Religulous

I recently saw the Bill Maher movie "Religulous".

I have to admit I had my reservations about it. I was thinking that he was going to bash the very idea of believing in God. But he did not. He did however, with just cause and much to my agreement, question the Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions' fundamentalism and its followers about the discrepancies and man-made ideals which they cling to.

The cause of much of the world's problems are ingrained in the major organized religions and there is no disputing this fact, folks. The intolerance of these fundamentalists has disgraced the face of the planet. The very message Jesus taught is lost on many Christians. The idea that people in 2009 cannot accept the basic tenets of science (i.e. evolution, the age of the earth, dinosaurs, etc.) is also disturbing.

In one scene of the movie Bill Maher visits the Creationist Museum in (I think) Tennessee. In this incorrect-timeline and literalist museum, there is an exhibit showing people living during the time of dinosaurs. I laughed out loud. People are paying money to walk through this "museum". And in many cases, the people being interviewed by Bill Maher get flustered and all defensive (and end the interviews) because they could not answer the questions he posed to them. Simple questions that they should know the answer to since it is what they believe. To believe something without question is scary.

It is about time someone put together a documentary film about this topic. There is a snarkiness to this film that is both delightful and jaw-dropping at times. As a Christian Universalist who has left organized religion, of course, I endorse this film. Anyone entrenched in an organized religion will likely take offense to this film and perhaps shut it off. Like Bill Maher, I think doubt is a healthy thing as well as asking questions of one's religion. Anyone not willing to try and answer or at least think about the tough questions of this film needs to re-evaluate the reasons why they believe at all.