will come to his sences and see his need of repentance and forgivness. We can only pray.
To me, I just see a prodigal who continues to run from truth, preferring instead to prop up his own version of truth. I say we all pray for Bill. With this much fire, wouldn't he make a great conversion story?
Bill is just really upset because he blames God for his nose. It's sad really.
See that's the point.Even on his show, he doesn't have people(usually)who would be very good at arguing the counterpoint.I apologize if I may have missed some shows where that is not the case, but the ones I have seen have people like John Mellancamp arguing against him.Obviously he isn't going to put someone on there that is going to make him look bad, but come on!!
I saw a preview and unfortunately there is some grain of truth. There are many religious people that have no philosophical coherence. It is no surprise; we live in a non-intellectual society. It is no different than Jay Leno and his Jaywalking. He asks simple questions about the world and amusingly (or sadly) people don't know the answers. These people are easy to find. Does the film have an interview with anybody educated or qualified enough to answer these philosophical questions?
Maher is known for spewing hatred towards Conservatives and Christians.I guess he has two reasons to hate me.Oh well, since he isn't the One I'm going to stand before on Judgment Day, I should be able to sleep ok tonight.
Woe is you Bill Maher, as we all will have to give an account to God when we die, whether you believe in him or not.
"Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven."
Luke 12:10
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