Religulous

It's a combination of "religion" and "ridiculous". Sorry, I know a few who won't get the word so I have to explain. And it's the name of Bill Maher's new movie, and by the title, you can guess the subject. I watched an interview last night on the Daily Show (it's where I get all my news, I can't help it) and I've been thinking about it since. Maher is not in the "there is no god" camp, according to what he says, but more in the "we can't prove there is a god" camp. And from the clips, this looks like a funny movie, but it is so very disturbing that what the world sees as faith is extremism, fanaticism, and often the fringe of every denomination, church, cult, or crazy idea that calls itself "religion". On the show last night, Maher compared Scientology to Christianity as the only difference is that one is new. And I could feel a rebuttal building in my chest but he couldn't hear me...he was on t.v.

This reminds me a little of the whole "I met Satan" post I earlier had where I said I really see God at work. As a reasonable, educated, young-ish, Christian woman, I tend to live in the middle of most arguments, neither conservative or liberal. When I imagine what the conversation is going to be over this movie, I want to rest my head for a few minutes. Here's why: the extremes are what you'll hear. And really, as a middle-way person, I'm more disturbed by Maher's points about the questions he asked normal people who call themselves religious. And they couldn't answer. I know that any deep faith discussion is eventually going to wind up at something that you just have to believe, and there are many elements of religion that are laughable. But the fact that this is the face of the church, what the world sees, is not funny.

Maher's biggest point seemed to be that a VP like Sarah Palin is a shining example of all that's wrong with this country. She believes the Bible literally so how could she be a reasonable person? I am not sure that she IS a reasonable person, but I don't blame that on believing the Bible or see that as evidence either way. It appears to me that her issues are inborn, personality traits or character flaws. Jon Stewart mentioned that faith does give us good things: morality, comfort. Maher answered by saying they were outweighed by war etc. I don't believe that faith causes wars. Religion might. Extremism certainly does.

Obviously Bill Maher is sharp with a very quick mind. That is crystal clear. It seems unfair to illustrate the ills of religion by setting his wit against the masses on the street. What I'd like to see is a match up against the best minds. There still may not be agreement but it should be harder to make the other person the butt of the joke. A person who has actually thought to determine what he or she believes and studied some to find the answers seems to be a little hard to find out on the streets of London. It's very easy to find people who believe what they've been told to believe apparently. Of course, he has done an excellent job illustrating the dangers: there are a whole lot more of them than there are of us.