Well friends, as promised, I finished Religulous and what follows are my critiques and comments of the film.
First off, I have to say, some of the things I'm going to comment on and say may go completely against your beliefs. I'm in no way trying offend you, these are opinions and ideas.
The film begins with Bill Maher traveling all over the world to not only question, but challenge people's faith. He doesn't pick solely on Christianity. And in that comment, I think is where I find my first issue with the movie. Bill engages people in conversation under the pretense of questioning his or their faith, but instead, he ends up challenging their faith. I have no problem with someone questioning or engaging someone in conversation on damn near any topic, but, when one proceeds to challenge someone on their beliefs, its a recipe for disaster. Questioning will allow someone to open up and explain their beliefs and thoughts, however, when one challenges those beliefs, the believer in turn, tends to become radically defensive.
The movie's pretense is good, Bill travels the world and questions people's faith and asks them why faith is enough...why the belief in God is sane, yet, the belief in Santa Claus is crazy. (This is actually a topic he brings up with one of his interviewees) I just don't agree with how far he takes it. He continues to say "...I don't know what I believe" yet, if you watch the interviews, it's QUITE CLEAR he believes that there is no god, and that it is ridiculous that anyone believes in the possibility of a God (not getting into separate religions right now).
Some parallels and arguments he brings up are rather creative and thought provoking. For instance, I didn't know that Jesus Christ' story is basically a verbatim ripoff of Horus, the son of Osiris in ancient Egyptian theology. Horus was: born on December 25th, born of a virgin, was a carpenter, healed the sick, raised a man who's name translates into Lazarus, he was crucified, and he was risen on the 3rd day of his death, and oh yeah, 2 women proclaimed he was raised. It's pretty thought provoking.
I didn't plan on and don't plan on commenting on everything I saw in the movie. I could get into conversation about how Christians call Mormon's crazy, and how Jews can't get along with Muslims, and dammit, none of them can get along with each other. Hell, when I go to church, I find it hard to find people that get along with each other, let alone another sect. Church does a real good job at screwing up religion.
Is religion the opiate of the masses? Probably. Is it answers for those that have questions that can't be answered by scientific information? Yes. Does it make people feel better on their death bed? Yes...and what's wrong with that? I really think that Kevin Smith wrote it best. "I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier." Do I personally know what's out there? No. Do I believe that God came down and impregnated a woman and had a baby and that baby died for our sins? No. I DO however believe in Jesus Christ. I think Christianity messed the damn message up. Regardless of divinity, if one strives to live their life like Jesus Christ, they're going to be a pretty darn good person. And, isn't that all we're looking for in life? Live a good life. That's it. If one is living their life as a downpayment on something they might get in a magical land after they die...isn't that just...wrong? Wouldn't it be better to be nice, to you know...be nice? I'm not saying one has to be exactly like Jesus. That's impossible. It's a different time and place. But, people...treat each other how you'd like to be treated. It's not hard, and believe me, it will make your life better and make you a real good example for those around you.
