Did anyone see Bill Maher's Religulous? I didn't because the previews alone made me sick. From watching the previews it seemed Maher was being awfully hateful towards organized religion and it got me thinking. Yes, for the very, very small minority of religous zealots of every faith, they give religion a bad name. But for the vast majority of us, religion simply gives us a solid moral center, and a peaceful, loving example of how to live our lives. How is this a bad thing? Doesn't Maher's documentary/movie show that he is, in fact, just as bad as the zealots he's so against? Only instead of preaching for a faith, he's preaching agianst it. What makes Maher any better than the people who go door to door trying to save people's souls? I think with his movie, he's proved he's no different.
But, like I said, I didn't actually see it. So I cannot fully form an educated opinion. Has anyone seen it who wants to share his or her thoughts? Am I right about this movie?
ugh, I didnt have the stomach to watch much more than you did. My brother watched it and I caught a few odds and ends, but really it was just a bunch of hateful word vomit in my opinion.
I dont like him vey much for that, although he is entitled to his opinion, he also should have some consideration for those who think differently than he does.
I may not be religious as some, but there are some lines of courtesy that should not be crossed.
"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. " - Hubert H. Humphrey
Bill Maher is one of those folks that uses over the top verbal and theatrical techniques to get attention.
Religion is one of those things that has always been untouchable. Nobody really examines the subject, for fear of insulting someone. As a result, it gets a pass when it comes time to truly look at what it really teaches.
Bill's movie is an attempt to get past that. Yes, he is outrageous, but with a purpose, and that purpose isn't JUST to be insulting. He wants you to TALK about what the premises are behind the religion. He wants you to use logic and common sense to get past the authoritative pronouncements to see what's really behind the facade.
For instance, where do most of us get our information about religion?
Parents?
Preacher?
Religious School?
Hm, what is the common denominator that these three sources share? Advocacy. They all are advocates for their religion. Yes, that makes sense, doesn't it? It IS their right to teach their beliefs to their offspring, fellow religionists and pupils. BUt that system has one built-in, deliberate flaw.
There is no real, honest examination of the subject. The basics of the religion are taught by rote, repeated until the faithful can quote chapter and verse, and what those chapters and verses mean to the religion's dogma and theology.
What you do NOT hear are the details of how your holy books were written, who really wrote them, what the story is behind those books, nor the fact that as to all of the above questions, critical scholars really have no answers.
Nobody really knows who wrote the books of the Old Testament, nor when they were first written down.
Nobody knows who the authors of the Gospels were, and there is considerable discussion over just when they were written.
The only information scholars have about Paul is - his letters! There is even less contemporaneous information about Paul than there is about Jesus. So who really wrote those letters? Why? What were the purposes behind them? Were you aware that fewer than seven of the letters of Paul were really written by the same man? Who were the other authors? Why were the forgeries written? Why were they passed off as Paul's letters for so long?
How are books added to the Bible? What was the process of canonization? What criteria were used?
Did you know that the book of Revelations of John was not added until the thirteenth century? Why did it take so long?
Did you know that there are known to be at least 13,000 different errors in translation and copying in the bible as we know it today? That important passages were either added, deleted, or changed for doctrinal purposes in centuries past? (Some as soon as during the first century of its existence!)
Did you know that there are no contemporaneous records of Jesus? That the only contemporaneous literary mentions are hotly disputed as later interpolations by Christian scribes?
In short, apologetic teachers don't want you to see or examine any of these things, because a good honest look at the truth behind most religions reveals that they are all basically the product of superstitious minds in ancient times, whose "truths" have been merely repeated, blindly, for centuries by people that have no clue what lies behind the facade of belief.
Bill Maher wants you to re-examine your religion in light of modern times and modern values.
If you really look at the ten commandments, you will see that the first six violate the basic principles laid down by the US Constitution, and if enacted into law, would violate that documents basic structure for American law. Yet, many fundamentalist preachers would have you think that those ten commandments are the basis of our legal system!
So how can Christianity embody American values Like Rush would have you believe? American values embody individualism, reason, common sense and freedom. The scientific method and the incorporation of what it teaches into our society is an important part of the American culture. Yet adherence to Christian principles advocate submission to a supernatural power in the person of clerics who interpret that power's words, the idea that your life is in the hands of that power, and if you do not submit, you will suffer an eternally horrific fate.
American values teach us that anybody, like our current President, can aspire to great things, but religious values teach us that we must plead with a heavenly deity for this kind of largess, thus short-circuiting the process of advancement based upon ability that our national values advance.
Yet churches teach weekly that religious values are American values.
Bill just wants you to re-examine those things.
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body!! But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, Glenmorangie in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming: "WOO HOO what a ride!"
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