Last night I went to see Religulous. I was surprised to find that it received a 63% "fresh" rating from rottentomatoes.
In the film, political comedian Bill Maher makes commentary on the absurdity of different religions through various interviews with believers (and one or two non-believers, as well.)
In my opinion, this was a terrible film, and an even worse "documentary" - though to use that term, as Maher does, is to use it loosely.
I agree with Maher's position on religion. But what I expected to be a discussion about religion, it's creeds, as well as it's uses in society, turned out to be "Bill Maher's Right and You're Wrong." In essence, I felt that Maher did to the converted what Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly do to the liberals. There's no room for other opinions, but mine.
Again I say, I agree with Maher. I think religion is a detriment to society, and I think it's a very dangerous thing. Being able to say with utter certainty that "God is on my side" is to be drunk with unquestionable power and the utmost authority to do whatever you want.
But it exists. And so what does that mean? This movie was far less about opening a conversation and much more about convincing people - in essence apostatizing. And I always question when one person uses the tactics of another person to show that their tactics are wrong.
Do I think people should see this movie? Sadly, no. I feel very strongly that religion is something that needs to fade away, but the answer, I feel, is information and education. I don't think this movie provides much of that at all, and so I think that in attempting to help it, Maher has actually hurt his cause.
1 comment:
Very interesting. I haven't seen it, but I plan to at some point, just to see for myself. It looked funny, though I can see your point about how it may not do what it Should Do.
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