Religulous

I just sat down and watched 'Religulous', the movie with Bill Maher. I consider myself lucky that Netflix was able to get it to me the first day it came out on DVD. I am grateful to them.


It's a good movie, and it makes (at least) a couple of very valid points. One is that there are many people who do many incredible things in the name of religion. Another is that there are a great number of people in this world who seem to think that the pursuit of (probably nuclear) Armageddon is somehow justified in the advancement of their religious ideology. Maher, at the end of the movie, brings this point home with a bang. Literally.


He makes his point in a way that is sure to infuriate the faithful. One of the first things you notice is that his documentarial (if that's a word) methodology is confrontational. He enters the movie with the pretext that religious fanatics are severely delusional, and he isn't afraid to gather groups of religious people together, and then either constantly interrupt their answers to his questions (ala Chris Matthews), or to harass them outright. His audacity is impressive, but if I try that I tend to get beaten up. Anyway, a lot of this is meant to be put in a humorous context, but that's really left up to the viewer. You'll get out of this movie what you come into it with. I personally didn't think it was that thigh-slapping hilarious, mostly because the subject matter is, to me, pretty serious stuff.


There are other ways to make one's point when dealing with opposing ideologies. One of my personal favorites is to assume as much of a non-threatening air as I can (assuming of course I am actually capable of doing this - some people don't think I am). I call this the 'Give 'em enough rope' philosophy, named after that early Clash record. Let them go long enough, they'll hang themselves. Of course, that means I have to stifle any of my own opinions, which could be construed as a form of lying or manipulating my subjects. It's unclear how much of this Maher did during the actual filming process; in the movie's final edit, he goes right for the jugular.


This movie isn't going to change anyone's mind, as I mentioned earlier. The faithful are going to scream blasphemy, and the atheists are going to say they told us so.


I talk about my feelings concerning God elsewhere in this blog. Look there to see all of that; I don't need to repeat myself.


But one of the main points in this movie is that freedom can be a dangerous thing. Just as godless people have the right to have their views, so do the zealots. And they are inevitably going to clash. We can only hope that doesn't end up dooming our fragile planet.