I am so excited for this movie! Not just because it pokes at the countless holes in religous faith, but because it appears to do it from a new angle. By asking 'sane' people to defend their views by asking them rational questions; not necessarily accusing them of being wrong, but letting them figure that out for themselves. Bill also brings up a great point by showing that there is a large percentage of Americans that do not believe in god (sadly, it's only 16%, one of the lowest numbers in the world) but yet they do not seem to have a voice. Hopefully this movie can push us to start making some changes.
It’s not propaganda, because Maher isn’t running
out and finding weirdos to use in smear tactics against the devout.
Typically anyone trying to make a case against God goes right to the
pedophile priests and the suicide bombers, but Maher makes it a point
to focus on normal, reasonably sane religious people. He’s not stacking
the deck in his favor, because he doesn’t need to. He talks to truckers
in a roadside chapel, he chats with random, middle-class tourists at a
Christian-themed amusement park. He talks to religious shop owners,
small town preachers, televanglists, Jews for Jesus, fundamentalist
U.S. Senators, Vatican priests, religious scientists, secular Muslims,
gay Muslims, people in America, Utah (come on, we all know it’s not
really America), Europe, and even in Jerusalem. Though those fumbling
for an excuse to discredit him may claim otherwise, these aren’t
extremists or lunatics. These are for the most part sane, rational,
even intelligent people who believe something which Maher believes is
insane.
Maher lets these people talk, but he doesn’t let them get away
with fooling anyone, including themselves. He asks about their beliefs,
and then refuses to follow the cultural taboos which demand he let it
go when they say something ridiculous. He talks to them plainly and
without fear, asking the tough questions for which religion, any kind
of religion, seems to have no answer. Some of them get angry, most of
them simply, and politely, shut down; their brains refusing to go any
further when he brings up a point of view which might cause them to
objectively consider their blind faith. Others, unable to cope with his
queries, admit to being genuinely stupid, as did an Arkansas Senator
who awkwardly excuses his flawed thinking by admitting that his job as
an elected official doesn’t require an IQ test.
LINK: http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Religulous-3380.html