Maher religion holy in religulous bill maher

TORONTO — “Just call us the Woodward and Bernstein of religion.”
That’s how Bill Maher sums his quest with “Borat” director Larry
Charles in “Religulous,” a pithy, smart, and usually profane poke at
religion.

From the Holy Land to the Holy Land Experience theme park in Florida,
Maher travels the globe searching out believers and engages them on
their turf about what they believe and why.

That confrontation between the faithful and Maher’s logic makes this
documentary a little like Prince Judah going after the Roman heathen
Messala in “Ben-Hur” — without the showy chariot race.

“All I can say is religion won’t go the way of the button shoe,” Maher
joked with reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Oh I still found myself bargaining with this guy in my head at times
when I was trouble,” he laughs. “But no, I’m not for this disease that
religion has turned out to be.”

Confronting the faithful as Bill does is funny stuff. With his logic
in hand, Maher goes forth and finds a Jesus impersonater who explains
the Holy Trinity to Maher by comparing it to the three states of
water.

He unearths tourists in the gift shop at The Holy Land Experience who
nosh back and forth with him about the place of the Jews in heaven.
Add to that the everyday American Christians Maher takes on who
“believe in believing” because “what if you died without faith and
found out you were wrong?”

It all sounds like flimsy crap to Maher, especially when he’s talking
to self-styled religious leaders, Catholic higher-ups dressed in un-
Godly expensive suits and bible-thumping fundamentalists like Arkansas
Senator Mark Pryor.

Maher’s approach is fair. He listens to what everyone has to say and
thoughtfully considers every word. Then Maher goes for the jugular.

“How can you believe in a talking snake?” he asks. How can a man live
in the belly of a whale or come back from the dead? And what about
those Mormons? How can they believe that God is some real super-dude
happily residing on another planet?”

From the stormy religious opinions he finds in Jerusalem to the
radical Muslim problem in Amsterdam, Maher’s quest for “truth”
presents a force behind faith that he and Charles would unquestionably
call frightening.

“My country is dumber than your is,” Maher quipped before the Canadian
press. “Only in America will you find politicians in a presidential
campaign trying to out-love Jesus.”

Some may vehemently disagree with such commentary from a man sporting
a ZZ Top beard and a pair of lavender Crocs dangling from his feet.
But so what? Taking a little heat is worth it to these two anti-heaven
crusaders.

“Religulous” won’t appeal to people who loved “The Passion of the
Christ,” the 2004 movie that made devout Catholic director Mel Gibson
richer than God. As Maher says, “We’re giving those who value science
and reason above myth another alternative at the movies.”

Whether “Religulous” changes peoples’ minds as America gears up for a
presidential election has yet to be seen.

“I don’t know how much this film will sway voters. But I’ll tell you.
When Sarah Palin got onto the Republican ticket with John McCain I was
swayed to write a big check to Obama,” Maher jokes.

“I watched a lot of documentaries before I got Larry to sign on. It
was all so depressing to watch,” Maher laughs.

The religulous movie people charles religion

TORONTO — After offending almost every sensibility known to
humankind with his movie “Borat,” it seems there was really only one
topic left for director Larry Charles to tackle – religion.

Focusing his lens on political comedian Bill Maher as he travels the
world challenging Christians, Muslims and Jews on their beliefs,
Charles’s “Religulous” delivers a laugh-out loud attack on the most
sacred of cows.

At one point in the movie, Maher visits the spot where Theo van Gogh
was murdered by a Muslim offended by the Dutch filmmaker’s depiction
of Islam as cruel to women.

And so Charles and Maher both faced questions, while promoting the
movie last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, about the
potential of harm being visited upon them.

“We’re shedding a light on all religions,” Maher said. “I can’t live
my life by fear, nor do I think I have to – and I won’t.”

Charles, a former standup comedian and staff writer for “Seinfeld,”
joked that a murderous end could be seen as an opportunity.

“I feel like if we got murdered it would make a great DVD extra,” said
Charles. “So I’ve come to terms with that. I’m OK with that.”

The central device used in the movie is Maher’s unrelenting
questioning. If God is all powerful, why not put an end to suffering
right now? If all faiths preach non-violence, why is there so much
bloodshed in the name of religion?

“We’re not saying that there are people who are religious who aren’t
kind and compassionate and tolerant,” said Charles.

“We’re saying these people have been reduced to a minority, and the
dominant religious discourse now is a violent one. It’s religion as a
weapon against someone else’s religion.”

That’s not to say non-violent believers get off easy. The title
“Religulous” is a mash-up of religion and ridiculous, and both men
seem to be in a full agreement that religious belief is, put simply,
“crazy.”

“I want people to stand up and not be ashamed to say, ‘We’re not the
crazy ones. The people who believe in the talking snake, they’re the
crazy ones, not us,”‘ Maher said.

Maher added, however, that he’s “not looking to make this into a
religion of non-religion – that would defeat the purpose.”

“I’m a big believer in this concept of the meme – a cultural idea that
gets planted in the society that subtly shifts the paradigm,” said
Charles.

“When I was a kid in the mid-’60s and you drove down the highway in
the United States, people just took their (garbage) and threw it out
the window … and the highways were littered with all kinds of crap.”

Lady Bird Johnson, then-president Lyndon Johnson’s wife, started
urging people not to litter, and a campaign followed.

“Now if you drive down the highway in the States and someone throws
something out the window, people are horrified. Same with smoking.”

“Everyone thinks they’re the only one … It’s not just us. There’s
millions of people out there, but they don’t talk to each other.
Churchgoers get together in the church, and so they all see, ‘Oh we
think alike.’ ”

The hope is that the movie gives “people a little more confidence to
speak up” and ask questions, said Charles.

“How about the devil? A fallen angel who plotted against God, who’s
omniscient but did not see it coming?” he said. “Folks, I don’t know
what to tell you – I rest my case.”