Religulous (2008)

This is trash.A hate filled and ignorant piece of left wing propaganda.No Stars.

What is Bill Maher doing here?Why is he making a propaganda documentary about God and His non-existence?Is a political humorist and author qualified enough to make a case against religion particularly Christianity and Islam? Well,Religulous - a contraction of the words Religion and Ridiculous together - is a documentary made by Bill Maher that would like to make a case against religion.He does this by interviewing people about God around the world particularly about religion and their religious beliefs.He tries to get a range of views about world religion as he travels to familiar places such as Jerusalem,the Vatican,Creation Museum,Holy Land and Salt Lake City.He talks to Jews,Catholics and Protestants about Jesus and the Bible.He also tries to speak to Muslims about Muhammad and Allah and makes a case against their beliefs.Finally,he also travels to London and tries to make a case as well against Scientology being a crazy religion. Apparently,he tries to exhibit his analytic skills,wit and a commitment to pull a punch in his so-called "spiritual journey" to educate people against religion.Well,what can I say.I consider this more of a COMEDIC SKIT rather than a documentary about world religion.The first thing it does not talk about is God which simply makes it an extremely weak documentary.What's worse,it does not even talk about people's faith in God which even makes it a very weak.Instead,Mr Maher makes fun of people's religious beliefs and the things written in religious texts such as the Bible and the Koran.His irreverence simply makes it even more silly and not worthwhile to watch. In the end,it became more of an insult to people who have religions rather than study on why people have religions.Even atheists,agnostics and apostates would feel insulted as well considering they are made fun of by Mr. Maher as he makes a SILLY CASE AGAINST WORLD RELIGION.Overall,it simply lacks wit and intelligence that Mr. Maher is supposedly known for.One advice I could say is:Stick to politics,Mr Maher!!!!!

I liked Religulous for a particular reason. Like Bill Maher I too was raised in a mixed marriage home although my siblings and I were given no religious upbringing whereas Maher and siblings were raised Catholic. Maher has a particular view that I subscribe to. That being I have no idea what to expect once life on earth is done with me. Neither does anyone else especially those in the business of affirming one view and telling you that every other view is absolutely wrong.In this documentary with footage of real people and brief clips of some Hollywood religious classics, Maher goes into the business of religion both from the seller and the consumer point of view. Some mighty strange folks get interviewed. My favorite is the anti-Israel rabbi who joined with the Iranians to declare holy war on Israel. Some of the anti-gay folks from all the western monotheist religions get their due as well. Imagine in this day and age people proclaiming that gays getting married is the biggest problem humankind faces.In that vein I want to dedicate this film review to the late Phil Zwickler who did a documentary history entitled Rights And Reactions concerning the fight for the gay rights law in New York City in the 70s and 80s. Those City Council hearings had some great theater in them, but the play sure had a happy ending. During a showing of the film Zwickler mentioned that his biggest problem was interviewing the opponents and finding some that made some kind of rational case. He was worried that opponents would say he stacked the deck by putting forward the worst of the other side and was deliberately making them look stupid. Kind of like Donald Trump today. Unlike Phil Zwickler in that different time, Bill Maher showed the crazies in all their glory.There's famous song lyric from The King And I in the Puzzlement song that Yul Brynner sang about the difficulties of kingship. It's one of my favorites and should have been used by Maher in the movie. In talking about belief systems Brynner says people when questioned a bit about their beliefs really couldn't answer questions. But if someone questioned said beliefs the line went "very quickly will he fight, he'll fight to prove that what he does not know is so".And in one song lyric Oscar Hammerstein,II exploded all the stupid reasons we've had for religious conflict the world over. Should have been the theme for Religulous.

I don't know what to believe and what's real, the problem is not the Religions, or the followers it's Believing. Bill focused on followers that to me is the very smart because I always go to them to ask them the same questions, and the answer is what they read, or dad told me or I was born this way ....... I asked one of the followers if you do what they told you (sorry command) you doesn't that make you a Sheep?, he said yes and I accept. the real problem is the leaders of every Religions I'm not talking about Jesus or Moses or Muhammad, the followers did not see them or hear them but the people who speak in in their names, you see the three men were Shepherds, did anyone see a Rabbi carrying a stick and guiding his flock of Sheeps or a Priest or one of the Muslim leaders doing that, anyone??. No nobody seen that images, they all sits and (Money Comes) from every direction and their Trades is GOD. I recall a book to Kahlil Gibran called the Storms it's collection of short stories one of the stories called the Devil you should read it.