Bill Maher Makes an Adolescent Case Against Religion in Religulous;
Muslim Comics Play It Safe in Allah Made Me Funny
Religulous Directed by Larry Charles Lionsgate Films Opens October 1
Allah Made Me Funny Directed by Andrea Kalin Truly Indie Opens October
3
Redolent of Roman decadence and authority gone mad, the title
Religulous rolls pleasingly off the tongue. But Bill Maher’s one-man
stand-up attack on religious fundamentalism is a dog that has more
bark than bite—a skeptical, secular-humanist hounding of the
hypocrites, amusingly annotated with sarcastic subtitles and clips
from cheesy biblical spectacles.
Initially quite funny in its head-on engagement with star-spangled,
self-righteous platitudes, Religulous is one small career move for the
left-libertarian tele-savant Maher and another, equally modest step
toward confronting the migraine-inducing, theocratic With God On Our
Side nonsense that defines much American political
discourse—John McCain gets a cameo insisting that “the
Constitution established the United States as a Christian country,”
but he’s hardly the only public figure out to sever the U.S. from its
Enlightenment roots.
Religulous opens with Maher in Israel at fundamentalist ground zero,
reporting from Megiddo, the designated spot for the Battle of
Armageddon. By way of an alternative vision of the apocalypse, the
movie breaks into a comic montage juxtaposing all manner of holy men,
true believers, and pious pols—then licenses the comedian to
spend the rest of its 101 minutes turning his blunderbuss on this
barrel of fish.
For some, Religulous might seem to articulate what has been imagined
as Hollywood’s secret agenda since the 1920s: Is nothing sacred to
these heathens? Maher, who explains that he was brought up Catholic by
a non-observant Jewish mother (dragged on camera to proclaim: “Every
family is dysfunctional”), seems unambiguously alienated from cosmic
consciousness. Recalling his boyhood, he says that God “wasn’t
relevant to my life—Superman was relevant” and maintains that he
would have worshipped any deity that let him jerk off. (The latter is
counterintuitive to the max: Radical psychotherapist Wilhelm Reich
theorized that it was precisely to keep kids from masturbating that
humanity invented the notion of an invisible, all-seeing God.)
Although his antics are directed by Borat showman Larry Charles, Maher
is hardly comparable to Sacha Baron Cohen as a trickster performance
artist. (His funniest act in Religulous is a brief stint, big glasses
on and ear-flaps down, preaching Scientology in Hyde Park, London. A
few minutes into his rant, a bystander steps out of the crowd and
crowns him King Ding-a-Ling, solemnly placing a garland of balloons on
his fevered brow.) Nor is Maher a swashbuckling provocateur like
Michael Moore, comforting the afflicted and confronting the infidels
with his intimidating bulk. Mainly, Maher is pleased to play devil’s
advocate; occasionally, he presents himself as celebrity Antichrist.
On a road trip through rural North Carolina, Maher and his unseen
entourage pause at a tiny truck-stop chapel for some good-natured
joshing with the congregation. Whereas religion sells “an invisible
product,” Maher explains to them, he’s peddling doubt. Sensing what’s
to come, one believer angrily makes for the door. Maher is always
pleased to challenge, debate, and laugh at the lumpen faithful,
willing as they are to cite “historical facts” to defend any position.
Still, as a polemicist, he’s hardly fair—more than a few
exchanges are recalibrated in the editing, and too many end with Maher
flipping Pascal’s Wager, rejoining a believer’s “What if you’re
wrong?” with an emphatic “What if you’re wrong?”
Such one-sided encounters are more depressing than fun. As a showbiz
wise guy, Maher is more effective when hanging with more public
personalities. He gets a dapper soul singer turned preacher to insist
that “Jesus [also] dressed very well!” and then go on to mangle
Matthew 19:24 (“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”). He
maneuvers Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas into accepting the premise
that religion is a remnant of the Bronze Age; unperturbed, Pryor
defends his beliefs by lamely pointing out that “you don’t have to
pass an IQ test to be in the Senate.” Maher confounds tourists and an
unhappy public-relations woman in Orlando’s Holy Land theme park by
engaging the star-struck actor who plays Jesus in a theological
debate.
These straw men are Maher’s more formidable opponents. It’s far less
enjoyable to watch him bait an anti-Zionist Hasid, a barely coherent
Scottish Muslim, a guy who claims to be a descendant of Jesus, the
proprietor of a creationist museum of natural history, or a Dutch
pothead who runs a “cannabis ministry.” The last half of the movie is
more or less spent with the freaks on the carnival midway in
preparation for Maher’s big spiel. Throwing his own brand of snake oil
on the fire, he insists that faith makes a virtue of stupidity,
identifies religion as dangerous because it encourages people to
believe they have all the answers, and warns the world to “grow up or
die.”
Heavy stuff. Freud, who devoted his life to the study of irrational
behavior and characterized religion as humanity’s “universal
obsessional neurosis,” concluded The Future of an Illusion on a
wistful note—arguing pragmatic, imperfect scientific thinking as
the only alternative to the delusional totality of religious faith.
Maher more or less short-circuits this line of thought with a fire-
and-brimstone crescendo of exploding nuclear bombs and a chorus of the
Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere.” The anthem isn’t inappropriate:
Religulous doesn’t really go anywhere either. It’s ultimately a
celebration of the old-time religion we call entertainment.
From the multiplex to the stump: It’s caped crusader versus community
organizer, and the end is nigh
Jesus is the Door no sinning people will be allowed in Gods Kingdom
no homosex people ,lairs murderers,, thieves… no talk show hosts
who sin.,.no false christans repent! openairpreacher utube
Bill does have his considerable moments, but all the advance on his
latest diatribe points out his hit-and-run weakness; until he truly
dives into the subject, he’ll never be considered a real trend setter
or opinion leader. The easy “talking snake” and “guy living in a
whale” have been around for decades (centuries?). There is a lot more
meat (so long as it isn’t Friday) to chew on regarding the “Big Three”
other than just the fairy tale aspects of their collective story
books. I like the movie concept, will see the flick and save final
judgment for later; but it looks like a back alley quicky than a real
passionate screw.
I am a great beleiver in God, but I have to say I really like what
Maher is doing. He, in his movies and overall lfe isn’t questioniong
God but us, and the way we beleive and how we show those beleifs. You
manage in your article to loose a lot of people who would agree with
you. Some of you religious types don’t get that you must write for the
everyman as the Bible is written. Not to prove you’ve had a great
education of man by man and have good use of words.You guys have to
stop overeducating us of god and start educating us in and with God.
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