For every boring, intellectually dishonest documentary, there is an equal and opposite hilarious, enlightening documentary. Ok, maybe not, but in this case there just may be.
Just in case Ben Stein didn’t do a good enough job mocking his own ideas with his biased, underhanded treatment of intelligent design, Bill Maher – host of Real Time with Bill Maher, author of New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer, and out-of-the-closet atheist – has compiled a documentary called Religulous.
(Update: video of Larry King interviewing Maher about Religulous after the fold.)
Maher collaborated with Borat director, Larry Charles, on the documentary, which is intended to be part-mockery, part-hilarity, and part-profundity. Charles says of the movie, “Set to the rhythms of Sympathy for the Devil and Jesus Walks, from the Western Wall to the Vatican, from self-professed messiahs to self professed Pariahs, we will not only expose the hypocrisy and corruption in organized religion but the absurdly hilarious logic that holds it together.”
It’s bound to be controversial, but it should at least generate some discussion, and it’s guaranteed to be a lot more funny and entertaining than Stein’s flick.
Religulous hits theaters June 20th. Mark your calendar.
I am so going to see this and then buy it on DVD.
With regard to Bill Maher talking about religion, here is a caveat (from one of Robert Carroll’s pages):
http://skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia13.html
LARRY FINE!!! ON A GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH!!!
*faints in ecstacy*
Thanks for the link, Geochick. Let’s hope Maher sticks to the facts in his documentary, as opposed to making comments like this for a laugh.
I’m not a huge fan of Maher. He’s not exactly a skeptics dream: not only is he an antivaccinationist, but he’s generally just sloppy and shallow in his critiques: sort of like your mildly sloshed uncle making you feel awkward at a party.
So I have very low hopes for this film, especially if it is tied in any way to Expelled. Even if it were good, of which I’m skeptical, it’s simply going to be priceless and impossible to pass up opportunity for critics to demonstrate how evenhanded they are in poo-pooing the “other side” (so loosely defined as to be ridiculous).
Agreed, Bad. As a documentary, humorous or not, I hope he takes his argument seriously.
Thanks for that link Geochick.
I was excited to hear about the movie, but yeah, it’s almost certainly going to be less persuasive than it could be. After all, a serious argument against religion isn’t funny at all, is it? I’ll try to accept it for what it probably is; a chuckle or two for people who are already in on the joke.
I never realized how much Bill Mahar looked like Patrick Stewart until he was on toast.
yeah, a big “oh brother” re: Bill Maher on Ratzinger. Both of my grandparents, German teenagers during WW2 were brownshirts. It would be like if ther were some kind of patriotic scout order started by W that if you didn’t join, you’d be ostracized. (for the record, my mom, who does not use the term lightly for reasons you can imagine, has said that we are currently living in a fascist state here in thye U.S.)