Bill Maher seems to be following in Michael Moore’s footsteps by putting out a movie called Religulous. This film, which I’m certain will prove to be extremely divisive, makes the case that the most dangerous force on earth is religion.
Maher’s ultimate message is simple: Abandon religion… or we’ll all die.
In the clip that follows, Maher lays out the foundation of this statement. Here are a few choice quotes which I believe pretty much sum things up:
- “If one believes that the world is going to come to an end, does it not drain one’s motivation to improve life while we’re here?”
- “Religion must die for man to live.”
- “Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking.”
- “Those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders.”
- “Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings, who don’t have all the answers, to think they do.”
- “The only attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt.”
- “The solace and comfort that religion brings you, actually comes at a terrible price.”
Of course, he’s right – damned right: he’ll burn in hell! Folk seem to be scared of what they (we) don’t know. The way of science is that things are held to be true until something better comes along: “This will do for now, let’s keep going on that basis”. Most religions have closed the book at some point – say n the Middle ages, when Christian authority peaked – “everything known and knowable is here, in this Book, Old and New Testaments”. Doubt it and Burn in Hell. Before that Judaism had gotten as far as the Old Testament, believe it or burn in hell. Sometime in between Islam had said “Ok, New and Old Testaments will do – but everything is actually in here, the Qu’ran: final, definitive. Close the book” (or burn in hell).
A note: The video here had a link (Google ads) to John Galt – Ayn rand. I subscribe to a great deal of Ms. Rand’s Objectivism, but that can run into the same “burn-in-hell” things: if Ayn rand didn’t say so, it isn’t true – “Aynranity”?
I leave you with a quote from that Great American Philosopher (!), Donald Rumsfeld:
“There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know.”
(So we may as well burn in hell anyhow?).
Q
I’m religious, so obviously I don’t agree with Maher … but I like his questions, and I like that he forces me to think about my belief.
Now, there’s a fairly strong stream of thought that suggests such intense nonbelief is itself a sort of quasi religion — why spend so much time on proving the non-existence of God? I don’t waste any effort on proving the non-existence of the Teletubbies. If I did, people might say I “protest too much”.
I’m undecided on this point, but Maher’s passionate disbelief lends credence to the theory.
He isn’t “spending so much time proving the non-existence of god”, you sound like the man in the documentary who gets offended by his allegations, when in reality he isn’t saying “GOD ISN’T REAL!”, but he’s simply asking questions believers CAN’T answer. so they turn to either faith, or they get offended by his questions. You don’t have to try and disprove religion, anyone with common sense understands there was no talking snake or garden of eden
Haven’t seen the movie but have watched him from time to time on “Real Time”. He is a smart guy, but comes off as a hater much of the time and that’s too bad, because his show could be much better. Is his still living with strippers?
Anthony,
I believe you are correct that one can take disbelief too far. When you get to the point of trying to convince other people that there is NOT a God, well it seems equal in some ways to attempting to convince people there IS a God. On the other hand, you don’t worry about the Teletubbies because you don’t believe they are going to bring about the destruction of the entire planet. But there is a very strong case to be made that religion will indeed do this.
For example, I personally believe that within my lifetime we will witness the detonation of a nuclear weapon on innocent civilians by some sort of terrorist organization. I am also convinced that it will be done in the name of God. And this scares me very much. Maher didn’t put this thought in my mind, it’s a belief I’ve long held.
In my opinion the biggest difference between people who are religious and people who are not, is that the former are attracted to death, while the latter cling voraciously to life. It is difficult for non-believers to feel comfortable when surrounded by people who not only don’t care if they die… but who are looking forward to it. After all, people who believe in an after-life project that belief onto even Atheists (“He’s going to hell…” or “She’s a saint”), and this belief, in many ways, devalues life here on Earth.
John
Bill Maher just demonstrates how a person with a little knowledge, and less understanding, can take things that are true but arrive at a completely erroneous conclusion. Although religious people have said the things he says in his diatribe, the views expressed do not reflect accurately what is in the Bible. Faith is not as he defines it, but rather, “the assured expectation of things hoped for, but not yet beheld”. But faith is not credulity. Faith is based on knowledge. A simple example is we have faith that it is going to rain when the weatherman predicts a 100% chance of showers. This is based on prior knowledge, though we have not as yet seen the rain. The Bible uses Megeddo to illustrate a world situation because those who first read it understood the meaning of Megeddo. The bible does predict that there would be a turning on religion, in fact, that governments would turn on religion, and we are seeing the beginnings of this now. Although Mr Maher thinks hes being rational, he is in fact very irrational. (And by the way, its Revelation not Revelations ).
You are incorrect in your statement about religous people being attracted to death. Those people are not religious they are fanatics. My belief in God doesn’t make me want to die it just takes the edge off the fear. Anything taken to far is dangerous. Like atomic energy. Good idea. Atomic bomb bad idea. I think this is a prime example of science being taken to far.
Interesting how religious people have also done the most good in the world, particularly Christians who provide for the less fortunate – The Red Cross, Salvation Army, churches, missionaries, etc. They also established this nation … including it’s hospitals and universities. Yet those who abandoned religion and took great measures to eliminate it from society include such notable factions as the Communists and the Socialist Nazis. Does this mean Bill Maher respects Hitler more than George Washington? And would have prefered this Judeo-Christian nation to not interfere with Adolph’s attempts to take over the world?
i think we shouldn’t over think about things. It doesn’t matter what religion you are in as long as you believe in God
No it doesn’t matter if you believe in God. Religion is the ultimate racket Because their product is a non refutable promise.
did you see the whole movie? i did, and i highly recommend it. i expected it to be more just religion-baiting than it is — he makes a lot of good points. and it was important to me that what he has a problem with is religion itself — not spirituality, not personal belief, but proscribed belief and institutionalized groups. as a recovering roman catholic cum buddhist, i think he hit the nail on the head in many ways with this film.
Religion is often used as a motivating force. Men hit each other in the head long before today’s religions existed. A civilization united by a common belief likely trumps one that is not. Believer or not we need to keep our religions from be usurped by those who wish to do evil.