Hey all, if you haven't seen "Religulous" yet, would you do me a favor and go this weekend? I swear not for me, I am honestly not interested in ever making a movie again - I'm like Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, "I'm too old for this shit." But this one I would like to do well so America gets it that there's a lot of people who at least would like this to be a subject we can talk about and debate. And, its a hoot! I've gotten so many e mails and texts from people who say "I just saw your movie, and at the end everyone applauded. " Something must be going on here, how many times do you see that in movies these days?
Thank you!
1,748 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1401 – 1600 of 1748 Newer› Newest»Bill,
Just finished watching your latest creation. Definitely took on some of the absurdity. Must have been quite an adventure.
You might find my view of religion and the human drama interesting.
The Stillness Before Time
http://www.thestillnessbeforetime.com/
There is really only one Way.
It is without division or boundary.
It is without name or theology.
Awareness is its scripture,
Here now its venue,
You its witness,
Your life the journey.
Keep up the good fight.
And take care,
Michael Holshouser
Hi Lisa,
I used to try to pray because I thought I was suppose to but I either felt stupid or panicky for some reason. I continued to pray maybe once or twice a year. The desire to understand the Bible kinda motivated me to keep reading it everyday and researching rabbinical writings and 1st century writings. All of a sudden those Bible stories were no longer hard to believe but came to life, especially the story of Joseph. I cry every time I read it. (smile)
It was hard to think of God as father for I never had a father or brothers close to me, but in time I was able to pray more often and from my heart and now I don’t feel like it’s forced but from appreciation and love.
I’ve had quite a few prayers answered and felt God’s spirit, love and warmth, and a bad spirit when I did something I knew was very wrong.
Didn’t want this mail to be long but just couldn’t resist discussing some other things.
There’s some confusion about the soul or spirit.
When God created man, “the man came to be a living soul.”, and the animals are also mentioned as souls. For example: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls . . .”
Several verses in the Bible state the soul dies. Such as in Revelation 16:3, “Every living soul died, yes, the things in the sea.”, and Ezekiel 18:4, “The soul that is sinning-it itself will die.” According to the theory of humans inheriting a sinful nature or imperfection, all sin and therefore all eventually die just as the animals. There is no difference. But I suppose other verses could be used to support immortality.
If the human soul can die, does it come back to life and then pass on to heaven or hell?
The spirit on the other hand at Psalms 104:29 states: “If you take away their spirit, they expire, And back to their dust they go.”
In Hebrew, Spirit is ru’ahh; Greek, pneu’ma. The English word “spirit” is from the Latin spirare, meaning “to breath” (noun form spiritus, “a breath,” “breathing”), the words “respiration,” “expiration” and “inspiration” all being derived from the same source. Similarly the Greek pneu’ma comes from pne’o meaning “to breathe or blow,” and the Hebrew ru’ahh is believed to come from a root having the same meaning.
The noun forms ru’ahh and pneu’ma, then, basically mean “breath” but have extended meanings beyond that basic sense. (Compare Habakkuk 2:19; Revelation 13:15.) They can also mean wind; the vital force in living creatures; one’s spirit, dominant feeling or disposition; spirit persons, including God and his angelic creatures; and God’s active force or holy spirit. Compare Koehler and Baumgartner’s Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, pages 877-879; Brown, Driver and Briggs’ Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, pages 924-926; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, edited by G. Kittel, Vol VI pages 332-451.) All these meanings have something in common: they refer to that which is invisible to human sight and which gives evidence of force in motion. Such invisible force is capable of producing visible effects.
Another Hebrew word, nesha.mah’ (Gen. 2:7) also means “breath,” but is more limited in range of meaning than ru’ahh. The Greek pno.e’ seems to have a similar limited sense (Acts 17:25), and was used by the Septuagint translators to render nesha.mah’.
The spirit of life is evident in all of creation “and the spirit itself returns to the true God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) Since the spirit of life belongs to God, only he can return that spirit or breath to whomever he chooses. There were several persons mentioned in the Bible that were resurrected back to life on earth by means of God spirit.
Re. lisa's post: Dear Lisa, awhile back I was in a place where you might be now. In short, if you feel the need to pray, please pray your ass off. Pray for you, pray for me, pray for Bill Maher, the president, the economy, the women and children in Iraq, etc. Erring on the side of sensitivity and caring for others could never be "wrong" no matter what anybody tells you intellectually. If, on the other hand, you feel like praying is superstitious nonsense, then, I promise you lisa, even if you are objectively wrong, God, or the gods could manage to run the world without your input. If it makes you feel any better, people like Mr. Maher and myself will be standing along side you in hell. He will still be able to make you laugh, and I'll be happy to play the straight man.
Bill I just watched Religulous and it is so nice to know that I'm not the only intelligent person in this world. Your answer to religion is the exact answer I give people. I don't know. Don't call me an atheist, because in my mind that is a religion. How can people try to tell me what happens to me when I die? Are you serious? I laugh when people try to "convert" me. Isn't it funny how people like you and me never get mad when people look down on our views? Oh but wait, try and tell a Christian that there is no god and they freak out. I loved the part in the movie when the guy got all pist off in the tractor trailor church and walked out. You know what that is? Ignorance. Ignorance is what starts wars in the world and it is what will sadly continue to lead this world to shit. Fuck all those assholes who kill because someone doesn't believe what they believe. FUCK THEM. Believe in whatever the fuck you want to believe. Whats the fuckin difference? The same thing is going to happen to all of us when we die whether you fuckin like it or not. People just need to get their head out of their ass's and get fuckin real. You know what I'm sayin?
I haven't ran across too many people that told me they didn't believe in God, but maybe a few along the way. I gather many don't go to church for one reason or another or have doubts.
If someone tells me they don't believe in God my next question would be why which I've seen plenty of reasons in this forum.
I remember in a book study we were talking about experiences and a brother said he showed a man from the scriptures Jesus was using an illustration when he spoke of the Valley of Gehenna and that Revelation uses symbolic meanings. Therefore we should not worship God from a standpoint of fear, or a fear of burning forever.
The man said, 'Don't tell me there's no burning hell cause that's the only reason I didn't rob the First National Bank!' And so we got a good laugh from that. It's amazing what we all believe.
Everyone's angry at the world situation and I'm frustrated by the violence and religious extremist as well. There are no real solutions. There are probably just as many nonreligious committing crimes than the religious. If religion vanished off the face of the earth tomorrow, there would still be widespread crime.
So everyone calm down and step back a bit, think, meditate on these things. Follow your heart and back it up with knowledge.
Man Bill, you gave Scientology a free ride...were you worried they may come after you? Do you have some skeletons in the closet they could dig up?
At any rate, your filmaking is pop-mockumentary at it's finest. It's sole purpose is to entertain - not enlighten. So many of your expositions on religion were poorly researched and full of holes.
If you want to go after something and disprove it, in the future, I suggest you bone up on your research...or better yet, hire an actual researcher and not a dude who surfs the net looking for the most sensational fluff that crops up first on Google.
As an atheist, I must say that I found this movie to be a very ignorant and petulant mockery of religion. I think that many people can agree with your basic thesis that religion is ridiculous, but your presentation of the interviews and views in this documentary is really just very poor journalism. The way you have expressed your views in this documentary makes it seem almost as though you have surfed a few liberal blogs that all have a laugh at religion's expense and then put yourself in a situation to interview people who could probably give you some really fascinating viewpoints. When you confront an issue like religion, you should honestly take it from a sociological standpoint. There is no sense in blatantly mocking religion in the same way that religious people mock non-religious people.
Rather than express insightful criticisms in the film, you really marry yourself to a few poorly verbalized discrepancies and throw those in peoples' faces as though simply to see what reactions you get. A documentary shouldn't be about instigating people, it should be focused on letting the information present itself. Honestly, if you had stepped back and let the subjects do the talking, they would have made themselves look ridiculous without being prodded.
I wanted to like this film, but I came away feeling extremely disappointed by the childishness. If you want to see a good documentary on religion without the Michael Moore wannabe bullshit, see Jesus Camp, Deliver Us From Evil or Dawkin's two-part television documentary, The Root of All Evil?
My Comparative Religion professor took us to see this during class, and I loved it. I just bought it on DVD, and it was just as good the second time. I love the museum of creation. Of course, if an animatronic dinosaur lives in peace with an animatronic human, it must have happened.
Again, Bill gave us a good show. Very interesting approach to such sensitive issue often referred as "things we do not want to talk about". I wish he can cover more such topics and win more fans than those he talked about in this movie.
THANK YOU for this documentary ..I hope it opens many people eyes. Funny how a 19 year old can see what many "respected" people STILL cant.
I saw the movie just few days ago, and i've to pray in zulu to find a way to watch it, because here, in this spaghetti nation, a midget with a large amount of power is trying to censure it by not promoting the documentary through his immense powerful televisions. And someone, from the highness of the Heaven and speaking through the nazi-Pope, is acting to blame any kind of debate about anything. I've found the movie with a only english subtitles, there's nothing like italian subs, but that was not a problem, my body still hurt for how much I laughed, and still wet for how much i cryed for sadness.
I'm Italian, so please, please forgive the worst english you've ever heard.
That's the most skeptical movie i've ever seen before, and i think that's the right way to explain how absurd is the interpretation of the Bible nowadays. I'm not christian, i'm not catholic, i'm just a agnostic guy of 26 who believe there's nothing except us, nothing but people, animals, rocks and plants; certainly there are no talking snakes, and the human kind was not born from Adam and Eve, and so on.
My morality is better than most of the believers in my Country, but seems like this is not possibile, because i've to be strictly catholic or christian to be a honest man.
I understood there's no God, or Satan, or Djiin, or every weird chimaera-like god in this World, at the age of ten, so i don't believe that a mormon-freak like Ken Ham is really convinced about what he said. It's like a conspiration, it's no hard to believe when we see the entire story of the christian church in every historical age.
I'm very sad to realize how many people in U.S. believe in creationism. And i'm really scared about that. I can't accept what i've seen in the movie as our future, the future for our children. And this plague is spreading through the entire Europe, like SARS but with more aggressive behaviour.
I don't really think this movie can do anything against the radical catholic and everyone in the world who believe in talking snakes, or who prefers let his daughter raped instead of two self-called "angels", but it's our responsability to explain which kind of garbage is what they believe in. If every weird ad dangerous people in the movie feels like they've a huge rock in they're a**, we're doing a step forward, so go on with this kind on movie and oper all eyes you can
Bill (can i call you Bill?), please, come here and make another movie. Call it "Berluscomunism", i'll give you all you need. Please, Glover-like old man :D
We weren't there and we don't know truly the intention of Lot concerning his daughters. He may have been trying to divert the attention of the mob that was pressing in on him until he could get inside and lock the door behind him. I've often heard everyone is innocent until proven guilty so we ought to give Lot the benefit of the doubt and also not attribute the sins of his daughters to him.
I think science has at least proven we all came from one woman. Just to maybe get a conversation going, could the atheist, agnostic, evolutionist explain thoroughly how the woman evolved from the man? Or how did the life in the oceans evolve split into plants and then animals, man, etc., in lay terms so we can understand.
Man cannot present his theories as actual facts and there are quite a number of intelligent scientists that also believe in creation. So why should the religious believe in something that may or may not be true from someone else's viewpoint? That's just another opinion.
It appears there's just as much hate and anger from the anti-religious as the regligious. So how is that going to make the world a better place?
There are no talking snakes that's for sure but stranger things have happened in this world. The Biblical concept is that a spirit being was speaking through the snake. Spirit creatures we cannot see unless they materialize in some form. Many people try to talk to spirits or people they think are dead relatives but are not.
There could be a whole world of things we can't see. Many do hear, see and feel things that can not be explained by science.
These stories of the first man and woman have been circulated among civilizations long before the Bible was written. I think a good starting point would be to research these things to see just how far back this story goes. Which I think I will do.
great job with that movie, loved it. But what the eff do you mean you wont do any more we need more work like that and no your too old is not an excuse.
sorry missed the first few minutes of that movie you actually said you think religon is a detriment to society now think about that for a momment... with all the bad sides to religon a mass majority of people on this planet do the right thing every day because they believe in god.... we gotta gud gigg going you actually want to stop that..im not saying yes im not saying noo im saying i dont know....... and yes i also believe in the gospel of you just dont know.
Re Stephanie' post: Quite interesting point of view for an atheist as you introduced yourself. In particular, what "really fascinating viewpoints" can we get from people Bill was interviewing? In my view, a really fascinating would be to learn why people favor brainwashing over their own reasoning. , a comedian whose style is rather unique. Although I do not find him extremely funny, Bill Maher is an entertainer, a smart comedian and not a scientist like professor Richard Dawkins. As a critical thinker, how can you compare apples with oranges?
Re: CAVEMAN's post. You're quite right that Dawkins and Maher's documentaries are two incredibly different things - I did not mean to compare them, though, so much as recommend something that has far more merit that this asinine mockumentary. I don't think that anyone should be handling a topic as sensitive as religious debate if they aren't willing to learn the facts beyond pop-theology. If you don't think that gleaning whatever information from a person who considers themselves an expert in their disciplines is important when trying to diagnose and present criticisms on it, then it's really just a missed opportunity. Even if those 'fascinating viewpoints' are completely misled and fallacious, it's still interesting to see what these people have to say, assuming that some one has an interest in actually understanding what it is they're degrading.
Just saw the movie--I thought it was funny and yet, to be quite frank, disturbing that we live in a world blindly attached to these archaic perspectives. I wanted Bill to tell the gay-turned-straight minister that there ARE gay animals in nature (I doubt they have the emotional baggage involved in blaming this on some sort of psychosis:) Intelligent People of the World Unite! BTW--my favorite moment: The minister who wished to be addressed as "Doctor" and who lacked proper English skills and a degree! Classic! Bravo!!!!
To Lisa: Being autonomous is powerful--"you don't need no stinkin' badges!" Praying is a form of meditation--perhaps it is simply calling on your own inner strength--your subconscious (which is an incredible force) to guide you. Stop praying--Why do that? Trust me, you have ALL the answers--pray and ask yourself for them. At least you know you'll be getting real answers:)
Bill,
I had to share a story with you that happened while I was watching Religious. I have been watching your movie while enjoying my nightly martini (or two) and when you started interviewing "Jesus" and showing clips of Scarface, I was laughing so hard that I kicked the table that my martini was on and it fell on the floor and dumped right into one of my shoes. Now, if I had been religious, I would have seen this as a sign that I was wrong, and that Jesus was right and praid for foregiveness. However, I just sat there laughing my ass off, knowing that God has a sense of humor and was sharing it with me at that moment (whatever God is). God Bless!
I watched it on the DVD today. Nicely done movie. I think the debate you are trying to make is good and that is something we need to be open.
I am not a religious person. That does not say that I do not believe in things that I see is right either. I was born to a Buddhist family but I do not lable myself as a Buddhist. I merely happen to like Buddha's teachings of love, compassion and universal laws so I try to understand and live a life helping others. For me there is no God as I believe that we are our own saviours and we decide our fate not some unknown entity.
I would like to know what Bill thinks about Buddha's teachings. Those teachings promote rational thinking, love, compassion and peace, tolerance for differences.
All the religions are man made things and are mostly shaped by those who made them and carried them, the time they were written, and cultures which practised them.
And it is complete blindness and ignorance to become slaves of some teachings without looking at them with rational thinking.
So I think Bill has done a good job in this movie.
My wife and I had to wait to buy it because it was not showing here, WE LOVED IT!!! 100% Right. I am a two time combat vet and saw first hand what you were talking about. I was trying to debate the Iraqi’s on Islam when I was there, picture how that went. If I wasn’t holding 3 weapons I’m sure they would have tried to kill me. Thanks for speaking for all the people who feel the same way you do, but our voices get drowned out by centuries of brainwashing. I have been considering getting into politics, and I am a firm believer in evolution, but at the same time I do believe there is a higher power out there, what it is I don’t know. Maybe a civilization of Earths who once were here a long time ago but realized the earth was going to hit its reset button so they left and then evolved to their conditions out there. WHO KNOWS? WE DON’T! But what I do know is I am here on this planet, living in a broken system that I want to change. We as Americans need to make a lot of changes and BE HAPPY and FREE. Our courts are flawed, our health care is fucked up, and the people are miserable. America should flood the economy with US Dollars give EVERY FAMILY that is American a Government Check once a month and Im talking $4,500.00 just to raise their kids. Why Cant that happen? We could legalize Marijuana and put law restriction on it the same way we did with alcohol and sell it as Americans. Once we put the best minds to work on creating the worlds best SMOKE China, Mexico and all the other country’s we owe money too will take one hit and forget all about the money, what money, we want 10 more tons of that fine American White Widow… Come the Hell on America….. I just hope people see what is happening to this planet we live on and I hope they start preparing them selves for the catastrophic damage that we are going to sustain. To be honest I hope that the only people who survive this are those of intellect so we can start a new world, a world with out Religion, a world that’s happy, a world where MAN doesn’t create a book to scare other men and oppress the women. As for the gay jean that you talked about in your movie I believe that along with some other things, that is the evolution of humans, but society made us think along with religion that homosexuality is so wrong that thousands of Americans are suffering from identity crisis. We did this to ourselves a very long time ago when some guys who were sitting around decided they wanted to be the first authors to publish a book so they wrote about the hopeful bedtime story their moms use to tell them and WE turned it into a dumb ass faith!!! People we don’t go around building churches for superman to praise him and hope one day he comes back from krypton and save our planet, well not some of us at least. That is what the Bible it a damn comic book for people who did not have Cars, Planes, modern technology. I have to go, I am currently working on my degree and maybe you might see my name again, hopefully. That way I could be that asshole in the house of Senate cursing at those idiots playing with their prompters instead of listening to our chosen leader.
the movie was provacative and full of laughs as well. the most meaningful message i gained was when Bill Maher encouraged us non-believers to stand and be counted....when asked regarding religion no longer will i stumble around the fact that i am a free-thinker, a non-religious person who can not accept ideations based on principles of primitive legends which are irrelevant today....i now have the courage to admit this proudly!!
AH yes false religion, is such a joke, Bill is so right. But nowhere in the bible does it say God the creator is ruler of this system. In fact it says clearly SATAN is ruler. Every wonder why its so corrupt? That why Jesus said in the lords prayer "thy (let your) kingdom come" Kingdom=government. Yes Gods government is coming to destroy false religion, Christian or otherwise. Satans most prized creation is world religion, worship not based on any facts, just tradition by corrupt wicked people. Lucky for the world God has a people, they know Jehovah's name and know his will and they are in every country in the world. The next time one knocks on your door ya should hear them out. Just so you have ALL the facts before forming an opinion. Remember, the highest form of ignorance is judging something without thorough investigation.
Hay Mic,
I had posted the verses from Revelation, 'no longer will the voice of a a bride or groom be heard in you again.'
Everyone should take the time to read and investigate these things foretold thousands of years ago, and the fulfillment of many developments that ocurred in ancient history.
Critical thinking and research is involved to have a better perspective which I've seen several in the forum bring out. It's easy to have a good laugh at what people believe, but seriously all jokes aside, maybe documentaries should be left to A&E or the biography channel. Many have said, the film was not very well researched even from a rabbinical viewpoint. No indepth explainations at all.
There are a lot of questions and rude comments made about religion and God. In reality, it seems most have already made their minds up no matter the answer.
Mr maher, please have your research thorough before making any movie about any subject. In your religious movie you say somewhere that Indian God Krsna was a carpenter, this is 100% wrong, the other thing you said he was born to virgin mother which is also 100% wrong, he was never resurrected, I am not here to say that my God is right or anyone's God is wrong but whatever you state in front of the whole world, please have your search or research detailed and close to the truth
Thank you Nayan for your input.
A lot of people complaining about untrue statements in the movie. I know it's a comedy but he could have researched a lot more if he truely wanted to get some answers. Religion may be misleading but he is misleading the public as well. Or at least get together with some evolutionists and make a big production on how life evolved from the ocean with any available physical evidence. Question in my mind constantly is how the single cell(?) split into plant and then animal/humans and how the woman evolved from the man.
Now that would be an interesting movie.
Hey Bill just wanted to say I love your work man! I watch Real Time every week and I'm a big fan! I just saw Religulous and loved it! I've always felt the same as you about all religions in the world. It's funny that the same people today that believe in the "book of fairy tales called the bible" think the ancient Egyptians were crazy in their beliefs that the sun was a god. Now we know it's just a giant helium/hydrogen fusion reaction in space. Seems to me that one day people will look on these people in the same manner...if not already lol! The way you described religion as nothing more than an obstacle for the progression of the human race was perfect! That's been my outlook on it for years now! I'm just one person in the silent minority you described in your movie that just had to speak up this time! Keep up the great work man!
i was INSPIRED to say the least about your movie. its a real eye opener. i certainly fit in the non believers that don't know what to do with their misbelief. amen sir! :)
I would just like to say "thank you" for steering an undecided nation in favor of...nothing. You have succeeded in proving your point that organized religion is a thing of the past, or should be... now what? You not only make no effort to provide any answers to the questions you ask, but you also fail to even justly give those to whom you pose these questions adequate chance to respond. I know all about the convenience of editing, Mr. Maher, and you have gone farther than even Michael Moore, another former hero of mine.
As a "Democrat", I'd just like to thank you for opening my eyes to the rest of the world. I think I'll start tuning in to Sean Hannity and Rush Fucking Limbaugh before you, cuz at least... well at least I'll be hearing a different load of bullshit than the one you're spoon feeding me. Thanks for nothing.
Scott Lipez
To all of you who now question their faith, I ask: Faith in what? Faith in the idea the sun will rise tomorrow? Faith in the fact that the morning dj's will always suck? Faith in true love?
Nothing, nothing is EVER as simple as someone tells you it is. We all make our own faith, the REAL way God wanted things to be.
Always remember that the Bible, the Koran, any religious writing is as a MAN has written it. Yes, each one of us is (and should be) the right to choose how we want to run our lives, but there should be no doubt that media has come to play a large part in how real life affects us.
With this respect should come great responsibility, the such that no politician, to my recent knowledge, has really come to understand. Individuality has begun to be flushed down the proverbial toilet and Bill Maher only seems to love yanking the handle.
To this I say "Live Love and Choose as you will", despite what your friends, your family, your cable-tv-fake-news reporter tells you to.
Scott Lipez
I watched Religulous yesterday on 'OnDemand' and I was very moved by its message. Bill, I commend you for having the BALLS to make this film.
The movie left me to ponder many unsettling questions. First and foremost...
Q: What will it take to wake up the millions of Americans who are still content to exist in this kind of FAITH-induced stupor?
A: Maybe, forcing them all to watch 'Religulous' would do the trick, but something tells me that they'd sooner opt for civil war, rather than leave religious dogmatism behind them, where it belongs
Actually, Christians for the most part also worship the 'Sun God' on December 25. Religious beliefs or myths began long before Egyptian society or before the Bible was written.
According to Biblical context, men on earth are also called 'gods', and the first man becoming god decided to rule the world apart from his Creator. A conspiracy or rebellion then ensued with someone Jesus called also a ruler of the world, a wicked spirit force.
Religion may be an obstacle to society but so is the very nature of man being inherently imperfect. So equal blame should go to the process of evolution if that is your belief system.
I would like to know if the war in Iraq was based on religion or weapons of mass destruction and was religion used to justify the war? What started the first world war or the second world war? Was it religion?
Religion is the cause of many a problem but the root cause would be desire of men to rule the world or have control over others. This is no different than the what is already recorded in the Bible. The first man rebelled and wanted to rule the world. And that 'man has dominated man to his injury.'
I think there's a bit of truth in that.
I hear a lot of whining . . . did someone say childish? What's your solution the free thinkers of the world? When you manage get to rid of all religion, will there still be people killing each other, will the threat of some nut blowing up the world disappear? Will our jails continue to overflow? Will starvation and homelessness end?
I hear people saying how free they are from religion, but will they ever be free from the problems of the world?
Good for you. I finally had a chance to watch the movie last night. Ditto to everything. I feel as though you made the documentary for me personally (self-centered, I know), as I would have created a similar representation of world culture in the event that I had access to adequate funding. Thank you!
You simply did not capture what led to Christianity or Jewish religion in the first place. Some actually study history, and to learn that Jewish religion was founded on earlier myths or whatnot, would have been the spoiler to any fundamentalist. You didn't hold onto/capture that. But kudos for using your name and whatnot to get people thinking.
Bill, I saw your movie and I gotta say, I hate you. I just hate you so much. I hope God is a' cookin' something good up for ya...like a nice bowel cancer or some kind of terrible accident where you spend days in horrible pain- maybe a bear attack in the forrest. You made me really question my faith and for that, you bastard, I really really just can't stand even the sight of you anymore. How dare you make a movie like this. When so many people are in so much turmoil, how dare you take a shit on so many people like this. Why would you do this? People need to believe in something greater than themselves. My faith teaches me to love others and put others before myself. That's what I do everyday, man. There's nothing of what you were propping in your movie in my faith and I'm a Catholic. I love God first and then love everyone else. I come third. Where the hell is there any harm in that? All the extra cash I get, I send to Gris-Gris, Haiti so they can purify their water. Are you freakin' kidding me? My whole life is about sacrifice and love and then you, ass-clown, come along and shit on everything I believe in. Well, fuck you, man...pissing on the Pope like that. He's a fucking saint, all he does is preach love and tolerance, you ignorant jackass. I'll kick your ass if I ever see you, dissing the Pope like that, you jerk. He represents Christ here on Earth and there you go disrespecting him?
I don't feel too bad about saying that, either...As they say. I'm not perfect, just forgiven.
Jennifer Tindell
Apple Valley, MN
I just got done watching "Religulous," and it was phenomenal! My boyfriend grew up Catholic, and I grew up Southern Baptist. In completely separate lives, we've determined the stupidity and outrageousness of religion (could have something to do with being stationed in Utah). You've obviously done your research on the various religions and picked out the most silly things people rely on -- that crutch which helps weak people make it through life without taking responsibility for the REALISTIC, SCIENTIFIC things that actually happen. Kudos to you, thank you, and I will share this movie with anyone who has religious doubts. I think it clears up so many of those fantasy worlds religious humans live in. Way to go!!!
I would also like to say that whomever condemns a man to horrible things, such as "bowel" cancer is obviously speaking what "god" would love to hear. Yes, a loving, caring god would most definitely do such things. Bill has done nothing but speak his thoughts, just like Christians and Evangelical street preachers do daily. Those of us who do not believe in god don't wish bad things upon those of you who do. If you really wish to live what the bible tells you, then love others, regardless of their sins. And don't be hypocritical. Live a good life. I can tell you that in my experiences, the most loving, caring people have been non-christians. The most hypocritical, judgmental, rude people have been those doing so "in the name of Jesus Christ." Which person do you REALLY thing a loving god would love?
Just a friendly note
That was not a Christian speaking in the previous post
That was Sarcasm. Sometimes people say things to mean the opposite. That person was probably an atheist pretending to be a religious extremist, and many people that speak this way want attention and so we should try to ignore them if possible.
Needless to say, the representatives and statesmen of the free people, their presidents, teachers, doctors, lawyers, many scientists, astronomers, college educated etc. believe in God and they are far from being weak people. One, if not the main reason this country was founded was based upon freedom of religion, and the reason it has remained free.
Many persons try to speak and do what's right because of their religion and many use religion as a basis to do wrong according to the desires of their heart. And there are people of no religion that also try to do right according to their conscience. These people I believe the Apostle Paul said 'their conscience bears witness either for or against them'? The Bible also says there are those that 'have the law of God written in their hearts.'
If you were referring to me as the person of sarcasm, you are absolutely right on that part. However, I don't consider myself an atheist, and I most definitely would not post as a Christian extremist. Furthermore, nothing I say is for attention. I was simply making the point that I don't understand why people who claim to be Christians think it's so terrible for non-christians to exert their freedom of speech. One who watched this movie can choose or not choose to believe it. A strong Christian can still hold his or her values after having watched it. It doesn't make sense to me that those people who claim to believe in a "loving god" and who claim they "love everyone else before themselves" would lash out about one man exercising his freedom of speech. If you don't like people talking bad about religion, then don't listen. I don't like to listen to people talk FOR religion, so I choose not to listen.
I'm sorry Heidi,
I was not referring you but the previous post before yours. I try not to use names so much but sometimes it backfires.
Sometimes people post messages in the forum and you have to read between the lines and see what they are really saying. I really haven't seen any Christians in the forum use bad language like that except a pastor that used a slang word that was inappropriate with a few threats of fire and brimstone.
I've also seen Christians write atheist thoughts just chumming it up or having a little fun. I realize people are easy to get offended and easy to judge others, so I try to keep a level head. I'm not perfect either and get frustrated or angry at times or say the wrong things. None of us are perfect.
But please rest assured I was not speaking about you. I think you are a nice person. However, I speak my mind on religious matters and try to clear up misconceptions. Many post hateful things about God and religion and just haven't done any research and neither has Mr. Maher. They only know what they hear and consider themselves intelligent. I'm not an expert myself, but I know how to read.
You please take care and remember I never mean any harm to anyone.
Since comments concerning your movie, Religulous, were closed at HuffingtonPost.com, I sent the following concerning the apparition in it, as a comment there for the article, "Bill Maher's Ode To Government".
(BTW, your "New Rules" in it were spot on & should be given an award. If anyone reading here, missed it>>>http://tinyurl.com/d7mj7u)
I wanted to be sure you saw this, so in case you didn't, I'm sending it here, too, Bill.
I want to call attention to this so much that I'm tempted to post it elsewhere at Huffpo but have to be careful because I was already banned under the screen name of scared4all for getting carried away with encouraging Huffpo readers to boycott Fox News & targeting especially the spinning O'Reilly.
I messed up because I was being allowed to supply large media lists at appropriate times for many articles on important matters & issues, where we could have our voices heard by media in a loud way. But as I said, I messed up.
I got carried away when I found a whole page of Fox news stories & hit it hard. I love helping cut their ratings by telling people about Newshounds. They watch Fox so we don't have to.>>>
http://www.newshounds.us/
All those watching are not fans but many are those of us who want to know what the current spin of the bad guys is & what they're up to.
So, I guess I'll have to be toning it down a bit & be more careful with my posting privileges, from now on.
I'm a retired activist who came back temporarily to help get Obama elected. My son is scared for me to get back into my hearts desire, in activism, due to all the intimidation directed at me in the past in ways that, if I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me anyway.
I was big on passing out media lists & elected official contacts, while networking with activist groups & alerting them to urgent issues we called "media blitzes." I sent many a press release in my years & was a headache to many, I'm proud to say.
I even had the list that only the journalists & reporters used that went direct to personal email boxes, I'd share with a few activist I trusted to use them wisely.
Not to worry my son, I have to work in secret for right now. I meant to leave cyberactivism, again, by now, but find it too hard with all going on against our nation in the form of the likes of Rush & such.
I thank those like you & Arianna for speaking out for "US" in ways that make big impacts on helping to get truth out.
I see this crazy racist hate in groups I founded years ago that I've visited recently, since I came out of retirement. I am shocked & disappointed. I'm really angry, too, to say the least.
I was gone for a little over a year from activism & promised my son I'd give it up. But found I can't due to needing to stay & help weed out bad elements infiltrating our political & patriot forums, first.
Marsha McClelland
330 926-1679
330 703-0238
Founder of "We The People United Groups & Truth Movement"
Our sign up post we recruit sincere activists & patriots from, where a lot of this racist hate is appearing>>>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WETHEPEOPLE_UNITED/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comments closed for "Religulous," so I have to send this here because it's important.
Oh My God! This is too weird. I just saw Bill's movie & can't believe people aren't talking about what was in it. I hope it was visible in all CD copies. I had to take mine back to the video store but called witnesses to see before I did. I'm going to rent it again & invite a house full of people next time. Close to the end of the interview with Francis Collins, if you look to the back on the right, where the lighted red exit sign is, there it is, bigger than life. The perfect outline of Jesus. The sunlight coming through the window created a complete profile looking east. Hair falling long just like the pictures depict Jesus looks like. Although I don't know how we'd know what he looked like but there it was. I was just thinking, before I saw it, how foolish some of these people look when speaking what their beliefs are & the silly reasoning behind them. I was just wishing I could tell Bill my story as to why I'm a believer when I was flabbergasted at what I saw.
I'm not a believer in man made doctrine that derives religion which only serves to divide "US" & keep our evolving into what we could be, from happening. For many, spiritual happenings come in mysterious & synchronized ways that are too coincidental to just be coincidence & proves we have a creator. Not a deity sitting in the Heavens but one too much for our little minds to conceive. I've seen miracles. The kind that come with medical documentation. Like when my son had his cornea burned completely. After what they called a prayer cover that went nation wide, it disappeared & a team of doctors came to tell us as we sat in the waiting room crying our hearts out. My Dad almost died, too. A story that can't be denied in all that happened. Then there was the three people in comas that many were witness to waking directly after prayer. I'm an activist for human & civil rights but my main task along the way is to take down religion & I'm thankful to Bill for helping.
Hay Marsha of Mars:
I believe you are my adm in the yahoo group. It's AngelQueenFox. Good to hear from you.
Your movie inspired me to start a new group that will provide me with the part of religion that I miss -the fellowship part. Pot luck suppers, rituals for birth and death...all that without the religion. That is what I need. Maybe you all do too. I will be posting on my google blog The Fellowship to guide you how to do it in your town.
http://thefellowshipreligulous.blogspot.com/
Here is the blog for starting a group of non-religious friends to provide support during celebrations and tough times as well as rituals that are non-religious in nature.
I hope this catches on - if you can offer help in the keep religion out of government area let me know. Thanks Teena
Hi Bill,
We were finally able to watch Religulous last night (on PPV).
We live about 5 miles from Focus on the Family and Ted Haggert's (Former) 'New Life' Church,... so until now, it was not convenient to attend at a movie theater as none of the nearby one's showed it!!!
We LOVED it of course, and laughed our butts off. TOTALLY fell out of our chairs watching the scene in Amsterdam where the guy's hair caught on fire and you conveniently found a joint amongst the candles.
Love your show Real Time and hope somehow we'll be able to see your debates with Ann Coulter...
M and D
janice_am said... Hay Marsha of Mars:
I believe you are my adm in the yahoo group. It's AngelQueenFox. Good to hear from you.
March 7, 2009 10:50 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I say to Janice:
I am, & good to hear from you, too. I had to retire from activism but when I came back temporarily, I did rejoin Quietfoxfire under my scared4all addy.
What a small world & strange stories we could all share, huh?
How about emailing me at Mofmars333@yahoo.com so we can catch up before I disappear again?
Some of the best chapters of "The Book Of Truth" are embedded at that forum of yours & I'm there to retrieve them. Our book's still to be free online & when the published version comes out in hardback after my demise the proceeds will still be going to "We The People United" & for our board to decide to do what with.
Love,
Marsha
Ok, Marsha, I'll add you to my personal mail in just a minute or two. I'll make sure you're not moderated in the group as well with the new email address.
Great film....It opened my eyes and made me question many things. Thank you!
Bill, I'm a 30 year old business owner from maryland and would like to say thank you. This movie raised questions i've pondered since a child. I finally came to the realization and accepted that 90% of the population had to be complete idiots for believeing these fairy tales ignoring facts that proved that religions around the world were no more than stories used to controll the minions. Thanks again for letting me know i'm not alone. Thomas Edward Merson
Hey Bill,
I know this is a long shot of ever getting a response since you are a busy man with a lot to do, but I am intrigued and even encouraged by your search for the truth. My name is Matt Woods and I am a 21 year old student of Theology simply searching for the truth. I agree that this should be a topic that is openly discussed and figured out. I have to admit I do believe there is a truth, an absolute, that is what I am trying to find and stand upon. For me the Christian faith has provided me, and I believe will for anyone if properly explained, with most of the answers, but I also know that we do not have everything figured out, which is why we must be in constant dialogue with each other. It is because of this search for the truth that I get excited when I see people like yourself raising legitimate questions that need to be answered, especially when it comes to my faith. I have to admit that I have not seen your movie, but have only heard of bits and pieces from other people, but I do plan on going and watching it in the near future to get a better view on what is being said. Nonetheless I would love to get a chance to come and dialogue with you about these issues, not to prove one right and the other wrong, but merely to embark in a conversation for the truth together. One that will hopefully build friendship, not animosity and defensiveness. I hope this message meets you in a good time with many blessings. May hope and peace fill you life!
Matt Woods
Thank you so much for this powerful statement. It is so very import. I hope to hold some discussion groups about this film and make the distinction between religion and having a sense of the sacred.
Bill Maher,
I am an exchange student in Minnesota, originally from Sweden an just saw your movie. Until today I though I was the only one to even question the bible in this country! I am fascinated by peoples blinded trust in whoever or whatever they call god? I am 16 and my father is jewish and my mother calls herself a protestant. Yesterday I listened to a woman talking about her experiences as an abortion surviver, of course her salvation was god! I completely agree that we who do not believe in God, or at least the Christian or religiously correct image of god, are fortunate simply because we don't need the salvation that people who turn to god need. But just like you said in the movie, HOW can normal people put all their faith in something so OBVIOUSLY fake? I am almost jealous as I strive to get answers while others are certain that they have them. I had never heard of you until today and you just became "my god"-ironically! Even though I think that some of your points are debatable I agree to almost everything you said in that movie.
I know this is pretty much impossible but I wish I could meet you! Writing a comment on your blog might not be the best way to get to meet you but right now I don't know any other way! I hope you read this and at least consider taking contact with me! I'm only sixteen but I think I have a lot to contribute with and would absolutely looove to get some kind of more direct contact! My e-mail is: antonia_922@hotmail.com !!!!
I love the movie, it provocing and revealing. Only one thing, Bill.
You didn't mention the Zionist Jews and the whole hypocricy about how Jews are "God chosen" people and how they think that God gave them the land, the excuse that they use to expell Palestinians and demolish their homes, build settlements against the international law, impose the economic siege, and just recently murder 1300 people, 1/3 of which children. It's a genocide of a nation which is justified by "God wanted us here and to do so." To be fair, you should have included that alongside with violence promoted by Islam.
Great movie. There is really no evidence of god. You called out so many people. They had nothing but faith and very little fact.
The was the purpose of the bible and religions. They brain washed people to suck them dry.
The sad part is that there is only 16 percent of saine people in the world. That is what i like to call cold hard facts.
Well I bet you could use some encouragement after all the those 84 percent of haters. The sad part is these godly types are the true plague to our salvation. It is like they are trying to copy the bible to make a name for themselves.
alot of the things in your movie I have got in arguments about over my lifetime. The sad part is these people are so brain washed that they will never change. Like an elder set in there ways. some things will never change.
I might have to watch your show after this movie. Just wanted to say you did the right thing by making this movie it was a hit in my mind.
Now that everybody is talking about creationism or evolution, I would
like to post an idea of what I believe could be the answer to some of
our questions regarding how life could have appeared on earth.
I strongly believe that life originated from the water. A
microorganism explosion, may have created the spark for the single life
cell to generate. Bringing with it all the genes and particularities
that define all races. Let me explain. Let think for a moment about
the PH in water. All the differents areas of water in different parts
on the world are not the same, so they have different PH's. This could
be the key to understand how all the different races initiated. The
PH in the water in the African Continent, is not the same as the water
PH in Asia, Europ or America. That would explain the differences
between the races black, white, yellow,and all the genes that defines
them, etc.
This will tear apart the idea of God creating the world and mankind,
starting with Adam and Eve.
Let think for a moment about the creation of Adam and Eve. If God
created them , how they reproduced??, because all they got was two
sons; Cain and Abel, where Abel was killed by his brother Cain. At
this point, only Adam, Eve and Cain existed. Right???, but lets keep
going. In order for them to reproduce, either Adam and Eve had a
daughter, and either Cain or Adam had sexual relation with her or Cain
had sex with his mom!!!. If it was that way, then GOD pemitted
INCEST!!! And that is punishable by God in the bible. If God wanted to
create mankind why he did not created whole families?? Is not weird?
To understand the people who wrote the bible, we need to think on how
they were and the times they were living in. They could not talk about
the differents races, because they did not knew they existed, that's
why they wrote about what they understood was the world at some point.
They could have only written about what they knew, their radius of
action. With time humankind realized they were more races different
from each other. They may have not known that the black race, yellow
race and others existed. That's why they are not mentioned in the
bible.
Who wrote the bible anyway?? The hebrew people, that's why Jesus is
white, their race. If the bible would've been written by the african
people, the savior would've been black and so on!
Jesus on his time could've been an ilusionist that performed as the
same as Criss Angel does. Criss levitates as Jesus did. Criss was put
on a gasket 8 ft under ground and he emerged alive.
If we think for a moment, all religious images have human resemblanse,
that is because that the only image that man can relate to, even satan,
angels, and God has human features. Imagination has no limit. That's
why man created gods since the dawn of time. Man is weak by nature.
In his weakness all he can do is ask for a superior power to help him
and save him from evil. But this is only in his mind, imagination. We
can see how every race has their own god, who they worship expecting to
save them and give them life after death.
As far as the Biblical context goes, the first man and woman had many children and we have to logically conclude they intermarried. One of Cain’s sons went about taking 2 wives for himself. Although this was not God’s original purpose for men to have more than one wife, he did allow it for a period of time. When the Christian congregation was formed, the institution of one wife and one husband was reestablished as in the case with the first man and woman.
The reason why the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve married was because they were closer to perfection. Abraham also married Sarah, his half sister. Moses and Aaron’s father married his aunt. Apparently this relationship was with God’s approval for Moses and Aaron were appointed to represent God before Pharaoh and the nation of Israel.
The farther man moved away from perfection it became increasingly dangerous for close relatives to marry. At the time God’s laws were given to the Israelites in the wilderness after their departure from Egypt, close relatives were no longer permitted to marry. I assume accordingly had Adam not sinned and remained in his perfect physical state, he would never have died and his children could have continued to marry. The fact that Adam lived to be almost 1000 years old is proof of his longevity.
Concerning, Jesus’ heritage, he was perhaps interracial to say the least. One of Jesus’ ancestors was Ruth, a Moabitess. Rahab, the prostitute that hid the Israelite spies also became an ancestress of Jesus. She was a Canaanite from the city of Jericho. King David, an ancestor of Jesus, married 6 women of different races, one of which was Egyptian, a daughter of Pharaoh. The Jewish people intermarried many different races of people from captives, servants, etc. Moses wife, Zipporah was a Cushite which usually refers to Ethiopians, it can also embrace those from Arabia.
In the Song of Solomon, the young girl Solomon was very much attracted to says, “A black girl I am, but comely,”. It is also thought that the Queen of Sheba from Ethiopian or Yeman today, after visiting King Solomon became pregnant by him and the Jewish population in Ethiopia descended from this union. Many of the Ethiopian Jews were relocated to Israel several years ago(?)
The tradition that the Biblical Queen of Sheba was a ruler of Ethiopia who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem, in ancient Israel, is supported by the first century AD Roman (of Jewish origin) historian Flavius Josephus, who identified Solomon’s visitor as a "Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Sheba
On another thought, many Christians or religious persons can appear overly emotional or ridiculous to skeptics. However, there are valid reasons for their belief in God and the Bible.
Many events in history point out the Bible’s accuracy, such as the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians and then the Romans, and the prophecy concerning “the prince of Greece . . . coming”, which is thought to be Alexander the Great and being replaced by four (4) of his generals. “The hairy he-goat [stands for] the king of Greece; . . . that one having been broken, so that there were four that finally stood up instead of it, there are four kingdoms from [his] nation that will stand up, but not with his power.” Daniel Chapters 8-10
There are hundreds if not thousands of prophecies in the Bible that are verified by ancient artifacts and monuments located in museums, libraries, books and on the web.
Other prophecies stretch down to our day, including a prophecy whereby government would for the most part destroy religious organizations as we know them today. Immediately thereafter, the governments would suffer destruction at God’s directive and God’s kingdom by a descendent of King David, would rule over the earth for a thousand years. This descendant is thought to be Jesus upon his second return with an angelic army or spirit forces. Read Revelation.
As a special note, man was created in God’s image such as wisdom, love, knowledge, power, ruler or global administrator, etc. Most persons have an inherent desire to worship God or gods. According to the Bible, there are other creatures in the universe besides humans. These spirit forces we do not see directly which can at times allow persons to either see, feel or sense them in some way or give persons a measure of power or trickery. These are things that science cannot explain.
As another note, it was recently established by the scientific community that all people descended from one woman in Africa. That does rule out multiple families appearing on earth at one time. I recall in our years of school that evolution sought to explain how man evolved from the oceans and then into an ape of sorts, etc. However, I don’t recall how the woman was to have evolved from the man. At this point I might just research it on the web if no one here can refresh my memory.
I don't think my post went through so I'll try again. I just watched the movie and I felt it displayed the obvious ignorance people have about those things in which they have blind faith. Willful ignorance is self-enslavement, and you diplayed that clearly. I think you were looking for true logic in an illogical experience, but there are other explanations even lost to scholars. My specialty of scholarship is ancient religions and I'm working on a book to show that the creation stories of the Old World (at least) are all versions of one GENETIC tale spread and evolved along with human diasporas around the globe. Goddess culture arguments to me are no better equiped to explain history than any biblical attempt, but scholars seem to accept them. The world needs a new paradigm that can make religiosity actually useful.
Funny thing about the bible is that Christ never said IN RED INK, "I am the only son of God." He said, "My father's house" but I think that referred to the opinion that these sell-outs at the temple couldn't be the children of the Father because they wouldn't do such things to such a "Father". In fact, he said, "Where I am so shall you be," and "You shall do these things (miracles) and greater things" [loosely translated] which destroys the separate nature the biblical editors desired. One of the first heresies was the Arian one [not linked to Aryan] and its basic view was that we are all children of God and Christ was the example for us to follow...but if you have to be God to do those things then none of us can succeed in walking in His footsteps. Why was it a heresy? Obviously, it's because this takes the power out of the politicians...oops, priests...and into every individual--even a dog! The Trinity is relationship between Heaven and Earth; Father (pure spirit--the source), Mother (pure body--the child) and the relationship between them (holy ghost) This is patterned everywhere, even in the "atheistic" Buddhism where the Buddha says the body is the wagon for the mind/spirit, thus Nirvana means "No-Wagon" as the state of mind without body, like the ineffible Nirguna-Brahma (No-quality God...Pure god where no word suffices to describe, which makes it out of reach to any mental faculty).
One can see the obvious sharing of traditions in the Baltic image of the world tree and Daniel's description of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Golden crown (head), silver boughs (arms & chest), copper trunk (bronze waist and upper thigh), and iron roots (lower legs) which sink into a rock (feet of iron mixed with clay, struck by the Rock of God's empire). I've a HUGE list of correspondences to prove my point, but I'll end with a song stanza that interprets the creator gods in Norse mythology as the conscious faculties of a single God; Odinn (sensation), Vili (will)and Ver (holiness) are expressed in these lines of Biblical and Assyrian reference.
"It has been said that in the Beginning was the Word, the Word was good, for God was in the Word. But what was God thinking when He said the word, born from a thought, the thought from a feeling? Was it just a longing for sensations to explore? Did He know then that Life would become an everlasting chore?"
I would love to chat with you about these ideas, which I think you might actually like since it puts the divine into a micro-cosm/macro-cosm relationship. I'm working on a project explaining the relationship between all the Old World creation tales as being from a genetic tradition that evolved by the cross-pollination of variations of the same physical phenomenon...but these aren't Jungian archetypes but rather literary ones.
Take care,
Jeff
Sorry, didn't mean to repeat myself about my book.
It's late but just wanted to add a few last thoughts for the evening.
The Bible does say God would come to have many sons and many daughters. The Pharaoh of Egypt was told concerning the entire nation of Israel, 'Send my son away so that he may worship me.'
Jesus called the religious leaders sons of their father, the Devil, for they being wicked sought to carry out the thoughts of that one.
The stories and mythologies among ancient civilizations are similar to the creation and flood account in the Bible but are not exactly the same. Being that past civilizations report similar events in their history would tend to lend a bit of truth or credulity to the Biblical version. The fact that the stories are a different is no surprise. A story or rumor will usually end up somewhat different than the original story unless someone writes it down as a historical record.
The Bible contains a lot of history that is verified by secular historical records.
Why do my taxes go to supporting other people's superstitions?
If churches paid property taxes, my taxes would go way down. So would those of all of the church's customers, who would be happy to donate their savings.
Churches are businesses and should at least pay the minimal taxes that businesses do.
Hi Bill,
I just watched Religilous on demand about two minutes ago and I just want to say right on man. When I first saw the previews for it I got pissed, I'm not going to lie. The reason for that is because, well it’s because I'm a religious person. Now don't jump to conclusions here, when I say I'm religious I don't mean it in the typical sense. Just to kind of set the tone as to what kind of person I am: I am a gay, conservative-libertarian, hippie, redneck-esque, stoner who is contemplating taking religious vows in the roman catholic church while doubting the existence of God that lives in a blue-collar, racist, irish neighborhood. In other words I am freaking weird. Have you ever heard of a practicing catholic-atheist/ agnostic? If you have I’d like to meet him or her just so I know I am not alone out there. My buddies lovingly refer to me as the walking oxy-MORON. Some would call me confused, but I know where I stand on issues and why. See the reason people tend not to understand me as a person is that I like to apply logic and analytical thought processes to issues, and people as a whole tend to be rather dim-witted. I have been catholic all my life (I'm 19) due to a large amount of coercion from my parents and habit derived from that coercion. It wasn't until sophomore year of high school that my faith simultaneously skyrocketed and plummeted. This statement probably doesn't make any sense (along with a lot of what I've said so far, I hope at least your getting a laugh out of this haha) so allow me to elaborate. I had a class taught by a religious brother (for you non-Catholics out there, a brother is like a monk or a priest with a few differences...and by the way you're all going to hell you heathen scum.....) that really amazed me. Here was a man of the cloth who stood before the class in full make up and costume (i.e. his religious habit and collar) and encouraged us to question the church, doubt God, challenge the unreasonable....he encouraged us to think for ourselves. All this in geometry, mind you (you don't even want to know the pagan debauchery that went on in our theology classes, telling those stories get people ex-communicated for sure haha). It is because of this that my faith turned into a roller-coaster. I felt (and still feel) a strong call to the vowed religious life (was it God? my mother? the phone company?) while at the same time really doubting God's existence. What I think I have come to realize is that what I was being called to was helping people. It really struck home with me that this man (and many others I might add) were truly being Christ-like and not Christian not only in their ministry of teaching but through their work with the impoverished, homeless, addicted, etc. people of our city (you know, all the modern lepers I guess). They preached logic, critical thinking, love, and compassion all in the same lecture. For example, something they might have said on any given day was that you should be more worried about helping you neighbor than not missing Sunday Mass; God is not some canonical accountant sitting in the sky with his holy abacus of doom and sin. And that whole logical/contextual approach to scripture makes a hell of a lot more sense than the literal/fundamentalist approach in that…..well it actually makes sense. I urge people to pay attention to the two catholic priests you interviewed Bill, that is what I am talking about. Yes, the bible is basically a large book of fairy tales that, when misinterpreted, can and has lead to blood shed on a monumental scale; but if looked at it in the right way, there is so much good that can be taken from it. Like anything in life, religion has its ups and downs. I think sometimes people fail to realize some of the plusses religion offers to society. Now, do those positives outweigh the negatives? I must say from my personal perspective they most certainly do, but from a global perspective….who the fuck am I to say? When most people speak of miracles they think of toads and bodies of water and resurrection. When I think of miracles, I think of all those common day to day interactions between people that creates what we refer to as love. Love is the simplest and most basic case for God that I can make to the world and to myself, for that matter, when debating the existence of God (I go out of my way to have arguments and hear people’s views on this subject to as to understand the issue as best I can. Logic tells me I don’t know everything, and no one else knows everything, but the way people look at situations differently can only help to deepen our understanding of such issues). Humans are by definition animals. Applying basic Darwinism, self-preservation would lead us in the opposite direction of blind love and compassion. This phenomenon of being kind, merciful, and compassionate in cases where we would not benefit from it, but do it any ways because we feel it is right, is (in my opinion) somewhat unnatural. Arguments of course could be made that with the complication of the mind comes complication and progression of thought and therefore blind compassion is a direct product of Darwinism through evolution. And this is why I love and hate this subject, I could argue myself in circles for years with out drawing any conclusions. All I know is that if there is a God or there isn’t, I am going to do my best to be compassionate to my fellow man. Not because I could go to hell, not because it makes me look like a saint, not because everybody likes a nice guy, but rather because I like the way I feel on the inside when I do something I think is right and good. I will probably remain a catholic just because I feel it is one of the only forms of religion that allows me to think the way I do and not be ostracized, and well basically at a more fundamental level because that’s what I was born and raised. Do I, in terms of theology, necessarily think one religion to be superior to another? No they are all pretty much equally crazy. If I was born Buddhist I would probably remain Buddhist. I don't know, I just figured that I'd throw my two cents in. To sum it all up, Bill I loved your movie even though you left out all the good religion has the potential to accomplish. If people weren’t so freaking stupid at times, religion would not be portrayable as such a bad thing (but then again, if people as a whole were not stupid, would there be any semblance of a need for religion) Finally I would like to quote a great man/ great band to sort of summarize my views: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
Sincerely,
Confused?
I saw religulous this weekend with my 27 yr. old son. He is an athesist, as am I. However, he believes in Santa Claus. When I asked him why, he said that he has photos of himself with Santa but he's never seen anything like that with god.
That's good enough for me.
My wife and I felt 'alone' until we saw your movie Religulous. It was funny, yes, but it was VERY SCARY too. When it was over we felt that we definitely underestimated how many so called intelligent people, (many who are running this country), believed in the "Flintstone's History Book" and "talking snake/Adam&Eve" theories, (as well as many others). The scary part about all of it is the fact that they believe that this whole thing was around 5000 years ago! Anyway, I'm not going to preach to the choir but I did want to say that I found the point you made about the fact that there are 16% of us out there that feel exactly the way you do to be very enlightening!!! Where the hell are we? Why are we not sending petitions to get these religious nuts away from political issues? Who do we go see, email or organize with in order to voice our opposition to using the story books like the Bible or any form of religion as bases in the criteria required to run a country? We, (my wife & I), felt like if we protest against including the use of religion in reasoning out issues and elections, that we would come under violent attack. Pretty strange that the ‘Christians, Muslims, Jews, (and on and on), all would just as soon kill someone who doubts their religion in any way, yet it’s their very religion that preaches the ‘peace and love’ approach! That “16%” you mentioned needs to organize and we need to do it soon. It’s the only chance that this planet has and I’m afraid we may all be too late.
I've seen it twice, once in the theater and again last night on DVD that we just purchased. LOVED the movie! AND, did you see on CNN this morning that they did a poll that showed an increase in non-believers - or "don't knowers" nationwide recently? Looks like Religulous is resonating with people! Keep up the good work, Bill! Andrea Sittig-Rolf, Seattle, WA www.andreasittigrolf.com
A saying goes, 'There's a time for war and a time for peace.'
Jesus said those that 'live by the sword shall die by the sword', indicating his followers show themselves as peaceful candidates and ambassadors of his future government and no part of the world.
Jesus reasoned with persons and people were generally drawn to him and what he had to say. The Apostles and disciples were the same way in speaking or preaching to others. Love means listening to others whether they agree with us or not and and we should strive to follow the example of Jesus and the apostles.
The Catholic church was clearly wrong in their crusades, persecutions and excommunications of dissenters. They ultimately failed in their quest for power. Today, most Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc. do not take it upon themselves to kill people of other religions or we would be facing civil war in every nation or country.
Those that take an extreme view of their religion judge others as hellbound and God gives them the right to kill anyone that believes differently.
Because of the war on terrorism many feel religion is the cause. However we have just as many terrorists among society whom are roaming our own streets and neighborhoods prying on adults and children. The jails or filled to capacity. If war on religion is victorious, the planet will not be a better or safer place. That is nothing more than an illusion. There will always be crime and violence.
It would be better perhaps for society to reform and find some values everyone can live by and follow as well.
The events in the Bible are not fairy tales, they are the true history of the world and its beginning which are reported in the earliest of civilizations although in various settings. We have to take into account there are other forces in this world besides humans. The snake was not speaking of its own accord.
Someone mentioned this Criss Angel guy that levitates. This is not a camera trick and at the same time science would not be able to explain it how he defies gravity.
I watched Religulous 5 times in one day, twice with commentary. It is so refreshing. The whole time, I couldn't help but think "thank your god, someone gets it and with enough attention maybe others will start to "get it" as well.
Religulous will forever be in my educational video catalog for further reference on bullshit religion.
Question everything!!
Oxymoron's right about there being a lot of stupid people. In their defense, even they serve some purpose, don't they? After all, if it wasn't for them, where would we get a lot of our comedy from?
Many people really aren't stupid, though. They're just ignorant. That's not a bad thing because ignorant people can learn where stupid can't.
They're only void fact in truth to the point that their perception is so thrown off they help to hold "US" back from where we could & should be.
I think you don't sound confused, at all, Oxy.
As far as there being a "God" or not, even us who believe carry doubt at times.
I know for me, when these doubts creep in I have to, sometimes, remind myself because how soon we forget of happenings in our past. All added up, this gives me a picture of something I know is for real.
I can't focus on exactly "what" in detail but know the source is some kind of intelligence that sometimes manifests as an energy of undeniable source.
As you point out concerning love, Oxy, this intelligence's essence "is" love.
I think you have it pretty much all together & are a seriously interesting person. I'd be honored to know someone like you.
I believe we can all believe different things & still be correct in our own right & in whatever the eye of "God" might be. I believe that because a good "God" would have to be big enough for us all.
I knew as a child when my Pentecostal upbringing stated the wrongs of other religions, that it wasn't right. I knew the elders teaching me deception, for what they were.
I was an obsessive seeker for most of my life & studied all the books I could get my hands on concerning all doctrines both ancient & modern day. I participated personally in many of the differing religions by attending their gatherings.
I learned all religions were, basically, at odds with each other in the differing doctrines. So, early on, I realized none of these belief systems had it right.
There are no answers to the whole truth of it all & we'll just keep seeking as we have from our beginning. We all hold to different beliefs, each having their own degree of probable truths.
If we can't accept all people & respect what another believes, as long as it's in love & not in obvious hurt to others, we remain in the dark ages, individually.
I've always said there is only one true religion. It's not new but many people like to say what I & many others are coming to believe in, is "new age" but it's not.
In the many forums in cyberspace I've written at I've been called a heretic, a false prophet & other stuff I don't care to repeat.
Some claim fear in a new world order that's supposed to be coming. This religion I speak of is said to be part a scheme to do with that.
But this truth I & many others are here to share with all mankind isn't new. It's ancient & was here in our beginning & it's essence is love.
I just saw it and I´m on a mission to make my american friends watch it too.
http://pierrewikberg.blogspot.com/2009/03/great-movie.html
To Mofmars333, janice_am, and the rest you that seem to think that the ‘Bible’, (in what ever form, version, addendum, or testament that it has been or will be written in), is some kind of “History Book”, all I can say is you all need to get out more. And by the way Janice_am, there is absolutely NOTHING that Criss Angel does or has done that science can’t explain and the scary part to me is if you think that isn’t a fact, then there’s no chance of me ever hoping that you and those like you will ever realize how truly phenomenal and mystical as well as ‘supernatural’ the existence of the universe and probable parallel universes are. If you all can tear yourselves away from that incredibly narrow minded book of hypocrisy, you’re going to see that you’ve been wasting your life. Oh, and just so we’re clear, I do believe there was a Jesus, a Mohammad, a Buddha, and additional others who roamed the planet trying to keep people from slaughtering other people wholesale. Maybe many of you should simply try to understand the main idea of what they all were selling, LOVE and PEACE you idiots!
I believe that there is a God, and it doesn’t have a head or arms and legs. It is something that can’t truly be comprehended and though I know relatively very few details about Buddhism and Jainism, I think that they’re a hell of a lot closer to understanding it than any of the other ‘mainstream, (and far more violent), religions out there.
That said, I believe that something started the whole foundation for the “Big Bang” theory to take place. And that something may be what I call God. These kind of arguments, discussions, disagreements, or what ever one chooses to call them, exhaust me because it just wastes my time and then I get angry at myself for being suckered into it. I believe that the most important thing that I learned when I watched “Religulous” is that there are 16% of the populace out there that at least has a basic agreement that Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and all the rest, have only one true common thread. And maybe that ‘thread’ may even be called ‘theme’. They all thrive on an unprecedented scale of HYPOCRISY in a way that nothing else even comes close! I mean to tell you that you people are scary and it’s because of your need to push this story book, (in its many different versions), on us, that I have no doubt that there is no chance what so ever for this plant to survive much longer. But then that’s what you all seem to be bent on doing anyway. It’s like Bill Maher said, if it’s so great “up there” according to your story books, then why don’t you just kill yourselves and do us all a favor? Apparently the more direct approach has its problems and violations so for those of you who claim that it goes against the word of your story book to do such a thing, well, just muster up some imagination and make it look like an accident. You know, like take up gun collecting and then clean one while it’s loaded. Something like that.
As I said earlier, this subject exhausts me because of all the stupidity, so don’t bother looking for a counter reply to your counter reply to this comment. I am outa’ here.
Rich, this is a discussion group, so please feel like you're wasting your time or run away . . . There's one thing about this forum others can tell you . . . if you address me personally, you will certainly get a reply. So please . . . entertain me.
Speaking of God - this concept of man being created in God's image is not a physical image but qualities that make him distinct from the animal creation. The ability to speak intelligently with words, to think, being a free moral agent to make his own decisions as well as have the earth as his dominion. God is a spirit so that would rule out man being in the physical form of God.
Marsha and I don't agree on a lot of things perhaps, but she's not a hateful person when she expresses her opinions. What I'm worried about is the atheist, agnostics that have us believe they are experts on religion and the Bible when many have never read the Bible in its entirety or researched it. Hate is hate whether it's a religious person or antheist/agnostic. This to me is hypocrisy when I see people bashing others because they are religious and percieve them as idiots or unintelligent. Name-calling, cursing and being downright nasty is not going to make the world a better place for anyone religious or non-religious. There has to be a better standard in order for people to get along. I'm sure many people do not speak to others in person as they do in forums so perhaps it's a way to get things off their chest.
What I'm seeing more and more are those that get angry at the religious or their ideal just as much as the religious extremists. That's truly scary to want people to kill themselves just because they believe in something you think is ridiculous?
What is failing is no one is able to present the scientific side of things. I'm willing to listen if someone can answer my questions without having a full blown temper tantrum. So firstly, please explain how scientists can explain how the illustionist, Criss Angel, levitates from the ground. I'm sure a lot of people would like to do the same thing or learn exactly what scientific forces he uses to his advantage. Thanks you.
Janice (smile)
i just heard on the news that more and more americans are loosing their faith in organized religion....less attending church, more declaring unreligious. maybe the tide is turning....people are questioning the logistics of religion.
Religulous was fantastic. Loved it. I have watched it twice so far.
I have seen Religulous twice so far. I loved every moment of it. Great job Bill. Now I am looking forward to your debate with Ann Coulter.
OK, Janice, then this is my last time: It seems that your biggest problem is that A; you forget that this site will likely represent mostly that "16%" group Bill Maher refers to. And B; you people have way more than your share of places to try and spread your hocus pocus. If you don’t like being told that Criss Angel is nothing more than an ‘Illusionist’ and that he is in no way reflecting anything ‘religious’ when he does his clever card tricks, simply go look it up prestidigitations of the advanced magicians. You may find that to be somewhat difficult being that they don’t release their secrets to anyone that happens to ask them. And, of course there’s the money, if he were to tell his trick to any curious person each time he were asked, don’t you think he may go broke pretty quickly? Please Janice, you have no idea who you’re dealing with and you sound like someone who’s too thin skinned to hear the truth, (or even consider it), because if you were anything other than that, you would have already been agreeing with me instead of avoiding the issues, (and there were many), that I brought up. You obviously are lost in the internet, please click your start button and then click reboot, reset, or ridiculously unarmed to be anywhere near this blog site.
Hey Rich,
I'm still listening, so please stay for a while. The thing about this forum is: it's free speech and so far I haven't been booted.
Some people don't like ramblings about the Bible or God so what they do is delete my posts or ignore them. I read the thoughts of atheists or agnostics as much as possible just to see what they think. If we refused to listen or read what others think or say, to me that would be a closed mind. And I suppose Bill Maher wants Christians and others to watch his movie, and some have had the open mind to do so. I listen and watch Bill Maher when he is on shows and programs because I'm an open minded person. If things get too outrageous with his language and gestures of course I turn the channel because I have freedom of choice.
I will be here for a while as long as people have something to say about religion, God or the Bible, I add what I can from my knowledge and research. Many people don't understand things written in the Bible or have not read it and or erroneous in their perceptions. Some of the stories may sound odd or ridiculous or impossible to have happened but I find it to be very interesting and a very good source of history.
Now . . . Maybe Criss Angel doesn't want to tell me how he floats into thin air and I know the box trick and card tricks and a few others. There are many tricks that can be performed on a stage or up the sleeve and in the pockets to trick the human eye.
We haven't had very many magicians that float into the air outside in open public without the power of a jet pack. I think Criss Angel may be the 1st one is quite some time. If you know of others, please advise.
If you can, please post the website that shows how people levitate without any strings or cables, helicopters or other gadgets? And if there is a some science involved, could you post the website so I can read it. Of course I could do the search myself but you just seem to be very knowledgeable on the subject and I'll take a look at it. Thanks.
Janice
((((Did anyone see Jesus?))))
Sorry if this posts twice but I don't think it took the first time
Before I get to that question I'd like to tell you that there are several items I'd like to cover but so as not to overwhelm anyone, I'll split the subjects up into separate comments throughout the day.
I will say, now, because it's foremost on my mind how sad I was to see how Rich spoke to Janice.
I would like to know why he thinks he can dictate what's talked about here?
For goodness sake the subject is religion, no matter about the silly percentage that represents the point to Bill's movie. Do you really think Bill doesn't expect all sides to this matter to be heard?
Rich sounds bitter & seems to have a deep rotted problem.
(added note...Whoops. As I checked the content of this message I find something very interesting that was an honest mistake.
I point this out because it's a perfect example of part of my message which is the synchronicity of incidents happening, repeatedly in many cases, at particular times that hold meaning pertaining to matters relating to subjects of relevance that could be construed as coincidence.
I meant to write he seems to have a deep rooted problem but the gaffe was perfectly suitable to the nature of his character he calls to our attention.)
I plan to have more of a say here on several ignorant statements Rich put in writing but for now I'll let all that rest.
Sometimes, people like Janice are too "nice" for their own good because that's a quality creatures of love develop as they evolve.
Others seem to devolve but we'll talk about Rich later.
Okay, for the matter at hand.
I'm surprised to see no one replied verifying or debunking what we saw in Bill's movie when he was interviewing Francis Collins.
Towards the end of that interview, in the right hand back of the room, right above the lighted red exit sign is a full blown perfect outline of the profile of Jesus.
It's as plain as day & ironic to me in it's manifestation due to the subject of this matter.
I've been biting my tongue a bit about Janice. I think it may be a bit strong to tell her what should or should not be posted here, but I have to admit, I'm getting a bit tired of the number of posts I see from her. I hardly even read them anymore. I can say that while some of her posts make her look like a real nutter, most of her posts are well written and polite considering she is not (like Bill) preaching to the choir here. If you don't like her, do as I do and just ignore her. Only once has she said something that made me feel the need to respond and even then, she totally ignored my response. I thought it was because it contradicted her post (in a respectful manner), but I see now that she doesn't ignore people who speak against her.
Thanks Mofmar:
You're a true friend. There are some hotheads that think only their opinions should be heard. It's ok to hate a belief, ideal or what people do because of what they believe. But our words and actions can either draw people to what we believe or turn them away. We all should learn the technique of communication.
I an familiar with what's in the Bible and have researched it a bit. I try to respond when someone doesn't understand those concepts such as 'a snake talking' as in the story of Adam and Eve. Of course this is ridiculous for a snake to be talking, although I've heard of a parrot mimicking.
I try to respond and answer these questions or statements. If researched one will find a spirit force was using the serpent and it was not the snake operating of it's own initiative. Many persons are able to use these forces that operate in the world to their advantage in some way such as psychics and magicians.
Mommawave, I'm not here to tit and tat or argue with you or anyone. When persons say the religious are nuts, yet they themselves yell, scream, act abusively and condescending to others, I don't feel that is being intelligent but a total maniac.
I think Criss Angel may actually be levitating, Janice.
It's written in scripture that Jesus walked on water & that's along the same line as what Chris does. The way it was done will have to go into in another email so I'll keep you in suspense for now.
Maybe someone else will beat me to it & post the scientific reason before I can get to it?
First, I want to talk about Jesus & the Bible. I love them both. Jesus was a great teacher & enlightened being who knew things lost to most of mankind through time.
Many know the Bible was altered to help brainwash people to keep them passive & in line for easier controlling.
We know King James was most responsible for the tainting, twisting, deceiving additions & omissions (Like reincarnation & UFO information) done to written word by his orders to the 26 Theologians.
My married name family crest is directly linked to that evil king in a very personal way. It's McClelland & I was flabbergasted when someone sent it to me, one day, several years ago. The crest shows a soldier in armor on horseback with the head of a dark skinned man raised on the tip of his sword.
King James put a ransom on the head of who he called a bandit, (which doesn't need said the man was probably innocent considering the character of this evil king)
When William McClelland tried to claim the reward the king denied the proclamation.
The family I married into was the most racist & hateful one could imagine.
I'm happy to report most evolved from that diseased condition. That's because of the love the wives of these brothers had for them, me included for mine.
My husband became an ex before his conversion from a racist to human being. He even gladly supported Barack Obama & was a tool in helping covert his many racist friends to backing him too.
I've always said "love's what makes the world go round" & helps us evolve. That love is exactly what changed the men in that family.
A funny thing about that word "evolve"
I knew there was something to the word itself I was missing & it had been bothering me for years. Thank goodness my 8 year old Granddaughter finally solved the reason for me.
She told me in her words to take hold of the "l" in the word & rotate it around the "O"
She said it spells "love going both ways"
And it sure does. I can now easily see the spin one can put on that in their mind & in that spin as you see the word love going round, it gives whole new meaning to the belief I hold in love making the world go round leading to our evolving.
She was so happy at my delight she said, "Well Grandma I was thinking about what I heard you telling Daddy about the hidden things in some words & I was practicing"
Okay, back to the matter at hand in discussing the Bible & Jesus. I'm sad to tell my friends that want to believe every word of the Good Book, literally, that part remains Holy & untouched by man's purposeful revisions but part is fairy tale.
Jesus was probably no more from a virgin birth or the supernatural son of our Creator than we are. I would expect him to be reincarnated before I'd expect him to appear from the clouds in the sky.
Truth to things I tell you, like concerning the Bible, will be confirmed for those of you sincere in knowing about matters that go deep. This "confirmation" will be like when you hear a new word for the first time. Then you start seeing it from then on & have to wonder why it happens that way.
All you have to do is go within or go without, whatever way you believe is your connection to your personal source of good & ask. By the way. You can google "Lost Mode To Prayer" & read up. There is a method to what seems to some madness in this energy connection we call prayer.
I could be wrong but I really don't believe Jesus is coming the way traditional schooled Christians were taught.
I believe the spirit of Jesus is here right now working through many people. You can get a free on line copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach that pretty much sums up the connection from Jesus to us. It will take about an hour to read it. It may seem like a silly children's book but I assure you it's not.
I repeat!
I do not expect Jesus to come back & save us all. If he does, great.
My faith taught me to believe the way I'd do & burn in hell.
I don't claim to know if Heaven & hell are places or states of being.
Just as I don't know for sure if "God" & the devil are beings or states of good & evil energy in some other form too big in magnitude to comprehend in our little minds
I just know that my good support system in it's intellectual state would not punish me for what I believe.
Hmmmm. Maybe the reason I know this Creator of ours is good is because "God" is female, after all. LOL! Roseanne Barr's a friend of Bill Maher's & she thinks so.
Maybe my faith in man to save himself is more ridiculous than Jesus coming down out of the Heavens to do for us, what we should have been doing all along as the caretakers of this earth, which I believe is the real purpose for us all.
Some of you knew that as a child but may have forgotten?
You know, like when your Mom told you to eat all your food because there were starving children in the world? It may have crossed your mind, then?
Anyway, even Jesus said we shall do greater things than he, didn't he? So doesn't that give clue that we're all the children of this magnificent Creator/Creation?
When I learned of the Bible & truth behind it for the first time I was heart broken. I was downright angry at the one who disclosed this to me.
She was Betty Eadie & her book is the "Embracing the Light" She said in her death after life experience she met Jesus & he told her everything touching earth has duality in it.
I was fuming at her audacity to make that claim. Boy was I in for a rude awakening & talk about the phrase, "seek & you shall find"
I was bombarded with all the proof I needed in sync with me directly from all kinds of sources that left no room for doubt in my mind.
It's s personal thing & you have to be there before you'll understand.
When you're finally ready, sincere & actually desire to know certain things, you get those answers. They come in all sorts of fashion in confirming synchronization.
Television, radio, newspapers, words, people, animals, clouds or any way one can imagine. Some downright humorous, too. Thank "God" many times when I'm laughing out loud at one of those times, there are usually witnesses to see the reality to it.
I can't detail my a lot of what I'd like to share. You'll have to get a copy of the free book online when it's put out to get details to this truth I'm here to share. Certain chapters are in many political, patriotic & spiritual group archives all over cyberspace.
When I die, when the hard copy comes out, buy it because it's a revised edition that will hold things I couldn't tell you in the free version for safety reasons to others.
All proceeds go for good causes beneficial to the well being of our people.
It's called "The Book of Truth"
I used to think I was the only one with this burden of having to stick out like a sore thumb to get these truths to you but was elated when I learned there were more like me.
It's like that new word rule. Once it's out there more follow suit to your witness.
I always say, be careful what you believe. Smack in the middle of the word believe itself is a hidden message. That message is the word "lie"
Wow Mof!
That was quite interesting and amusing stories! LOL I needed something to uplift my spirits, so I'll tune in for the next episode of Marsha of Mars. (smile)
P.S. Sorry Momma, if you want to repeat your comment to me earlier I'll respond. I may have been trying to address so many at one time and missed yours. I'm not too big to admit I'm wrong.
OK, got some things to do for today.
I needed a break so I went to Roseanne Barr's website to see what she had to say.
As always, it was some seriously interesting stuff.
I heard on CNN a few weeks ago that Geronimo's decedents are suing skull & bones, the secret society at Yale, to get back his skull they keep.
I'll add Roseanne's take on this matter at the close of this message.
Here's the MSNBC report>>>
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29265600/
Secret societies who are holding much knowledge lost to mankind are being exposed for what they are & their jig is up.
All their tricks & illusions are being seen through & smoke screens removed. Mankind will take his rightful place as the controllers are removed.
Their tricks of deception are over & wont work anymore.
People are wise to manmade doctrine that created religions that did more to divide us than their message of love did for "US"
The passivity & condoning of war they created in people though the brainwashing has been being undone for a very long time, thank goodness.
They (those in control, who have been for generations for far too long) even prepared for this day, so they thought, in conditioning many of our people to reject anything or anyone resembling change that might lead to the dreaded fear called the "new world order"
Same fear factor they use in the Armageddon tactic that has a curse attached for anyone trying to add or change the way the story's written in Revelation.
When I read that as a child, somehow, I just knew it had special meaning for me.
Many things we come to learn are not what we thought & are being revealed if you pay attention. If you want to. If you, as it's written, have ears to hear.
This subject goes deep & I tell you people when you read "The Book Of Truth" you'll know for sure we have the power to make the world what it could & should be.
You won't be religious anymore but a spiritual being that awakened from this big dream.
Kind of ironic to know the age of Aquarius is upon us. The age of knowledge & enlightenment, so to say.
Just like in our individual lives, we make them what they are, ourselves, & so can we as a whole, help make the world.
The wealth of the wicked really was stored for the deserving as is written in scripture. The rich & greedy will now be paying their fair share of taxes.
We should thank those like Roseanne Barr & Bill Maher who have stated they don't mind paying what already should be paid in taxes, before the most horrible president in our lifetime cut them.
Did you hear about the fat cats who sit on all the money while they, the liars, pretend the trickle down effect works & that they're creating new jobs?
Did you hear about the ruling that opened their Swiss bank accounts & now the nation's getting all that money?
Not the government, mind you, anyone that wants to scream socialism & such, please don't.
We The People are the government & we've taken our rightful places.
They hoarded all that money & brought "US" to where we are & now the fools are suing.
Google it!
Should be easier now for the public to get their names.
Ha, ha. Did you see the hilarious face that one republican made in shock & awe when Obama announced there will be no more tax shelters for off shore business?
LOL. They pretended to love America as they shipped our jobs off overseas so now it's all backfired. Too bad for them, there'll be no more benefit for them in that.
The burden of the middle class will be balanced out before they become extinct, thanks to all that's good.
The poor will have a fighting chance now that the oppression the wealthy had hold of them with is broken.
Soon, the burden on government (our taxpayers) will be placed back on churches where it belongs.
They'll be charged with the welfare of the poorest until they can get on their own feet as should be.
Change has come to America!
Change has come to the world!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's what Roseanne has to say on the matter of Geronimo.
http://www.roseanneworld.com/blog/
skull and boned will be depleted soon by the children of Geronimo's- (the prophet who's skull is illegally held in the bowels of Yale University)- lawsuit to retrieve their father's corpse. (i aint making this shit up dude, these secret societies all exist and they all fear me cuz i know their secrets and i type them up and place them in rw. now they are mine and i own them, and i will reveal them all because i am a magician weaving spells with words. just reading my words will unscramble your egg brains..i.e: iamnothumanbutimmortalthisismytransbinarycode:r n a is g o d. god is we.
PS...Roseanne Barr has something here...I hope the right people are paying attention, like Barack Obama & his people...She says:
NATIONALIZE THE FED TO PRINT A NEW CURRENCY FOR AMERICANS.
OUTLAW THE IRS!
Nationalize the banks, and NATIONALIZE WALL STREET TOO.
KICK OUT GLOBALISTS AND REPUBLICANS FROM THE CONGRESS AND THE HOUSE.
THINK LOCAL
BUY LOCAL
MOVE CLOSER TOGETHER AND GROW FOOD.
STORE WATER
BEANS AND RICE AND LEGUMES
STOP EATING MEAT
STOP EATING ANIMALS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS
GROW HEMP
SUBSIDIZE SOLAR WIND AND OTHER NEW TECHNOLOGIES
BARTER FOR SERVICES IN PLACE OF TRADING MONEY
REMOVE YOURSELF FROM OWNING STOCK IN WAR
SHARE JERUSALEM
TAX THE CHURCHES Properties that are used for business purposes.
END ISRAEL'S control of US media
IMPRISON BUSH CHENEY RUMSFELD MADOFF KRISTOL LIMBAUGH
OK Janice, and now you too mof, (if you think you’re up to it),
First my attempt at sarcastic humor is not nearly as refined as Bill M’s, (I’d be the first to admit it). I almost, (not quite, but almost), can see how you and others could take my approach as hateful and somehow even twist it around to be an additional form of violence when I see it as more of a way to wake one up who would otherwise consider themselves to be very intelligent, logical, methodical in their approach to everyday obstacles and then try to convince me and others that the Flintstones were an animated version of true life on this planet 6000 years ago. By the way, I’m not stuck on only this problem. But there are far too many for me to address here and this one, (the Flintstone theory), seems to me to be a very good representation of the many additional ludicrous beliefs that “religious” people push.
Janice, based on what I’ve read of yours in this very short period of time, I would have assessed you to have a pretty high IQ, (keep in mind that IQ and intelligence are not necessarily always one and the same. In fact, they often are not). I rarely ever find myself bringing up the subject of IQ in any direct form but I’ll make the exception and say that I would have almost guessed yours to be as high as my own. And though I won’t go as far as telling you my exact IQ, I will say that I was tested in a certified examination, by a certified Mensa examiner for five, 8 hour days in a row and the resulting score put me among the top 1% highest IQ’s in the country. And whether you choose to believe me or not, I honestly don’t think that I’m all that smart, but I do use all of my IQ to make a final deduction that will eliminate and therefore reduce the possible answers to a question as I search for a solution. I will not ignore hard evidence for the sake of anything that I believe to be true, or wished for to be true at the expense of my own IQ and all that it encompasses. That means that I don’t hesitate to admit I’m wrong on a particular subject if I’m face to face with irrefutable evidence to the contrary, and it also means that I then realign my beliefs with that latest proof. If I didn’t do that I would just be plain old stupid. I’m sorry if you don’t like the term but you yourself admitted the difference between ignorance and stupidity and ignoring all the evidence that proves this planet is about 4 Billion years old and not 6 thousand years old is, well, stupid!
I went into detail about my own IQ so that you don’t think that it was some internet IQ test and I realize that the likelihood that you underwent the same test and procedures is improbable and no fault of your own. But that brings me back to my statement regarding my guess of how high your IQ was based on a few blogs. You see, the moment someone shows me that they will totally ignore all the science, specimens, and basic evidence, (let alone the more advanced evidence), contradicting the ‘Flintstone History” theory, well that’s the point at which I just shake my head and have a wave of aloneness sweep over me. I know the argument about how Adam & Eve are some kind of metaphor that signifies the beginning of mans true “civilization”, and frankly I can go with that because the God that I believe, is one of Super IQ’s and no one, not even me, can hope to begin to understand it’s most simplistic thought, hence I, nor anyone else for that mater, could explain the literal sense of “In the beginning”. But those who feel the need to interject their own personal opinions, beliefs, (call it what you will), validating the many story books known as ‘Bibles’ at every opportunity to anyone who is at odds with those writings because that is the word of their God, are borderline delusional people. I’d also like to note that mof and Janice are typical in their attempt to debunk me by focusing on what they perceive to be “deep rooted problems”. The average bible beater seems to always attack us from the angle that because we not only don’t believe that the bible/bibles are history books of planet earth, we must have deep psychological problems and are therefore very unhappy. In contrast that would seem to mean that they are ecstatic that their ridiculous beliefs have plunged this planet and all on it into constant hate and war. Oh, I’m sorry, I’m getting off of the point which was that thing about being delusional so let’s get back to it, shall we? They easily go from that form of insistent behavior to increasing the possibility of repeating the Jim Jones, (note that you can place any of the already proven mass murdering, bible beating, and child molesting nuts in place of said Jim Jones), level of believing by pure faith. More often than not, they’ll wind up playing the part of one of his followers instead of one of the directors.
I’m a documentary freak, and it never ceases to amaze me when one of the surviving followers of a tragic cult’s ending, claims that becoming swept up into that kind of thing “can happen to anybody”. They go on to say, “you just don’t know until you’ve been there just how easy it is for you to be pulled into a cult and accept all of the abuses and obviously deviant behavior of your friends and leaders”. NO, I’m sorry, I know for a fact that I could not get suckered into that situation for any longer than it took for me to see, hear, or sense that this guy is out of his mind. But then, you would have to know my background and history to realize why I can be so very certain about this.
No Janice, I don’t know you either. I’ve never met you and I probably never will. But I don’t have to know how to fly the space shuttle to know that when one of the wings is missing, it isn’t going to successfully glide safely to the ground. You’re an intelligent person, who either has a limited IQ, or is deliberately ignoring the irrefutable facts that prove dinosaurs did not roam the planet 6000 years ago, and that makes you stupid in my book.
Oh, and I find it particularly interesting, (and additionally disturbing), that you keep bringing up the self described Illusionist, Criss Angel in the same context of God, (that would be the “One and Only God). I guess you’re saying that you believe Criss Angel is God or God-like or that ‘divine intervention raised its ugly head and lifted Criss to the ‘heavens’, and once again that seems to be yet another one of your contradictions.
Just to be clear, (and extremely brief on theses points), I am not a so called “skeptic” and do not in any way align myself with people from organizations like ‘Skeptic Magazine’ and others of that community. I, in fact, am an avid Crypto zoologist, Ufologist, zoologist, Herpetologist, musician, photographer, photo-artist and that’s my ‘short list’. I’ve already told you that I believe in God, it’s just that mine isn’t prone to all those petty limitations that yours seems to be plagued with. I don’t find all my answers on the internet, (mostly because the internet does not have access to all the answers), and often gained my information in the field. You would be amazed at how much info is NOT in the internet!
You want me to refer you to information that shows how Criss Angel floated above the city as if you’ve proven that he really did that! Your problem is you seem to believe that he was really up there in the first place! Are you really that oblivious to the term “Illusionist”? No, I don’t have any material that I can refer you to that will show what technique Criss chose, (and there are quite a few), to accomplish that great visual feat. On a guess, if I cared any bit more than I do, I would start with researching the latest advances in Optical Physics, (that should keep you busy for about 4 to 8 years), and then move into quantum physics as applied to the use of lasers and multi imaging holograms. Yes, I said Holograms. Do you have any idea how extensive the work on high powered lasers truly is? The answer is in there someplace and if you were to research it, you would not only find out how Criss Angel is doing that, but just how mundane the trick really is. In fact, I would bet that even you would find the science that he used to be far, far more impressive than the trick he did with the use of that science in the first place.
The man parlayed his trade into a multi-billion dollar business and with access to that kind of money the likelihood that he has hired some ‘specialists’ in physics and contracted the use, (if not the full purchase), of a privately owned satellite is extremely high. I’ve read somewhere that Criss Angel spends a relatively good amount of his time re-visiting France which is number 6 on the hit parade of ‘satellite launching countries’ but then there are so many different ways to handle this kind of thing when the money is right. If my suggestion only sounds like wild guesses to you, it wouldn’t surprise me. Very few people realize what kind of capabilities we’ve, (the science/physics community in the world), have reached and the true extent of high powered lasers.
I’m at an age now that I have come to realize and reluctantly admit that you people are not only not going to smarten up, but that because of the rate that you reproduce, the planet is doomed to total oblivion way before any natural calamity would have hit.
The truth is that you all may bring this about in my lifetime, (I’m 53years old), and I can only hope that when you destroy the planet, you take yourselves with it. And mof, try analyzing yourself with your pedantic approach, (at least I’m man enough to come right out and say that I’m smarter than you), and you may find that even you don’t know what you’re talking about.
This is truly the last time I will speak on this blog because apparently it has already been infested with creationists that don’t know they weren’t invited. Yes that’s right, if you watched the movie, it was simply saying what I have said but with a hell of a lot more eloquence. Although my point of view is not only MY point of view, I will admit that it in no way reflects anyone else’s view point and is strictly my own in its actual written state. As for the individual, (who’s name escapes me at this moment), that feels I shouldn’t say what I said, or in the way I said it and seems to know how Bill M meant for the blog site to be approached, all I can say is I’ve been attacked in far more harsh ways than anything you may have read here. And frankly, every once in a while I get all I can take and give some of it back. But watch, you’ll see how ‘they’ have so far danced around every point and resort to pointing out how rude I am instead. I don’t have the time or the inclination to ‘flower-up’ this whole thing. If they can dish it out, then they can certainly take it and besides, I haven’t changed a single point of view with what I’ve written and that crassness on my part that everybody seems to really want to focus on is harmless in the end anyway. It’s like I said, I’m just pulling a little rope back to my corner but I’ve, (we’ve), lost this argument many, many years ago. Good Bye and Good luck… I’m tired. Go ahead, knock your bible beating selves out.
PS ‘mof’, the only real “deep rooted” or “rotted” problem in my life are those bible banging pedophiles who even get on blog sites such as this one so that they can get unwitting, naive people like Janice to validate their existence and friendship. Oh no, did you think I meant that I think you’re a pedophile? No no! Only someone who’s self centered and egotistical would think that everything said is about them!
You remind me of my selfish & abusive red headed step Dad, Rich.
I can tell you, like him, don't hear or comprehend much of anything your told.
You're too busy planning what you have to say next that's going to be a negative, no matter what.
I see your beliefs seem to match mine quite a bit in what you wrote that I'm enclosing here for review. Yet you still go off on us as if we're here telling bare faced lies to deceive. And you have the audacity to call others like me & Janice, stupid?
I was hoping you were only ignorant on many levels but the truth is, it's you who wear the stupid label for all to see, Rich. And you do it well.
Concerning any points you spoke of, you're trying to claim to make, people are only picking up on your insulting nature & hear you bragging about how smart you are & your accomplishments. At least your short list of them, anyway.
One would think someone as smart as you say you are wouldn't have to be telling us but instead showing us by your input?
You say creationists have infested this list? Is it yours & you have say in who participates as well as the right to dictate the content of their discussion?
You seem to me a lot like my step Dad in that you think you're a know it all but really know a lot less than you imagine.
I have to wonder if you're a control freak like him, too?
That's a bad characteristic, Rich, & you should work on ridding yourself of it as well as the ridiculous pride that goes along with it.
How can you write this, Rich, & then not consider others views as possibilities, in civil manner, instead of ridicule you heap upon their heads?
Isn't this like saying when it comes to our beliefs that you're the only one who has a right to disclose yours?
>>>
(((((((there’s no chance of me ever hoping that you and those like you will ever realize how truly phenomenal and mystical as well as ‘supernatural’ the existence of the universe and probable parallel universes are. I believe that there is a God, and it doesn’t have a head or arms and legs. It is something that can’t truly be comprehended)))))))
I was going to have more to say concerning you but I see you already exposed yourself in the light you reflect enough to put you to rest. Your light isn't very bright, Rich, but seriously dim.
I hope you get well soon & join the side of humanity that cares about all of mankind without the critical nit picking that seems to be your nature & glory.
I can't respect your views & let them go unchallenged & unreprimanded due to the hurtful nature of your essence to others like Janice. If you do it to her, I'm sure it's your practice in dealing with others you come across that suits your fancy.
Pitiful!
Oh, it wasn't a satellite Criss Angel used. The people were touching him when he was in public, before he levitated.
It's physics & a seriously technical matter. I'll tell you soon how he actually levitated.
It's mind boggling, extremely interesting & I can't wait to tell you.
Anyone care to take a shot at it first?
Wow Rich, You Came Back!
You seemed to have gone all over the place so I'm not sure what to address. I'll try and make this short.
A person's IQ doesn't matter to God and it doesn't matter to me. I know there are a lot of people in this forum a lot smarter than me. Just because a person is smart doesn't always mean they have an open-mind. Jesus' disciples were considered unlettered and ordinary to those educated religious leaders in their time, but 'the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.' You say you believe in God or a higher power, and I believe you do. So may 'the peace of God that excel all thought' be with you.
(1) I do not completely ignore science. However, some science is at odds with itself and can't always be proved as actual fact.
I don't believe dinosaurs existed only 6,000 years ago.
I do know the time period in the Bible says 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible does not say man was created in the beginning. There's a difference.
According to science, we know that man is not as old as the beginning of the universe or the earth itself. There are trees 10,000 years old are more. So that proves the earth existed long before man could write or make drawings of his existence.
The Bible does speak of large animals being in the earth at the time of Noah but we don't know how many lived or died before that time period.
According to a timetable, a day to God can mean a thousand years or more. Therefore, we do not take the 6 creative days in the Bible to mean a literal 24 hour time period.
God's Great Sabbath Day of Rest (not literal) is thought in some Rabbinical terms to mean the 1,000 years or what may be the Messianic government-rulership over the earth.
(2) I know there are many optical illusions that can be performed with the help of cameras and photos, etc. So I'm not so dumb about that. So I guess I'd have to ask how many people think it's just a trick of the cameras or if they feel a person can use some other forces to elevate themselves, hypnosis (LOL)? People see UFO's, all sorts of strange things. It just leaves a person to wonder . . . are there other forces or beings in the universe besides us?
(3) Last . . . there are so many pedophiles in communities people check websites to see how many are living close to them. Adulterers, thieves, murderers, rapists are rampart in society among non-religious as well. So I'm just trying to understand why is the anger not directed at society as a whole? It's like in the case of this one women that had too many children and can't afford to care for them without tax payer assistance but people are directly their anger at her, but billions of bonuses are willingly given to wealthy millionaires and people aren't hot under the collar abut that.
It just seems everyone's angry and want a scapegoat. Ahh religion . . . is what's making the world miserable! People aren't looking at the greater problems facing all of society. Even if religions go away, we will still have crime and violence and the threat a nut pushing a button to make us all disappear.
Mof,
I may not understand everything you say but I'll give you a hardy AMEN! It's better to build people up than tear them down.
But this Criss Angel thing again . . . That's what I mean, he's putting his fist through people, walking outside where nothing is staged and people are touching him all over, no strings or pulleys attached and so on . . .
We know how they make movies and such but there are overheads above pulling them along or lifting them up. But outside the skys the limit.
You remind me of my selfish & abusive red headed step Dad, Rich.
I can tell you, like him, don't hear or comprehend much of anything your told.
You're too busy planning what you have to say next that's going to be a negative, no matter what.
I see your beliefs seem to match mine quite a bit in what you wrote that I'm enclosing here for review. Yet you still go off on us as if we're here telling bare faced lies to deceive. And you have the audacity to call others like me & Janice, stupid?
I was hoping you were only ignorant on many levels but the truth is, it's you who wear the stupid label for all to see, Rich. And you do it well.
Concerning any points you spoke of, you're trying to claim to make, people are only picking up on your insulting nature & hear you bragging about how smart you are & your accomplishments. At least your short list of them, anyway.
One would think someone as smart as you say you are wouldn't have to be telling us but instead showing us by your input?
You say creationists have infested this list? Is it yours & you have say in who participates as well as the right to dictate the content of their discussion?
You seem to me a lot like my step Dad in that you think you're a know it all but really know a lot less than you imagine.
I have to wonder if you're a control freak like him, too?
That's a bad characteristic, Rich, & you should work on ridding yourself of it as well as the ridiculous pride that goes along with it.
How can you write this, Rich, & then not consider others views as possibilities, in civil manner, instead of ridicule you heap upon their heads?
Isn't this like saying when it comes to our beliefs that you're the only one who has a right to disclose yours?
>>>
(((((((there’s no chance of me ever hoping that you and those like you will ever realize how truly phenomenal and mystical as well as ‘supernatural’ the existence of the universe and probable parallel universes are. I believe that there is a God, and it doesn’t have a head or arms and legs. It is something that can’t truly be comprehended)))))))
I was going to have more to say concerning you but I see you already exposed yourself in the light you reflect enough to put you to rest. Your light isn't very bright, Rich, but seriously dim.
I hope you get well soon & join the side of humanity that cares about all of mankind without the critical nit picking that seems to be your nature & glory.
I can't respect your views & let them go unchallenged & unreprimanded due to the hurtful nature of your essence to others like Janice. If you do it to her, I'm sure it's your practice in dealing with others you come across that suits your fancy.
Pitiful!
Oh, it wasn't a satellite Criss Angel used. The people were touching him when he was in public, before he levitated.
It's not illusion! It's physics & a seriously technical matter. I'll tell you soon how he actually levitated.
It's mind boggling, extremely interesting & I can't wait to tell you.
Anyone care to take a shot at it first?
Thank you Angel, for the "Amen"
It seems strange calling you by your real name, "Janice"
I didn't know it for years & you just feel like Angel to me so I hope you don't mind I go back to calling you that?
Janice says>>>
But this Criss Angel thing again . . . That's what I mean, he's putting his fist through people, walking outside where nothing is staged and people are touching him all over, no strings or pulleys attached and so on . . .
I know Angel & I want to tell you but I wanted to give the smart guy plenty of time to find the answer. He could ask his colleagues at Mensa, couldn't he?
To heck with the fact magicians don't give out their secrets. Any Mensa genius should be able to figure it out.
Mr. Maher,
Although I've spent twice the hours thinking about religion than anything you would expect a high school junior to think about, I'm relieved to have finally found the end to the bulk of my religious pondering.
One day in January 2008, I came to the realization that according to my religion (Episcopal), I, the pot-smoking, bitch fucking, binge drinking teenager, am going to heaven because I said I was sorry and I believe in Jesus. My dear Jewish friend, however, who always listens to his parents and refrains from smoking, drinking and fornication, is going straight to hell. Something was not right. In a relentless year-long regime starting last winter, I questioned the fuck out of my beliefs.
At first, I felt bad questioning the beliefs of all the people I grew up around and respected in the church. But I justified my cause with an analogy—how clever of me: walking sticks are often exposed to flame and charred on one end. This strengthens the wood and prevents it from being mangled by the rough trail. I figured that if I questioned and researched my faith, the result would be a faith strengthened by a rock-solid foundation of information and truth. Surprise- I was left with ashes and now I’m strong enough to walk without a stick.
At the latter end of my search in early 2009 I was thinking that religion seemed awfully convenient. Many nights I would lose sleep when a knotting fear in my stomach and a dizzying feeling in my head set in after thinking deeply about the fact that there is something out there that nobody can understand. It’s human nature, though. We fear what we don’t know. This fear began to bring me back to my original beliefs, and it was then I realized that THAT was religion the creation of a supernatural persona that was merciful and forgiving so that we don’t have to accept not knowing.
A couple days after I was left with this unpolished idea, I went to rent a movie. I saw Religulous on the shelf and rented it, but not because I was looking for answers; it’s just that my friends’ descriptions of “some douchebag questioning people’s religion,” made it sound extremely entertaining.
In truth, your movie answered almost every question I had been contemplating for the past year. The timeliness of my introduction to Religulous would qualify as a miracle by the chubby craftsman’s standards. At the end, I sat on my couch, stunned and heavily relieved by two ideas especially: 1) that if a higher power wanted the human race HE created to believe in his son, he would probably do so in a way that would spare poor kids like me the trouble of sorting through the array of beliefs and religion existent in the modern world to find truth. 2) Hence, we can’t be worried about what we’re supposed to do or believe, because we really don’t have any truly valid clues as to what the hell we’re doing here- just a shitload of questionable ones.
So now, I am a proud agnostic in the 16%. Everyone else has religion to guide them through life. “So, Nick, where do you get your direction?” my congregation might ask. I would say I just do what I love, without the apprehension of pleasing a savior.
What things does a lost teenage soul love? Many would assume gang violence and hard drugs. I love writing for my high school newspaper, volunteering for the American Cancer society, spending time with my friends (still not alcohol-free, but hey), running track and cross-country, swimming, lifeguarding, listening to music and keeping up my 4.0+ GPA so that I can go to a prestigious college and hopefully work for the CIA. And they say I belong with the rapists. Hm. Thanks for the help, Mr. Maher. I’d love to get an email from you (nick11022@suddenlink.net).
-Nick
I want to start by saying thank you Bill Mahr, your documentary was the best ive seen reguarding religion.
Ive read some of the comments on here and i have to say based on the reactions of you who are religious and those of the folks in the movie, they are the same that ive experienced for years, i have questioned every bible thumper who has ever knocked on my door or approached me and i love the angry reaction i think its the funniest thing how you get mad when someone presents things you dont want to hear, i have had many discussions on my thoughts of evolution with many religious people including family and i dont ever recall getting angry but the religious get fucking pissed, kind of like how some people get defensive when they are caught in a lie :) hmmm?
I personally think the belief in religion is the most horrid occult following EVER!!! and i really hope that some of these people who believe there is an invisible man in the sky watching and judging and hearing every pathetic plea they make to him when they cant stand up and controll their own life realize how rediculous they look and im glad to know there are more sane people in this country who do not live our lives based on fairy tales.
I have 4 children and my 8 yr daughter has had other 8 yr. olds in her class tell her she will go to hell if she dosent believe in god and that she will die if she dosent pray every day, what kind of place do we live in where 8 yr olds are preaching!? its discouraging that one day these children will have positions running a country, thank ME that my children will not live their lives in fear of what a magical man thinks of them or has in store for them when they are dead.
jesus christ Bill you made a great god damn movie keep it up.
Leah D
colorado
Mr. Maher, I wouldn't see the movie at a theater, for the exact reason you stressing people to go see it. I will wait until it's on video. Then I'm not giving film producers like yourself the vanity fluff you desire by thinking people want movies like this made.
You chose to limit your audience by your content or your "angle" - in your case making fun of people and their beliefs. There are much better ways of making the subject something that could be discussed.
Constructive, creative discourse seems to be the better approach. Think about it, many more people watch your HBO Realtime than went to see this movie. I think you might get a better raise in ratings if you lose the peanut gallery and bring on a panel of Spiritual leaders* and bring up the concerns you say you have (if your serious about discussion of the subject.) Your viewer would remain and think of the people of faith that will tune in to see such an offering (and I not talking about the basket passed for donations.).
Making a film and hoping people will go spend their discretionary income on your own personal agenda isn't something most people do. Hey, just a thought!
* I would suggest Bill Johnson, Bethel Church, Redding, Ca.
P.W.T.
http://www.zazzle.com/PWT_PoorWhiteTrash
There's a lot of bad news everyday in the world and today . . . 15 people dead in Germany from a teenage rampage I believe. Suicides are rampart in Finland and the world. A minister and others killed in Alabama. There's something seriously wrong here. Does the God, Bill Maher, have an answer other than getting rid of religion?
He preaches hate and ridicule so how is that any better than the terrorists or religious extremists? People claim high IQs and yet not smart enough to know they are also being braninwashed by a tv character. If it were not for some here, I would think the choir could only sing in the letter 'F'.
Many people and their children have been persecuted because of what they believe or their station in life or killed. I'm glad I had grandparents that taught us not to retaliate but to forgive. Even if we fall away from these things, eventually we can remember them as we get older and hopefully wiser.
The message is that Bill doesn't believe in a higher power...that is all fine. However if you were truly looking for answers you wouldn't have been so damn rude to the people that wanted to answer your questions. On the other hand you seem to have all of the amazing world mystery answers yourself, unfortunately you didn't share one of them. Absurd questioning, listening, editing! But it is a good piece of crap.
The message is that Bill doesn't believe in a higher power...that is all fine. However if you were truly looking for answers you wouldn't have been so damn rude to the people that wanted to answer your questions. On the other hand you seem to have all of the amazing world mystery answers yourself, unfortunately you didn't share one of them. Absurd narration, questioning, listening, editing! It is however a good piece of no value...I hope you made millions.
Bill,
Since I saw your appearance on the Daily Show I've been excited to see Religulous. Finally i saw it!
Your premise was pretty good, but you allowed your own narrow view of religious people to obscure your quest for knowledge (though it was obvious you didn't do the movie to learn, but rather to present your own conclusions).
I enjoyed the movie very much, however, as a Jew I will defend what you didn't allow to be defended in your movie: Jews are the only group of people in the world who claim a national revelation. You are correct that many/most faiths take the un-probable words of only 1 "prophet," but the Jews claim that each and every person witnessed the miracles at Mt Sinai. The Old Testament specifies the exact # of people who were there, and commands that each year from that date, without interruption, we tell our children that we ourselves were there and witnessed the miracles described in the Bible, from the plagues in Egypt, the exodus and crossing of the Red Sea, to our receiving of the Torah at Mt Sinai. That specific holiday is called Passover, and every year since the Exodus from Egypt we tell retell the story in detail. This separated us from all other peoples and faiths throughout the entire world. You should look into it, and feel free to bring along your cynicism. I'd very much enjoy a dialogue with you, if you're up to it...
DCM-
Your point is well-taken, but Religion has not made the world a better place so that these things don't happen. Many of them have had thousand of years to work at it without success. I'd say time for a new approach.
People are the problem. They can't follow the one commandment Jesus had "love the lord God with your whole heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself". That was it. That encapsulated his entire teaching. His 'followers' added thousands of rules and regulations which are pointless if you don't follow his one commandment.
Hay David,
We celebrate passover on Nisan 14 I believe.
I thought the celebration of the Passover meal got its start from the event of death passing over the homes in Egypt that displayed the blood of the lamb on the doorpost . . .? It's good to have someone of the Jewish knowledge to shed light on things.
Native American Naturalist:
Thanks for your reply!
Its not possible to say that Religion hasn't made the world a better place as it is impossible to know what the world would be like without Religion. I imagine that without certain laws attributed to "G-D" the entire world would be without any moral/value system whatsoever. Just using rationale you must agree that there are millions of people trying to be "better people" according to G-d's law of Love thy neighbor. If this one law didn't exist for those millions to follow the world might just be completely lawless as there would certainly be no ultimate/infinate right or wrong. Although i can't say this as a compliment, The Bible is where the world draws its moral and cival guidelines. Although our implementation is far from perfect, without those infinate laws who knows where we'd be today?? You are completely right that the problem is people themselves, and not any religion necessarily (however, any religion which preaches hate, or hell to non-believers, good or bad, is a detriment to the world).
Janice_am:
The Passover Seder coincides with our departure from Egypt and splitting of the Sea. Part of the Seder, where we tell over the story that our fathers fathers fathers told over their sons just as their fathers told over to them, is the plague of the firstborn, where all of the first born sons in Egypt died, including animals. Although this is part of the Seder and the entire series of events leading to our exodus from Egypt, the actual holiday of Passover (Pesach) is a testimony by all of the tribe of Israel to the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Sea. 50 days after the first Passover (Exodus), we received the Torah at Sinai, where again we were all witness. Our bold claim of national revelation is completely unique in the entire world, amongst all people.
Bill, I recently jumped right in and just bought Religilous. I have been a fan of yours for a while now. I love the fact that you are willing to ask the tough questions. And yes, I am a Youth Pastor. Anyways, after watching, I LOVED IT! It showed me some of the things that I need to be better able to communicate. Also, I get the impression, that just once, you would have loved to heard a Christ follower to admit that there are questions for which we JUST DONT KNOW the answers! Am I right?
Wow Lance, you really got the message! I like that a religious person can see that there are questions that just can't be answered. It's like the Truckers Chapel. One guy just couldn't stand to have his beliefs questioned, but the others stuck it out and listened. Their minds weren't changed, but I think they respected Bill for his polite way of challenging. And don't you think it was respectful that Bill let them, even ASKED them, to pray for him? I let people pray for me anytime they want, because I know it makes them feel good.
I keep seeing people criticize Bill for making his interviewees look stupid. I think they made themselves look stupid. Yeah, there was a little editing done there for comedic relief, but he was willing to give credit where it was due. Even he had to admit that the guy who played Jesus in Orlando made a very good point. I believe he was the most intelligent person Bill interviewed, as his responses were thoughtful. Few people in the movie were able to say "I believe because I think it's the right thing for me", which really is what religion should be about to begin with. It's very personal and if you don't have it within you, you're only fooling yourself.
I personally tried to be religious, but no matter how hard I told myself and others that I believed, deep down, I just didn't feel it. I'm much happier now that I'm not living a lie. At the same time, I believe we all have the right to follow what's right for us, and my only beef with Christians are the ones who think that I'm somehow missing something. If I am, it's none of your damn business, but I know I'm not, because I went that route already. I searched deep and learned about all of the religions, and to me, it just doesn't add up.
I think the problem with those of you like JANICE and RAGINCAJUNSCOT is that you get unnecissarily worked up over this that you begin to preach god said this and god did that and our only question is wheres your proof the bible is just another book in which someone published their ideals and what they believed was right and wrong and for those who cannot live life without confidence and direction of their own its become their law, this book has been changed and rewritten to cater to new beliefs.
organized religion is the master in your flock of sheep and without question you follow, preaching morals and purity and who to reject and accept as good people, its like someone saying they worship ronald mcdonald and all the people who eat nuggets and salad are good but if you eat a burger you have sinned and ronald mcdonald does not love you. and if god is so forgiving then why are certian people excluded from his love?? espically if youre all his supposed children?
i would love for a religious finatic to take on science with fact just to make it an even debate your only rebuttle is always that god said so and well see in the end, your beliefs in this country have a history of theft murder and rape because your god said it was ok because the people you were harming were not accepted.
i think when the magic prophecy comes out about the special punch that will be passed out among all gods children i will watch you all drink while i sit back and know that im living my life knowing im a good person without ever having to follow the tooth fairy or the easter bunny or god.
I apologize for generalizing if I seem to put everyone in categories. Everyone is different.
Leah, I have asked some scientific questions but people will say go to this website I guess because they can't really explain things in lay terms. I don’t mind reading their link for evidence of what they say at all. But what throws me off is they don’t stay on the subject and start attacking the Bible when their reasoning doesn’t add up. I would like to hear someone level headed that isn't angry and cursing. A person should be able to speak intelligently without sounding like they are possessed by Satan. (Smile)
This throws me off and I almost dismiss what they say entirely. They call the religious crazy nuts and they sound like idiots themselves.
From what I understand, Jesus was an educated man himself. His disciples were also, but were considered unlettered and ordinary persons by others. God did not require a person to have superior knowledge of the world to understand or know him. I think as long as a lay person can read and understand most of what they learn, it's not hard to understand God or science to a degree.
I do remember a lot of science from my earlier school years and try to keep up to date with tv and news articles and research on the web when necessary.
I don't consider myself to be a religious fanatic or crazy and I don’t discount science entirely. Science cannot always be quoted as actual fact and neither can evolution when many scientists question it themselves. The methods used for carbon or argon dating of ancient artifacts or deceased/diseased bones or fragments is also in question.
And I'm sorry if I sound like I'm preaching. I just don't know any other way to express my opinions.
Nations or governments in the past may have justified their history of war, murder, rape from events that occurred in the Bible. But to be fair, many nations war for many reasons and it doesn't have to be based on religion but greed, power and the desire to have what is not theirs. Murder, rape, war, violence, thefts are things that occurred long before the Bible was written- that's just life and life is not always fair. It's not the world God created for man, but the one he choose for himself, unknowingly. So if you are a person that believes in evolution, you would have to blame evolution. If man evolved before the Bible was written, it was man himself that created war and violence in the world, or the creed, only the strongest or fittest survive. I guess man would be no different than the animals for we would have evolved from them(?)
The Bible says God is a God of love and he does not wish anyone to die. It also says for us to become perfect in love like God because he makes it rain upon the righteous as well as the wicked. The Bible says God is not partial and willing to accept anyone. However, God has the right and obligated by justice to execute or authorize execution of the lawless or those that refuse to obey his righteous laws.
That may seem harsh, but it is no different than society or the laws of man. Man is authorized to execute judgment against the lawless or those that refuse to obey it's laws. And sometimes innocent people are affected by the actions of the lawless.
I get that people judge others in the worst way or condemn them to the fires of hell. This is wrong for them to do. So we should try not to judge God by what people believe or misinterpret. If you can forgive them for what they say this will be love on your part for your neighbor. And what hurts us can only make us stronger. Many people have suffered or died because of persecution.
It doesn't make sense for a God to create a man with a brain and expect him not question anything or his existence. I assume most people with a brain asks questions and so do I. Faith does not always come easy, and it certainly hasn't for me. I had to fight excessively to attain it every day for quite a number of years. Others are fine without believing in a higher power, but for many this is their desire.
We all live according to morals either of society and/or our own. There has to be a standard of right or wrong in society. Many civilizations become weak and susceptible to other nations when the family or the moral fabric of their society deteriorated. What we feel may be right for us could impose upon the rights of others. Someone mentioned earlier that most of the laws of society do come from laws instituted centuries ago from the Jewish law code.
For those that have researched the Bible, it is not perfect but then nothing in life is absolutely perfect.
The people portrayed in the Bible certainly were not perfect as we can see. If a person designs a car or computer and it works perfectly for them, they are the ones to say it's perfect even if others think it's just a piece of junk.
God declared ones perfect even though they were sinful and imperfect because they carried out his will. The Bible is not perfect but from Genesis to Revelation, it’s message is perfect and tells of a government that would replace the corrupt governments of man and the wicked forces behind them.
Several ancient artifacts and monuments from secular history have more than verified many events that occurred in the Bible. Many of these resources are available on the net and in museums and libraries. Weighing in on these matters does not require anyone to have blind faith. We are also aware of certain spurious verses that found their way into the Bible but were not in some of the earliest of manuscripts. This in itself does not make us totally discount the scriptures or that Jesus lived and what he said and did is recorded for us in the Bible.
Perhaps Mr. Maher says he doesn’t know, science doesn’t know, nobody knows everything and never will except the one that is Superior in Wisdom and Knowledge. One thing I do know is - It is not right to breed hate whether religious or non-religious.
Janace, i agree you are 100% right that we should not breed hate, its the last thing this world needs. i tell my children every day not to judge others because for their differences or their beliefs, yet there are children who have told one of my daughters that she will go to hell if she does not believe in god, she is 8.
To me, its the general attitude of the religous that bothers me and the most, the tactics for teaching.
i dont doubt that jesus was a man and he probably did help people and give them hope for one reason or another, and he was crucified but rising from the dead and the miracles that have been chalked up to god and divine intervention are to me outlandish.
I understand that many people have a need to believe in something and need to feel that theres a higher power helping them, its human nature to want to feel youve got someone on your side but when people are flocking by the hundreds to pray to the virgin mary on a peice of toast its a bit hard to take them seriously.
Your accurate when you talk about mans history and violence, these things are and always have been around but the moment man began killing in the name of god is when people got out of hand, theres always going to be crazy people who kill or rape for the hell of it but when people say it was gods will or way it takes it to another level, its sick to me. i think every man or woman who commits rape or murder should be killed; an eye for an eye but im not going to go out and kill them.
our country has driven itself into to the ground with religion the laws of man and religion are the same for the most part, there is supposed to be a distinct seperation in church and state yet so many laws and bills are passed based on the bible instead of the judgement of the people living and breathing in this country today, the biggest most in your face one of recent is gay rights that has been denied because the bible says marriage is one man and one woman, our laws our politicians our presidents and our people base this country on heresay.
i think everyone is entitled to their own thoughts,actions,reactions and beliefs but when the masses over rule because they all believe in this story the rest of our choices and ideas are cast out. i think our nation is not one nation under god but one nation where all who believe in god get to make the
rules.
I really dont have an intention of offending or changing anyones mind but i would love to see the masses back off a bit and stop trying to convert and judge those of us who do not base our lives on what may or may not have taken place thousands of years ago.
Leah D
Im sorry, i spelled your name wrong
Unfortunately, hate is bred a lot in this country. I recently took my daughter out of public school mostly because I was getting tired of her being accosted both verbally and physically for her beliefs. On election day, a kid threw a bottle at her head because she was wearing an Obama pin, and while she tries to keep our lack of religion a secret, every once in a while it would get out and then the kids would give her hell for a week or so. I know these kids are taught this by their parents. Of course, I always thought it was just because we are living in the south.
Just so you'll know, I don't tell my children what to believe, I just tell them what I believe and why as well as what the opposition believes and (in my best guess) why. My daughter goes back and forth on what she believes. She likes to go to church with friends every once in a while, but she says it's just to be with her friends. She has been taught that when she's old enough to know enough about all religions, she can decide what she believes, but I encourage her not to even try to make up her mind just yet. Right now she's learning about early Catholicism and is beginning to read a lot about the Muslim faith. She already has a pretty good knowledge of Hindu and Buddhism, and can differentiate between the Christian denominations, so she's way ahead of most church going children in her religious education.
Leah and Momma
I thought I was going to be butting heads again, (smile) but I actually enjoyed your comments quite a bit. It's refreshing to be able to enjoy the thoughts of others even if we don't totally agree. The part about the virgin Mary on a piece of toast was outrageously hilarious. (lol) . . . At any rate, true worship should not involve images of anyone or anything.
Some other things that crossed my mind though - When people say: Separation of Church and State - We do have physical separation of these entities but the laws or ideals are impossible to separate completely.
Maybe certain laws established by religion are considered imposing upon say gay rights. This is a major issue being debated. I don't think there were laws concerning marriage prior to the Bible being written except in the minds of men. So this idea that only a man and a woman should marry got its start a lot earlier while man was supposedly evolving and this institution continued for centuries before the Bible was written.
I agree everyone has the right to totally decide for themselves whether they want conform to a right or wrong standard. If society reverses itself and legalizes same sex unions, they have that right regardless of whether I feel it's wrong based on what I believe. Only God is judge of that person and not me. Like Jesus counseled,' why are you looking at the straw in your brother's eye when you have a boulder in your own eye.' I may not be measuring up myself if I'm trying to pass judgment upon others. So it pays to always try to be kind to people regardless if they are different or live differently. We can leave them with a good impression or feeling that we genuinely care for them just as God does.
Ok, I'm off to wash.
MOMMAWAVE, it is so nice to know that there are other parents who teach their children that way, we express our beliefs to our 4 children and answer any questions they have about religion, but discourage them from making their minds up on what they choose to believe until they are old enough to fully understand. we do not tell them to believe what we do, we ask them to stay open minded and we never make anyone elses choice seem wrong to them. im glad to see that someone else raises children this way, they are very impressionable and it is so sad to me when a mind that is too young to understand is told things in a way that makes them prejudice or feel the need to preach at such a young age. I know when my children are grown up i will be proud no matter what they become, do, or believe.
Well, to be proud of them is one thing, but I have told them that if they do become Christians, I don't care as long as they don't feel they need to change me. I just don't want them to be judgmental, no matter what.
I'm from Lisbon, PORTUGAL (a very catholic country) and I watched religulous yesterday. One word: Brilliant!
You asked all the questions I've been asking since I was 12! Great job! Congratulations.
(((How does Criss Angel levitate?))))
But first!
I cannot believe not one person from this thread has addressed my claim of what's in Bill's movie yet?
For anyone who hasn't heard about the perfect profile of Jesus, outlined by sunlight, I'll repeat it.
Not that we know what he looked like but this is a pretty good match for the way people have depicted he looked.
Coincidence or not, considering this topic, it is ironic that this likeness appeared at this time, is it not?
During Bill's interview of Francis Collins, towards the end, in the right hand back, directly over the red lighted exit sign, there it is.
Either you can see it or you can't. How about some feedback here after watching & looking to see if it's really there, people?
This reminds me of the time I searched the internet, for years, for others who saw the UFO in the window behind Bush as he sat in the oval office.
It was a big deal & all I found on the incident was so downplayed, I was disappointed, shocked & amazed. The explanations offered were in no way credible for those who witnessed it firsthand.
It happened the very next day as Bush was addressing the nation, also. It was outside that time & there were two. I have never found mention of this fact, to this day.
Their activity & flying patterns, either time, cannot be substantially explained away for those who saw it.
Thank goodness there was a witness with me who saw, too, or no one would believe me on this side of the computer in uncyberspace.
I searched for a long time for others who saw & have never heard from anyone, personally who saw it in or out of cyberworld.
I found that stranger than the happening, as I do in this matter of Jesus's profile, now.
I've inquired at several blogs & groups but no one is replying or even mentioning it back.
Not even to call me crazy or whatever & I find that odd, too.
Just a yes or no would do!
You'd think someone would say, "I saw Bill's movie & didn't see anything."
But not a word?
Before I retired, I had many contacts, because of my full time work as an activist in collecting them.
Including lists & groups totaling thousands of readers, at the time of this UFO matter.
Those contacts grew into myriad's, that pyramided through cyberspace, to who knows how many groups & individuals but as I searched through the years, I could not find one person that saw it, too.
There were a few personal emails from individuals that were in belief this was some kind of experiment being piped through certain individual's cable boxes. They called it a black op.
I believe that explanation.
Because & being fact, I was a thorn in the side of media & elected officials to the point of one of my computers being killed, just prior to this UFO incident.
I instigated what we called "email blitzes" in a huge network from the masses of citizens & activists in cyberworld to speak up, demand truth & action on issues important to them & our well being.
I supplied media & elected official email contacts & rocked many boats.
A noted journalist contacted me & gave me the email contacts the reporters & journalists used that went directly to their personal email boxes. I'd share those with activists I knew well & trusted them to be used wisely, by.
Other methods of intimidation were used, too, so I figured someone wanted me to make a big deal out of this to lend credence that I was one of those donning a tin foil hat, to discredit me & hamper my work.
I searched for other witnesses, anyway, because by this time many people knew me, well enough.
In the beginning of my activism, born from the morning & mourning of the tragic atrocious attack on the twin towers, I immediately & obsessively, went to work.
I collected individuals of like mind, email addresses. I didn't care what their personal beliefs or political views were as long as the love in their hearts seemed genuine.
I collected lists & groups to unite as safety in numbers to help bring back the security of our nation, all under one "umbrella group," for group owners & patriots, which is just one of many we own & stand as sisters with, now.
All covering every issue important to Americans that makes up our "We The People United Groups & Truth Movement"
Our sign up post & umbrella forum is>>>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WETHEPEOPLE_UNITED/
At this point in time, as I came back to work temporarily to help get Obama elected, I found to my dismay that our main forum, as well as many others, are infiltrated by those who are anti-Obama & working towards our nation's failure.
So if you come & see horrible things being said about Obama please know the bad elements are being weeded out.
Back to the UFO matter.
I knew my contacts, for the most part, would believe I hadn't gone completely loony about this claim so I put the info out there anyway & found nothing except>>>
From Rense: http://tinyurl.com/b2nnj4
And a Sherry Shriner who was the host of a seriously fanatical religious radio show who had a video of it at her website. I tried to find it today by googling her but there was too much to sort through.
I found this today & was surprised there was even a tidbit more than what I've found up to now>>>
http://tinyurl.com/asvahz
And I was surprised to find this today, which is part of what I wrote on the matter at some point. I believe the exact description of what we saw is there if you want to look through it all>>>
http://tinyurl.com/bhuye9
My friend Janice, here, who I call Angel was one of those individuals I added to my lists some years ago but we lost personal contact a very long time ago & went our separate ways.
Kind of ironic we both meet here on this particular matter holding two such different views, don't you think? I do!
Her forum>>>http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/quietfoxfire/
Her's is a spiritual forum, one of over 500 spiritual, political & patriot groups & organizations collected in a network of spiritual & secular people willing to come together by putting differences aside enough to work together on matters they do agree on.
The common thread people share who are affiliated with our "We The People United Groups & Truth Movement" are loving in nature, for the whole of mankind. No other specifications are required to become a member in good standing to stand with "US"
About the matter of Criss Angel. I'll try address the details which you may find quite interesting some time today.
I can only write when prompted & the inspiration on this matter hasn't hit me yet.
I will tell you the bottom line to how he levitated & you can start googling & do some research before I send the detailed facts on what I know.
((((He ingested white powder derived from gold that defies gravity.))))
Re. Mofmars333 claim that there is an image of Jesus during the Francis Collins interview: since the interview is broken up into segments, and there are three exit signs visible during the interview, it would be helpful if you noted the time on the DVD in minutes and seconds when the image of Jesus is allegedly visible.
However, I think your post is more likely a farce considering some of the things you say later about UFO's and Criss Angel ingesting white powder derived from gold to help him levitate.
If you're playing a prank and having a good laugh at those who believe in the supernatural, you're doing a pretty good job. But, if your trying to side with those who have faith in god, then you are straining your own credibility (and those who side with you) pretty thin.
If it makes you feel any better, nobody bothered to respond to my post where I asserted that Horus and Christ most likely "do not" share the same background that Mr. Maher describes in his film. While there are books and websites that support the similarities between Horus and Christ, there seems to be more scholarly evidence that Horus and Jesus did not share a similar biography.
While I'm taking the time, I would like to voice a general criticism of those that post blogs to the effect of "Great movie, you really nailed it," or conversely, "Bill, your movie sucks, I hope you go to hell," etc.
Could you please only post something if you have a specific praise or criticism of the movie? Otherwise, there is no substance to what you have to say.
Hay Marsha,
I did read your article on white gold and will comment hopefully by tomorrow and I'll get back to you after I review your links on Bush and the UFO's?
Oh and don't mind these uptight people here that try to moderate the forum from time to time. Just say what you feel. It makes me smile from ear to ear. LOL
Dear Bill,
I really enjoyed this movie. I grew up in an Indian city called Hyderabad and growing up, I repeatedly saw the hatred that could be incited by the politicians at the snap of their fingers and cause tremendous and meaningless carnage. I firmly believe that all religous leaders should come together and stress on the common principles like "serve your fellow citizens", "help the poor and needy", "forgive and move on", "do no evil" and try not to convert people to their religion or preach hate against other religions. I am an atheist/agnostic but I live with people with faith - my family is Hindu, my wife is Catholic and so on. I think for lot of people faith really helps them and it is their decision. So I do not have any problem with people with faith. It is just that one needs to be tolerant and understanding about other people's positions and live and let live instead of passing judgements, grow hatred and kill others in the name of god.
Anyways, kudos to you for bringing forward such a controversial subject to the public viewing and hope you can use your influence and reach to bring the world religous leaders to summits and make them bridge the differences.
Regards and best wishes to all,
Sreekanth
Bill Maher:
Hello, you don't know me of course, but I have been watching your show, Real Time, for quite a while now. I am also a big fan of your earlier stand up. I just rented Religulous and have to say that I was deeply moved by it, especially the end. I truly believe that the end of the world will not be Jesus on a white horse, but the nuclear holocaust that will ensue once monotheistic people name WMD the weapons of god. They will realize that Jesus will not be ridding on a white horse, but a nulear bomb, and that terrifies me. Anyways, this is why I was compelled to write you after watching your documentary...
I noticed that you talked about a lot of religions, but did not mention Paganism. No sects of paganism represent the worries that you express, except for the mythology of course which is just as unsubstanciated as Christian mythology. We do not prescribe to war, and do anything in our power to care for the earth. Which if you are religious are not, you must agree is a priority for the earth is the substanance of all existance. I realize you are Anti-religion and not interested in what I just said, but I would be willing to talk to you about it, for your future reference if that is something you are interested in, seeing Paganism is the fastest growing religious movement in America.
Thank you for taking your time to read what I have said, and stay funny!
Kay
Dear Bill, I just saw Religulous and found it most entertaining. It reaffirms that human intelligence and reason are still in their infancy. Sadly there seems to be no end to the number of people seeking power and wealth by exploiting this ignorance. The movie was at the same time funny and frightening. Millions have lost their lives over this nonsense and it appears that this trend will continue. The only real question is whether humans will wise up before their stupidity does them in.
Bill,
Just finished watching your latest creation. Definitely took on some of the absurdity. Must have been quite an adventure.
You might find my view of religion and the human drama interesting.
The Stillness Before Time
http://www.thestillnessbeforetime.com/
There is really only one Way.
It is without division or boundary.
It is without name or theology.
Awareness is its scripture,
Here now its venue,
You its witness,
Your life the journey.
Keep up the good fight.
And take care,
Michael Holshouser
Marsha
I did check all your links but the cspan video link was no longer available of the Bush/UFO tidbit. Some are explaining it as lighting or reflection from a teleprompter. Recently on Yahoo News and ABC Nightly News they reported the British Airforce was ordered to shoot down a UFO that almost collided with a passenger jet. At the moment they were about to fire, the UFO disappeared. These things happen quite often where people do see strange things.
At the risk of sounding even wackier, and just thinking out loud here if somehow these strange occurrences might tie in with Revelation where it mentions the nations were mislead by a false prophet (government) and those ‘expressions inspired by demons . . . perform signs to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty.’?
It just makes me wonder . . . . smile
I also checked out the article on white gold. It sounded as though the writer was stating fact but at the end of his article he says, ‘has anyone ever heard of it?’ Others responded to the fact that the Ancient Egyptians and Native Americans believed in the occult in combination with the properties of this white gold concoction.
The way it was described in this article, you would assume it as the modern day fountain of youth to reverse a person’s hormones/dna, to that of a teenager, etc. If Criss Angel is taking it, he doesn’t appear to be getting any younger. (lol) And neither did the Egyptians. The article mentioned it has cured several people of AIDS/HIV and other diseases but I don’t see anyone else floating from building to building, unless Criss Angel has found the right combination?
Which I’m not doubting it could happen that there could be materials that defy gravity. I just recently heard several months ago of a solution being developed to make people invisible (?) - A real life episode of Star Trek - The problem with that is - a terrorist could become invisible and plant bombs anywhere or make an undetected visit to a nuclear facility, etc. Others could rob a bank, store or follow someone home without detection and you can’t give the police a description because they’re invisible. (lol) However, I’m not afraid so much because I have faith in God promises ‘to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.’
I don’t know Criss Angel’s secret if he’s using some white gold formula, an optical illusion or some other miracle of science. We only have the record of one or two men being able to walk on water and a strange event where the disciples traveled to a place and found Jesus already there. They wondered how he got there before them. Jesus had called to one of the Apostles to walk to him on the sea which he did but became alarmed and fell and Jesus pulled him up. To me it’s more an issue of mind over matter. For instance when Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke ‘Use the Force Luke’, or when Jesus told one of the disciples if they had the faith of a mustard grain, they could move a mountain. They were able to use those forces later in their ministry to heal people and raise people back to life. The Bible says those gifts were done away with which I presume those gifts ceased when the ones that possessed them died.
So I guess Criss Angel is able to tap into those forces to create some amazing feats. However I don’t think they are necessarily from God but from those forces Jesus said are also controlling the world. I welcome your thoughts as well.
Dear Janice,
Normally I delete your posts before I ever read them, but thank goodness I decided to survey your latest because it's a real keeper.
Please, please, please, let me know the minute the terrorists acquire the invisibility potion. I'm counting on you Janice!
As soon as you drop the word, I'm going to snort some white gold powder and levitate up to my UFO and fly far far away from this world, because I don't want to live in a world with invisible terrorists. Normal terrorists I can handle, but invisible terrorists are too much for my fragile nerves.
Additionally, your post is so awesome because people who just got done watching Religulous really want to talk about UFOs and Criss Angel rather than relevant material from the film.
Anyhoo, I am so happy they are letting mental patients and wards of the state have access to computers and the internet these days! Whenever they let you out of your padded room, please be sure and log on and let 'er rip.
Hay Mark,
Invisibility shields one step closer with new metamaterials that bend light backwards http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/08/11_light.shtml
I just happened to hear a glimpse of these new metamaterials invisible armour from foxnews I believe. So I guess it's not exactly a lotion but some new material. I haven't read the whole article yet but it seems very interesting. Maybe you can read it and tell me what you think.
Science is growing by leaps and bounds, almost incomprehensible.
Also if you look up British Air Force and ABC Nightly News articles the incident with the UFO was a true story reported by the news outlets. I don't think they are considered mentally unstable sources for reporting information.
Anyway, just thought I'd add some variety to the usual stiff-neck stuff everybody's gripping about.
Oh and just one more thing . . . the reason we got on the topic of the Criss Angel levitation discussion was because before you entered the forum there may have been someone that had seem the movie and was also asking about how did Criss Angel levitate and some other things as well. So that is why we are talking about Criss Angel levitating.
Hi Mark.
I bet you delete her posts but just happened to see this one. LOL.
Just like Rich really isn't here watching what's transpiring, huh? LOL.
I agree with you, Angel. This invisibility stuff is a real bad idea.
Much of what we thought was science fiction is becoming reality so keep up the slandering of those whose minds are open & stay in your box, folks.
It says a lot about you people who pick at others for their beliefs while trying to search for truth.
Chew on this for a while & I'll get back to you & we'll maybe discuss your mental capabilities, Mark, as you like to do to Janice.
US, Chinese researchers engineer invisible>>>
http://tinyurl.com/c7edza
BBC Report-Invisibility cloak 'step closer'>>>
http://tinyurl.com/6csk4w
CNN Report Scientists set sights on invisibility cloaks>>>
http://tinyurl.com/6f8gg5
Hey Mark, you judge people, you & Rich & make fun of them for, as you said, believing in the supernatural.
Maybe you need understand that the word, "supernatural" itself means things we can't explain. Wouldn't you like to find some explanations? We would, if you don't mind?
If you don't want to learn & evolve then just be quiet as others share. You don't mind, do you, if we learn?
Be back soon to tell you the facts about the white powder. It's all very interesting & true, too.
I wrote this last night but for some reason couldn't get it to post.
Thanks, Angel. I'm glad to make anyone smile, especially, ear to ear.
Not a farce, Mark. Everything I tell you is true.
Just my two cents on what I think about a couple things here.
First, those who would claim another nutty, without seriously good reason, because of their beliefs really upsets me.
It takes all kinds of us & there's room for all with our differing beliefs & views. Spiritual or secular we should all be able to accept each other in respectful ways.
Some, so called believers, are seriously funny in their reasoning as Bill pointed out & made fun of.
This made people have to think when confronted, instead of buying into what religion dictates.
That can be dangerous & it certainly has held us back, as a whole, from what we could have made the world, if we hadn't fallen for all the tricks. Religion's even been reason for war.
I'm all for laughs but all this is no prank. I'm here to prove some things, Mark.
I liked that, you saying I'm doing a good job of it, if pulling a prank, is what I'm up to. I did laugh in good humor at that, thank you. That good job you point out gives clue to what I'm telling you about, possibly, being true, doesn't it?
I'm tired now but when I get finished, you won't be wondering about my credibility being at risk, as you put it, if I side with those who believe in God.
I'll probably do that to a point for some who will feel their own head spin & begin to doubt their own sanity at first, as you make clear is questionable concerning mine.
You'll need & want to take back criticism of others who in sincerity & for good reason choose to believe & share their experience as to why they believe.
Bill showed many believe without reason & are foolish for that. But there are those that believe for very good reason & have a lot to say.
Bill says he's too old to make anymore movies but I say he has one more in him, at least.
Since he brought this matter to surface, so will many true believers with credibility be surfacing.
In fact, I believe Bill may already be thinking about his next movie.
Are you Bill?
Maybe?
I always say science fact would have to be stranger than any fiction one can imagine & Bill has called all that out with his movie,"Religulous"
I rented,"Religulous", on DVD so I can't tell you right now how far into the video in minutes, the appearance of Jesus's profile is, Mark. I plan to rent it again so I'll do that if there's a next time I put an inquiry out.
In the meantime, if anyone wants to fast forward to where you see Bill sitting in a church with another man & stop it towards the end of that interview, you'll see the red lighted exit sign in the back right hand corner where the illusion appears right above it.
At the bottom it will say Francis Collins & who he is, when you first stop on the correct interview.
Instead of criticizing me on what I'll tell you or others for their beliefs, how about listening & giving chance to truth that might have surfaced due to Bill's project to tear down manmade organized religion?
That's one of several things Bill & I have in common. We both purposely set out to defeat religion for the negative thing can be.
Not personal spirituality, mind you, but the manmade doctrine that turns God's/Creation's children into differing cult sects that oppose each other.
Each ridiculously believe they are exclusive to truth concerning "God" when all that was ever written about Jesus, Horus or whoever came from mere man & has to remain dubious in many cases.
I do believe man can be guided by an energy source of powerful magnitude of good or evil & I also believe that among many truths, man wrote a lot of stories.
I'm not saying man's written word is all to be disbelieved.
I am saying man did write a lot of stories we can't take literally.
Some who wrote scripture may have been inspired by good spirit but altered for purpose of keeping mankind passive & in line for easier control to be ruled by those believing themselves superior.
Some of man's written word is true, some is not. And it's up to us to sort it all out. We have to use our brains & hearts to do that.
I'm here to share many things. Many are here at this time like me who share this same truth as you'll see if you pay attention.
First, we must all understand that there's a big difference between religion & true spirituality.
I'm tired & due to disabilities it gets hard to be coherent when I get worn out. So I'll tell you good night & try to continue tomorrow.
Marsha
Dear Janice,
I read the article you supplied on "cloaking" technology: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/08/11_light.shtml
It really is a fascinating article, and it seems we are a step closer to one more thing that was thought of previously only as a science fiction contraption.
However, assuming terrorists are going to be using this advanced technology to skulk around and plant bombs is a pretty big leap.
The last time I checked, the big daddy of all terrorists still lives in a cave. Terrorists use the crudest of all bombs. Not only can they not make an ICBM (something the U.S. has been able to make for over forty years) they are incapable of making any sophisticated weaponry. Do you remember the laughable "scud" missiles used by the Iraq military? And, that was a semi-legitimate military, crude by our standards, but much better than anything the terrorists can come up with on their own.
Yes, I suppose the terrorists could steal this technology (which won't be practical in the sense that you imply for a long, long time). The article itself explains that we're not really close to a "Harry Potter" type cloak that would allow one to walk around invisible.
In the end, however, the technology you refer to is based on science and not anything supernatural. The film Religulous attacks some pretty nutty people who aren't interested in scientific explanations, but want to plug in the word god for anything they don't understand.
I do wish that Mr. Maher had talked to more respectable men and women of faith. I think it would have been a more fair approach.
I apologize for suggesting that you were somebody who belongs in a mental hospital, but I wish you would bottle up the ends of your arguments and be a little more cogent.
If you are opposed to the content of Mr. Maher's documentary, I would love to see you take a specific part of his movie and dissect it. That would make for an interesting discussion. I tried to do this with the Horus/Jesus comparison, but most people who post here just want to make generic comments that by definition cannot be criticized or analyzed.
Thanks again for the interesting article. I was unaware we were that close to developing "cloaking" devices.
Dear Mofmars333,
In the spirit of fairness, and out of your frustration that nobody would talk about the image of Jesus you saw during the Collins interview, I did watch that part of the movie. I slowed it down, paused it, and watched it a few times.
I did not see an image of Jesus (or anybody else for that matter), but as I stated that the Collins interview is edited back and forth with the interview Mr. Maher has with the truck stop Christians. And, as I mentioned there are three exit signs in the interview, two of which appear in the back right hand corner at various places in the interview. Therefore, if you will kindly mark the place on the DVD for me, I might at least be able to see what you are referring to.
Oh thanks Mark for reading the article! And thanks Marsha always for your kind words and support.
Actually, I was kinda making a joke about the terrorist (lol) always thinking ahead I suppose. But like you say being this is in it's infancy, maybe we shouldn't worry about invisible terrorist just yet . . . smile.
Many have made mention in the forum that Maher's comparisons in the movie were not accurate but if it's still goggled I'll watch it and add my two cents. So thanks for the idea.
I was just catching up with the posts here when my husband told me to go check out this site. I thought you all might enjoy taking this quiz. Apparently my biblical morals are in line with the Bible at 0%
gotoquiz.com/do_you_have_biblical_morals
Fun for all!
BTW Janice, you're getting nuttier with every post. Keep up the good work.
LOL, ok thanks mommie . . . It's been a while since yall had a good laugh in here. I'll be sure and check out your link.
I'm 20 years old and have recently been turned away from religion all together (I grew up going to a Christian church). I appreciated your film because I agree with you 100% that all we should have is doubt. "Religious" made me feel like I should start talking to people about this and to not be afraid of doubting everything.
However, I was a little uneasy about your portrayal of Muslims. You suggested that Christians shouldn't take everything in the bible to be fact, and yet you seemed to ignore the fact that many Muslims do not take everything in the Qur'an to be fact. It creates more of an issue when you generalize about another religion. The American view of Islam is, for the most part, extremely skewed and your film did not help in spreading any education or better understanding of Islam.
Furthermore, you call your film "Religulous" and yet you only focused on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It would have been interesting of you had touched upon other religions. Otherwise you suggest that Christianity, Judaism and Islam are the only "Ridiculous" ones.
Over all, I thank you for your film and congratulate you on its success. Hopefully it will spark questions and thoughts that need attention.
Thank you, Mark for treating Angel like the lady she is.
I see another has surfaced being rude to her in the name of ignorance using a quiz to play a childish game. As I said, it takes all kinds.
I do appreciate & I know there are others, the honorable man you turned out to be, Mark.
I can't tell you any clearer where the illusion of Jesus's profile appears than I have.
I'm renting it soon again & friends will be coming so I'll give you the timing when I can.
The UFO's behind Bush is a true story. If you read the follow up you'll see we weren't the only ones who saw.
I'm grateful I wasn't alone both nights & have a witness for my own sanity's sake because I know no one would have believed me.
Someone went to great lengths to explain what was seen, away, as you saw if you read everything.
I'll go more into this tomorrow. A lot more into it, in fact.
About the white powder. What I'll tell you when I can get to it is the truth & you can believe or not. But physics is physics & there is proof out there.
I'll get to it as soon as I can for those interested. It's too much to just spit out at you.
I've wanted to say the exact same thing Dewlittle did here, Bill>>>
I was a little uneasy about your portrayal of Muslims. You suggested that Christians shouldn't take everything in the bible to be fact, and yet you seemed to ignore the fact that many Muslims do not take everything in the Qur'an to be fact. It creates more of an issue when you generalize about another religion. The American view of Islam is, for the most part, extremely skewed and your film did not help in spreading any education or better understanding of Islam.
Furthermore, you call your film "Religulous" and yet you only focused on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It would have been interesting of you had touched upon other religions. Otherwise you suggest that Christianity, Judaism and Islam are the only "Ridiculous" ones.
It's late and I'm off to bed. I did watch most of the movie on the computer and I'll catch the rest tomorrow sometime. It's not something I would normally watch.
And thanks for the warning Marsha, I went to the website for Biblical morals just to see what it was about and it is a crackpot sort of thing. Not worth my time especially since we are no longer be under Mosaic Law.
I guess I had better watch my back.
When you all are roasting in hell you can all have a good old fashioned debate on whether or not there is a God and whether or not Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and whether or not the Bible is the inspired Word of God. You'll all have an eternity to debate til your little heart's content.
i saw the movie and was saddened to see how decieved you are and how decieved the people you interview are..i dont have anything against a good debate but a one sided one is no debate at all..the movie did what it set out to do and thats make fun of religion but unfortunately you ended up showing just how decieved you are ..sure only people with spiritual insight would see this but its funny to me that if you are truly looking for answers like you said in the movie then why did you go to all the kooks and fanatics in the world who are even more decieved than you in some ways...i would challenge you to remake your film with legitimate interviews of people who can answer your hardest questions...why dont you look up christian apologist ravi zacharais at rzim and listen to him answer some of your hardest questions and see if you feel the same way after talking to someone who is truely godly but also highly inteligent and informed..there are many more christians like him who could take your questions and leave you shaken in your beleif system or lack there of..but instead you chose people who either dont have answers for their faith or who have false faith and are crazy.So i guess you set out to accomplish what you wanted but of course you would when you dont really choose to speak the truth with people who truly possess it ..its sad because you are not only decieveing yourself but so many others who are seeking but unsure..look up c.s lewis and not his childrens books but his testimony and his other books ...people who not only are highly intelligent but also have spiritual eyes to see and know the truth before them..we all have faith in something ...what keeps you alive everyday..or makes the sun to faithfully come out or the mere fact of gravity? sure you will put scienctific answers to it but ultimatley thats not enough ..creation testifies to a creator and the mere fact that you question someones existence is proof of that someones existence..you are warriing against what you know is truth but do not want to face that truth because in facing it you face your mortality and your very existence and questions that dont always have answers..i say this in concern not in hate or any other emotion but please give us a legitimate debate.kelly zook
Hello Janice_am, I commented on Chriss Angel trying to compare it to Jesus levitation, on March 8, @ 7:14. I would like to hear your comment about the others ideas I posted. thanks.
I just watched the movie on DVD and loved it. Love your take on the blind followings and faith in religions. But, I am disappointed on some of the information shared with the viewers which makes me question it's credibility. For example, in the comparisons drawn between Jesus and the Hindu god "SriKrisna", you have said that SriKrisna was born around December to a virgin mother. However, none of this is true. According to the Hindu mythology, he was the eighth child born to a couple (Devaki and Vasudev) somewhere around August.
Though, I am not a believer in any of the religious theories, I wish the information shared with the viewers is correct. For someone like me, who may not know the theories in other religions, it makes me question the research that went behind making this movie and it's accuracy. If the motive was to entertain and NOT educate the viewers then one can forgive and forget the thought behind the attempt.
Cheers!
Dear Carol in Canada,
Your post represents a type of post that has me curious. Why did you or people who make comments similar to yours see Religulous in the first place? If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the bible is the inspired word of God, and that people like Bill are going to roast in hell for eternity, then what's the point in watching a movie that clearly lacks the ability to either persuade or entertain you?
Here are some possibilities, Carol, but correct me if I'm wrong:
1. You didn't see the movie.
2. You saw the movie, but you didn't know what it was about.
3. You saw the movie, but thought it was going to be a balanced debate on religion.
4. You saw the movie and knew exactly what it was about.
If you didn't see the movie, then you have no business posting anything on this site (even though you have the right).
If you didn't know what it was about, why didn't you? Do they not have film critics in Canada. Did you not read the back of the DVD case? Do you pick movies at random because you like surprises?
If you thought the movie was going to be balanced, why did you think that? Did you think a movie written by Bill Maher and directed by the guy who gave us Borat was going to be a subtle discourse on the Christian faith?
If you saw the movie and "did" know what it was about, did you see it just so you could build up some good old fashioned hatred for anybody who doesn't believe exactly what you believe? What does that say about you?
A conservative Christian watching Religulous is like an atheist tuning in to 90 minutes of the 700 Club (or whatever Pat Robertson's show is called these days) and expecting Pat to start delivering balanced arguments for evolution.
Carol, I'm glad you have the next life figured out because this life apparently makes you miserable.
saw it, loved it. laughed hysterically and was horrified at the same time. It's the 21st century! When will people stop believing in fairy tales!? not to mention stop killing and torturing people in defense of those beliefs? a great book to read is "god is not great" by Christopher Hitchens, lots of historical data as well as logic in support of the position that religion is not only BULLSHIT but dangerous and destructive (and it just plain makes people stupid). keep up the great work, Bill!! I'm telling all my friends to see or rent "Religulous"!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Andrea
San Rafael,CA
I just saw Religulous today. Well done! Both my daughters saw I had bought it and asked to see it next. They are 17 and 21. My Mom also wants to borrow it. You have definitely crossed the age barrier with your film, 17 to 73. My husband and I were raised Catholic, and we raised our daughters Catholic. Our 17 year old is very bright, and was never fooled by the "stories" she was told in her CCD classes, and I always felt this unexplained need to try and "convince" her that they were true. Except in our discussions I realized that I never "got it" either. I realized that it was only important that she be a good human being, and religion, well, just had nothing to do with it. This movie was interesting, informative and like you, smart and funny. Thank you Bill!
Alright thanks Shucan,
I'll try and go back over your post and get back to you by tomorrow and see if it lines up with what I had in mind.
I just saw Religulous and I honestly expected it to piss me off...it didn't, AT ALL. I'm confused why it was considered so controversial in the first place. Bill, thank you for making this film and withstanding the (no doubt) onslaught of hate mail, scathing remarks etc. You've encouraged us to think critically about religion...sounds like a good idea to me!
Hi Bill,
Your documentary was awesome. Those were my questions for years, until I found the absolute Scientific Proof. Please check www.message-of-god.com
I have been waiting for this for 20 years. I think GOD wants to show every one His irrefutable sings in our era. Keep it up.
Peace
Behruz
Hi Bill,
Your documentary was awesome. Those were my questions for years, until I found the absolute Scientific Proof. Please check www.message-of-god.com
I have been waiting for this for 20 years. I think GOD wants to show every one His irrefutable sings in our era. Keep it up.
Peace
Behruz Shirazi
Hi Bill,
I have been watching your movie and would like to leave you something to think about. I grew up in a religious upbringing and when it comes to the questioning about Christianity there are a few things that a lot of believes has missed completely. Unfortunately a lot of you movie is based on a complete miss conception about what the bible is and what the whole religion as all about. You have really left winged and right winged believe systems. If you were to take the old testament and base that on fact, well think again. Majority of the old testament is just a story that is meant to be a story that could relate to us. I.E. the man living in a whale....who knows but if you take it to head then well that is your opinion. Now make no mistake, I am not here to shoot down any believe!! In most religions they believe that they want. The way I see it, the Jews are still waiting for the coming of Christ. You ask why GOD does what he does, if you were to apply quantum physics to the equation then you should know that now and then is in theory the same time.
As humans have we proved it? Yet most scientists believe that quantum physics is real. You ask about miracles, if you were to open your eyes you would see that every morning you open your eyes, a magical just happened! If you were to break down every living form to it's smallest factor you would only be left with pure energy! The big bang theory is true, here is the question, where did that come from. Bill, I am not a bible puncher but I believe that GOD is real so is His Son Jesus Christ! I have to say that I find it extremely offensive that you even had the notion to produce the movie.
Who is wrong??? Bill all I can say is that I pray that God would bless you!!! No one should ever question out creator!!!
Scientology is the means to fill an emptiness those people have with a supposed explanation of science.
Bill, if you truly want to know what religion is, I would suggest you make a visit to South Africa. Not only is the country filled with so much beauty but there is one person that you should meet....
Christianity has become too commercial and has lost its true meaning!!!!!!
So, if you dare and if you have the "balls" drop me a mail and I will give you some contact information of someone you should see!!!
Kind Regards,
Vincent
vincent.noome@gmail.com
Hiya Vincent,
I read your mail and it was very nice.
I don't agree that we should never question God. How are we to find answers about what is required of us? Why would God designate 40 men spanning many centuries to write a message to humankind if he did not want us to have answers?
Never questioning God or what we believe, would be tantamount to having blind faith which I think everyone does at some point in their life asks why. The Bible says keep questioning whether you are in the faith.
What if for instance a person cuts off the hands of a person for stealing according to the law of God in his holy book? On the other hand another holy book says to make a person pay back 5 times the amount he stole and if necessary inflict a number of strokes?
If a person was brought up to never question God or what they believe God requires, they may be blindly following untruth simply because that's the way they were brought up.
God being the very essence of knowledge and wisdom gave to man possesion of those very same qualities and to satisfy man's curiosity to learn he would surely want us to seek him out and gather the correct information concerning his laws and our existence as well as the requirements to enjoy life forever. Why we should follow one law over another even if the only answer is that it's for our own protection?
At least that's what I think. Can you explain quantum physics for me or I'll look it up on the web perhaps.
Hello Bill,
I am a consistent follower of your program on HBO. I want to start off by saying that you are, in a few ways, what this country is about.
Your views and your beliefs are not immoral or in the least unpatriotic. I can tell that you love the nation that you have been born and raised in. You have some respect for people of authority as do I. Some others I do not. I am the rebellious type as I see you as. I lived a couple years of my life doubting every rule, every teaching, and every sense I felt. The leaders of our modern religious world are false. They create more bad than good. Do I respect them? Do I use them as my poster boy of my new-found belief in God? No, I do not. I understand that religion can be looked at as negative now-a-days, but I tell you this, religion disappeared from my life at one time and I was lost. Trying to figure out what was right and what was wrong on my own. We all need someone who is unimaginable. Someone who is bigger and powerful than we are. I ask you Bill Maher, what if you are wrong? If I am wrong, I exist no-longer. If you are wrong, you suffer for your beliefs.
There is nothing wrong with believing in God. There is nothing ignorant about believing in God. Religion aside, we all want to believe in something greater than ourselves
I beg you Bill, quit trying to take away the one positive belief that this world beholds. This belief only creates hope, it doesn't pose a single threat to the make up of this planet and it's inhabitants.
Hello Bill,
I am a consistent follower of your program on HBO. I want to start off by saying that you are, in a few ways, what this country is about.
Your views and your beliefs are not immoral or in the least unpatriotic. I can tell that you love the nation that you have been born and raised in. You have some respect for people of authority as do I. Some others I do not. I am the rebellious type as I see you as. I lived a couple years of my life doubting every rule, every teaching, and every sense I felt. The leaders of our modern religious world are false. They create more bad than good. Do I respect them? Do I use them as my poster boy of my new-found belief in God? No, I do not. I understand that religion can be looked at as negative now-a-days, but I tell you this, religion disappeared from my life at one time and I was lost. Trying to figure out what was right and what was wrong on my own. We all need someone who is unimaginable. Someone who is bigger and powerful than we are. I ask you Bill Maher, what if you are wrong? If I am wrong, I exist no-longer. If you are wrong, you suffer for your beliefs.
There is nothing wrong with believing in God. There is nothing ignorant about believing in God. Religion aside, we all want to believe in something greater than ourselves
I beg you Bill, quit trying to take away the one positive belief that this world beholds. This belief only creates hope, it doesn't pose a single threat to the make up of this planet and it's inhabitants.
Bill please start blogging again! We need you here, especially during the off-season!
I recently saw Religulous and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I had a few bones to pick with you - if you're ever on here again, check it out at http://luxamericana.com/2009/03/09/religulous-review/
Sorry here's an actual working link!
Hello David,
I went to your blog & left the following message. Maybe some of the others here might want to go there & join in the disscussion? The first link you sent worked for me.
http://luxamericana.com/2009/03/09/religulous-review/
I left this message>>>
My take on Bill isn't that he denies there's something to it all, but that he doesn't know what. I kept hearing him say, "I don't know"
To me, that says he thinks there might be but he just doesn't know. At one point he called himself a seeker, I believe. And that too said to me he seriously wants to know & is looking.
He, evidently hasn't met the right people who'll help open his eyes & ears, yet.
Anyway, whether he believes deep in his heart or not, I believe he'll be seeing a light due to his calling out the true believers with the message his movie sent.
I'm betting he makes a follow up & is probably gathering the material now.
He's right about religion, in my opinion. He's a comic so he has a funny way of going about making people think on this matter.
The point is, manmade organized religion has done nothing but divide people & is actually a dangerous tool. Even war has been in the name of religion.
True Christians are actually Christlike & try do as is written, Jesus did when he walked the earth. They can come from any doctrine, actually, but the difference between the real Christian & one under delusion of manmade rules, is that they have a personal connection as in a live wire to their "God"/"Creator," whatever they each should choose to call theirs.
The first problem is each thinks they are exclusive to truth & exclude all others. Not good.
"God" is the good energy source & a spiritual connection is necessary & it's personal. A good "God" loves all creation & would not be a negative force as religion creates, many times.
Most churches do not stress this & create followers that are mechanical in many ways. Not the real thing.
You don't need to go to a building as in meeting at church, Temple or whatever. That's okay but if it's one that doesn't love all of mankind & accept others respectfully in whatever their belief may be, then they're part of the problem & deception we have been purposely conditioned under.
We are the caretakers of this planet & it's time to take our responsibility seriously.
That entails exposing what manmade doctrine has done to our well being for far too many generations.
We have been brainwashed & it's time to wake up.
We must remember that in the very middle of the word "believe" is the word, "lie"
That should tell us we need be careful what we believe.
Before I get into what I know about the white powder from gold that defies gravity, I'd like to touch on a couple other subjects we were discussing, first.
Like the invisibility cloak technology.
While I'm thinking about it, the gold powder & the cloaking system have something in common.
Neither should fall into the wrong hands.
So we agree, the invisibility matter is a real issue, just like in "The Philadelphia Experiment", as learned from the links to the news reports we reviewed here earlier, right?
It's reported the cloaking device hasn't been perfected, yet, but I think they already have that technology but what do I know?
If you examined the links concerning myself & the small number of people from all over the nation who saw the UFO's behind Bush, you know that really happened, too.
People did see what looked & acted just like UFO's behind Bush in the beginning of his administration, in two subsequent addresses to the nation. Or at least someone, definitely wanted certain people to think they were seeing spacecraft & had it piped through their cable boxes.
Real UFO's behind him or not, something was going on & if they weren't what they appeared to be, then a trick was played out. It could have been a light show or flying ships made here on earth, we don't know. Someone knows, though!
I want to go more into this whole UFO matter, later, as there's much to disclose but for now, I'll only go into one part of that truth.
It's said they're actually in the skies everywhere, many UFO's, & cloaked. I think it's an infrared camera or some other special camera, I can't remember, that captures these ships on film.
You could google "cloaked UFO's" for the correct camera information & the fact that they are more than likely than not, out there & have been for a long time. If you've been paying attention, media has been reporting these sightings more & more than they used to.
I'll go into the reasons they're here & what's supposed to be going on in another communication.
I'll warn you to get your tin foil hats ready because you may need them. But then what do I know? I must reiterate that truth & fact would have to be stranger than fiction imagined.
What's said to be going on & what I believe is really happening are two different things but we'll discuss that later.
Okay, about the white powder made from gold.
Years ago, I was contacted by a man who said I could call him, Bud, who was a reader of articles I sent to spiritual forums & groups. Proof of some of these conversations would still be in the archives of our "We The People United" spiritual & political forums.
Back then, Bud joined our "We The People United" spiritual & political forums but soon left, he said, due to his fear of government infiltration of our groups due to content we covered. We were too radical in our actions as activists, for his comfort, to stay.
Bud told me he'd been following me in my spiritual writing & before he left the internet he wanted to leave me something, he wanted to make sure got into the right hands.
He said I was never to sell this & when he sent me the package he even paid the postage himself. He said I could charge postage, which I never would, but this information was to be given freely.
By now, I'm sure those interested have read up from the link supplied & did your own google research on the powder, right?
And yes, Angel, I did get that, too, concerning a fountain of youth angle. I'm not sure if this is a main component the information goes into, I have in hand or not, as the subject goes deep but I think the quantum physics to it can get there, too, in reversing cell generation. I may have just read about it in my research & am getting it mixed up with the actual facts I've been given, though.
Speaking of quantum physics, I saw where you asked about this subject Angel>>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_physics
Or do a google or whatever search engine you use, to study up.
Just this past year, I've been studying the physics to the matter of this powder, even though I had this information given to me several years back.
More details on this will be in the free on line "Book of Truth" we hope to get up soon.
I tried many times to view this information throughout the years, but couldn't.
I either would fall asleep in the first half hour of several hours to review or it would seem too complicated & bore me almost to death.
What was sent me was the recipe to make this powder from gold that can be ingested.
I would love to send Bill the DVD's that came to me in VHS form. I would love to send them to anyone I knew enough, that I felt I could trust & count on to do as I was asked in the matter.
Bud told me, David Hudson, was in hiding at the time of our discussions. He said he was hiding from top officials in government who were trying to commission him to make this powder.
Bud said it's sooooo expensive to make the stuff that the government was the only able to afford it, he knew of.
I don't know what David's up to right now but I do know, last I heard, he had partners that were carrying on in evolving this lost ancient knowledge of this gravity defying concept into our reality.
I've heard it said, Chriss Angel has found this energy & has been experimenting with it & that's how he levitates.
I never once thought about who Bud was until he left our groups. But in my heart I soon realized Bud was probably David Hudson, himself.
Do a google on him & see what you can learn.
Hay Marsha,
I'm busy with reply to shucran but I managed to read your followup.
I tried to read the quantum physics a bit but it's way over my head . . . Like outer space . . . UFO's are as far as I'll go (lol)
Have you ever watched Unsolved Mysteries or OutThereTv Show? Really weird stuff. Government UFO coverups, Bush and Cheney secret societies worshipping the owl of Molech in the desert. One lady on outtheretv show said Cheney sexually abused her since she was a child. Really bizarre but then I read your msnbc website link and it seems like somethings to it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29265600/
"Fodder for conspiracy theorists
Members swear an oath of secrecy about the group and its strange rituals, which include devotion to the number "322" and initiation rites such as confessing sexual secrets and kissing a skull. The atmosphere makes Skull and Bones favorite fodder for conspiracy theorists."
"Bushes, Kerry are members
Both presidents George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and many other men in powerful government and industry positions are members of the society, which is not affiliated with the university."
I did google the Hudson guy and that's a long read too so I'll save it another day as well as the quantum physics.
On the previous article, I'm still having a problem with the properties of this white gold powder. In particular this statement: "The gifts that go with this are perfect telepathy, you can know good and evil when it is in the room with you, you can project your thoughts into someone else's mind, you can levitate, you can walk on water, because it is flowing so much light in you, you literally don't attract to gravity"
I found it hard to believe this could cause a person to read another person's mind. Nobody's reading my mind but God and I don't think even he's reading my mind all the time or seeing what I'm doing tomorrow for that's up to me. I have felt an evil presence of persons around me and it was definitely not a good feeling. I've left a couple of jobs or had to leave a person's home or old buildings because the presence of evil was overwhelming. But it has only occurred a few times in my life. I did not need any substance to distinguish when somethings not quite right. Some people do have what they call a sixth sense, although I don't cater to it myself.
My next thought is that if this formula is ingested and able to allow people to defy gravity - then how do they control it? It seems they would still have to use their mind to say lift me up and take me over there. (lol) So we're back to mind over matter or a meditation of sorts.
This formula can't control or know where a person wants to go or if he wants to land on ground. For instance the clocking device or metamaterial doesn't really make a person invisible but the material deflects light so a person or object seems invisible. It would be physically impossible for a person to disappear into nowhere. Unless he had help from thse forces mentioned earlier.
Anyway, just thinking . . .
Watched movie. I was disappointed that you did not put Dalai Lama in this movie. Why is Hollywood so afraid of criticizing him? Isn’t he the one who manipulate religion for his own political gain?
Dear Bill, i am an atheist and i watched the documentary Religulous. Altough i thought it was a really good documentary theres some inconsistencies about some information. The one that might make someone discredit your work, you should check about the virgin birth cause in the King James version of the bible at the beggining of Matthew it states about a virgin birth.
Thanks for the input Bruno. Several people have commented about many inaccuracies in the film. Also Shucran, I have a response for you by tomorrow.
Janice
I'd like to state that what i got from the filme was that the criticism is against religions, no to a specific divinity itself. Nonetheless its hard to hear about god outside of a community, and ppl gathering in the name of such divinity i call religion in some way. I guess the real problem lies at the institution that rule the religion. I dont have direct problems with someone having faith, or praying, i just dont believe it and dont want others forcing to me their beliefs or justifying anything based on "gods will". I keep my stuff to myself and expect anyone to do the same. This was responding to a big Janice post a few pages ago.
Thank you again Bruno. I was probably responding to someone else's questions or concept about God or certain assumptions in the Bible. It's understandable people don't want to feel like religion is being forced upon them but at the same them they should listen to all sides of the issue whether pro or con.
Watching Mr. Maher's movie isn't something I thought I would like to do. Since I have, hopefully my opinions won't impose upon the rights of others if I answer some of the questions he didn't research long or hard enough to find the answers to.
Your movie was horrible.
An utter rip off of John Safran vs God. But the worst part of it was you being such a windbag and not letting your interviewees speak.
John Safran vs God was a very funny show, you lifted his idea and made it very unfunny, and a preachfest of American propaganda.
I saw your movie last week and as entertainment I enjoyed it. I agree with you that religion is by far the biggest scam ever pulled on mankind. I also would like to make some observations of my own.
I am someone who believes that a creative force must exist. I cannot in any way convince myself of any other possibilities that can even remotely adequately explain the world and everything that it contains. Something is behind it. The level of technology in nature and even our own bodies and makeup leaves me with the conclusion that God, for lack of a different, term MUST exist. This leads to this question. If God (let’s call this force God so this will flow better) is brilliant enough to create the world and all that it contains then why is religion, which is attributed to him, so screwed up? Fair question wouldn’t you say? The answer to me is obvious. GOD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. It would be illogical to assume that God would set something up like this. Religion is exactly what you say it is, but do not be foolish enough to, by extension, assume there is no God. George Carlin, who I have been a fan of my whole live, had wonderful observations of the system but came to the very wrong conclusion. God does exist, but God is not behind religion as it exists in the world today.
I am not sure if you are an atheist or you just say you don’t know, as you said at the trucker’s chapel. Are you truly a “seeker” like the song you open with? (love The Who by the way).
This then leads to the all important question. WHY? Why did God allow this thing we call religion to be foisted on an unsuspecting mankind? There has to be a reason and there certainly is. The crux of it is that man is on a journey far greater than we realize. We are only in the educational phase, not judgment phase, right now in our lifetimes. (this has NOTHING to do with reincarnation) Mankind is just going to school now. The true plan God has for mankind is as brilliant as is the creation. The details are, from beginning to end, the most exciting I have ever encountered.
I spent over 25 years trying to piece it all together and I feel I was successful. THE PLAN IS BRILLIANT and I could not have made it up if I tried. I did write it all down in a book which I independently published but I have not done anything much with it. Maybe I should.
Bill, you and I could have a GREAT conversation. I will guarantee you that even if you think I am nuts (which you would not) it would be the most thought provoking conversation on this subject you have ever had to date. I, for one, would be right into it. Trust me.
Love your comedy and observations and have for years.
Hope you actually read these.
I saw your movie last week and as entertainment I enjoyed it. I agree with you that religion is by far the biggest scam ever pulled on mankind. I also would like to make some observations of my own.
I am someone who believes that a creative force must exist. I cannot in any way convince myself of any other possibilities that can even remotely adequately explain the world and everything that it contains. Something is behind it. The level of technology in nature and even our own bodies and makeup leaves me with the conclusion that God, for lack of a different, term MUST exist. This leads to this question. If God (let’s call this force God so this will flow better) is brilliant enough to create the world and all that it contains then why is religion, which is attributed to him, so screwed up? Fair question wouldn’t you say? The answer to me is obvious. GOD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. It would be illogical to assume that God would set something up like this. Religion is exactly what you say it is, but do not be foolish enough to, by extension, assume there is no God. George Carlin, who I have been a fan of my whole live, had wonderful observations of the system but came to the very wrong conclusion. God does exist, but God is not behind religion as it exists in the world today.
I am not sure if you are an atheist or you just say you don’t know, as you said at the trucker’s chapel. Are you truly a “seeker” like the song you open with? (love The Who by the way).
This then leads to the all important question. WHY? Why did God allow this thing we call religion to be foisted on an unsuspecting mankind? There has to be a reason and there certainly is. The crux of it is that man is on a journey far greater than we realize. We are only in the educational phase, not judgment phase, right now in our lifetimes. (this has NOTHING to do with reincarnation) Mankind is just going to school now. The true plan God has for mankind is as brilliant as is the creation. The details are, from beginning to end, the most exciting I have ever encountered.
I spent over 25 years trying to piece it all together and I feel I was successful. THE PLAN IS BRILLIANT and I could not have made it up if I tried. I did write it all down in a book which I independently published but I have not done anything much with it. Maybe I should.
Bill, you and I could have a GREAT conversation. I will guarantee you that even if you think I am nuts (which you would not) it would be the most thought provoking conversation on this subject you have ever had to date. I, for one, would be right into it. Trust me.
Love your comedy and observations and have for years.
Hope you actually read these.
Shucan
I read your post and interestingly, I do have some questions for you. You spoke of life originating from water by a microorganism explosion. I’m not an expert in science but as far as I can remember, science also says life began in the oceans. My first question is what makes your theory of how life began more logical than those of previous theories or scientists? There seems to be a lot of pieces missing to the puzzle and looking under the table and chairs.
The common thought is that the universe had a beginning. So was it nothing before it began? And if so, how do you get something from nothing? In order for there to be an explosion or force in motion, it seems to me there would have had to be a force to begin with or maybe a force that always existed(?) Does that make any sense? Was it all just a coincidence or an accident waiting to happen? Life has to have more meaning than just a coincidence. Why should we love or hate? What morals or whose morals do we live by? Death robs us of people we love. If life is just a coincidence why should we care whether we live or die?
A wise king once made these statement(s): “With a man there is nothing better [than] that he should eat and indeed drink and cause his soul to see good because of his hard work . . . For who eats and who drinks better than I do?” “And I, even I, hated all my hard work at which I was working hard under the sun, that I would leave behind for the man who would come to be after me. And who is there knowing whether he will prove to be wise or foolish? For there is no more remembrance of the wise one than of the stupid one to time indefinite . . . and how will the wise one die? Along with the stupid one.” “For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; . . . so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.” Eccl
I agree that belief in God(s) gives persons a reason and hope to live beyond death more than just enjoying what little time a person has in the world before going out of existence.
Someone posted in the forum a study from: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2008/12/10_teleology.shtml
Part of which says:
BERKELEY ——
Why do many people find a theory so persuasive to others so hard to accept? Berkeley psychologist Tania Lombrozo, who is interested in why people find certain kinds of explanations more or less compelling than others, may have insight into at least part of the answer. Her research suggests that some theories, like evolution, may be difficult to accept because they are at odds with a human default for understanding the world in terms of design.
Lombrozo was motivated by the observation that young children often explain the existence of objects and phenomena with reference to their function, a kind of reasoning termed teleological. Ask a three-year old why it rains, for example, and you are likely to hear something like "so that plants have water to grow." Likewise, lions exist "for going to the zoo," and mountains "are for climbing." This tendency of children to infer design suggests an explanatory default: In the absence of competing knowledge, the best explanation for an object with a plausible function is that it was designed to fulfill that function. [END]
If I were to walk into a deep forest or woods and see a house, I would not think it just constructed itself from an explosion but someone built it there for a reason. There is a cause and effect for everything or a force behind the action. Those force(s) or “[qualities] are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, . . . so that they are inexcusable”. The most Powerful Force in the Universe “constructed all things.” Rom 1:20; Heb 3:4
I did not understand if you were saying multiple races of people existed in different parts of the earth and evolved around the same time? Evolution says man evolved from a kind of ape and then the woman evolved from the man and they reproduced the entire human population? At least this was the example presented. Could there have been a whole population of apes that turned into men and women around the same time?
I don’t agree with the time lines presented, but most researchers/scientists trace the DNA of humans back to one woman in the continent of Africa. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515154635.htm In addition, recently “researchers have changed their theories concerning the origin of man stating: “The complete skull of Homo erectus was found within walking distance of an upper jaw of Homo habilis, and both dated from the same general time period. That makes it unlikely that Homo erectus evolved from Homo habilis”. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-08-09-319255113_x.htm
Addressing the origin of the Hebrew race, Jacob was ‘a Syrian man.’ His name was later changed to Israel. His wife Rebecca was also Syrian. Moses was married to a woman that was Cushite, commonly referred to as an Ethiopian but also can embrace those from Arabia. King David was married to an Egyptian, the daughter of Pharaoh and had other wives and concubines. His son, King Solomon married many women of different backgrounds and nationalities. He was also very much attracted to the ‘Black girl’ in the Song of Solomon.
Ancestresses of Jesus include Ruth, a Moabitess and Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute that hid the Israelite spies. Moses also wrote concerning Job, “the greatest of all the Orientals.” (Job 1:3) Queen Sheba of Ethiopia visited King Solomon and is thought to have had a son by him from which sprang the population of Jews in Ethiopia. Many races of people if not most were known among the Jews living at that time in history. The Jews and/or proselytes intermarried therefore Jesus was surely a mixture of several different races of people.
At Genesis it does not give the names of all the children of Adam and Eve but to suffice: “Adam . . . became father to sons and daughters.” (Gen 5:4) The sons and daughters of Adam and Eve married because they were closer to perfection, which is a testament as to why Adam lived to be almost a thousand years. The more man moved away from perfection, it became too dangerous for close relatives to marry. Laws given to the Israelites about three (3) months after their exodus from Egypt included laws against incest, etc. Before those laws were instituted, Abraham married his half sister, Sarah. Moses and Aaron’s father married his aunt. Apparently the marriage was not condemned by God because he chose Moses and Aaron as his representatives, products from that union.
Lastly, man was made in God’s image, though not in spirit form. That image would encompass love, knowledge, wisdom, power, the ability to speak, global administrator or ruler, etc. The weakness of man is evident physically and spiritually because of his estrangement from his Creator which leaves him susceptible to unseen forces working to the detriment of society.
Jesus in the model prayer asks to be delivered from the wicked one. This one he mentioned as the force that rules the world which we can certainly see wickedness, corruption, greed, and violence ‘growing from bad to worse.’ 2 Tim 3:13
Those are my thoughts, I welcome yours as well.
Hey Bill, I admire your intelligence and I look foward to watching your show every week. Religulous was a great film! I was lucky enough to be introduced to logic as a child and not spiritual government. Fearing invisible men is nothing new, earlier in our history our species made up Gods to explain everything from lightening to why the seasons change, but we can explain how and why those things happen now thanks to....SCIENCE! Death is truly the final frontier and Jesus is a left over from times that we practiced explaining big concepts with big bullshit.
We shouldn't need some god to tell you to be good to each other its common fucking knowledge.
I hope that I make some sense..
Anyway yeah, Religulous was a sweet fucking movie.
I saw the movie and I'm totally frustrated with all those people. I studied a lot of history, and I can say that the bible is a historical, but incorrect document.
Isn't it common knowledge, that the bible says Moses left Egypt on camels?
Well, it is also a historical proven fact that camels were not domesticated in Egypt at this time. Camels were domesticated in Egypt about 300 years later...
Anyway, I hope that the people here and all over the world finally wake up and realize, that the bible is MAN-MADE!
Just another interesting fact: the original Old Testament is the base of Judaism - so it was written in Hebrew which has -more or less - about 20,000 words. Then it was translated into Coptic language and then into Greek -about 60,000 words. So, there might not be any misinterpretation in the bible?
The bible was translated again and again and please let's not forget the time where the popes decided what has to be in the bible and what has to be left out.
Come On, everybody, you can't be that ignorant!
Now I've read the Koran, and there is not a single word about women have to be covered, so who made that "law"? (maybe a jealous
husband?)
And the "Holy War?" Does the Koran not mean the war in ourselves rather than "Kill everybody who does not believe what you believe?"
Now the real funny thing is, that Pope Benedict REALLY said basically "No condoms" , which means: no birth control.
But the vatican - as everybody knows, is a state and is probably one of the richest in the world. Yes, and the Vatican owns some pharmaceutical companies which - guess what - produce birth control pills.
There were and still are more people killed in the name of god/allah/whoever.
A god who judges anybody, is not a god - at least for me!
All these rules are man-made.
And just think about this:
Why is sex such a big deal in the catholic church?
That is really very simple: That is the ONLY thing, all people have in common, rich or poor. So, that is the only one thing you can use to spread fear (sinners, hell etc) and hereby control the people.
Well, I hope A LOT OF PEOPLE watch that movie and start to open their eyes on what's really going on here!
For interested people, I've read a book "the Sexual History of the Catholic Church" by Karlheinz Deschner. I'm not sure, if it is available in the US or if it is available at all, because it might have been taken on the "BLack List" . Very interesting!
Linda, Washington
I was able to locate some information on the web concerning camels in ancient times at: http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/means_of_transportation.htm
During the Graeco-Roman period horses were more available than they had been in earlier times and were occasionally used as beasts of burden, as some customs receipts show.
Camels have been known in Egypt probably since the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE, but there is practically no evidence of their existence, let alone of their use as domesticated animals. Foreigners seem to have used camels in their trade with Egypt
...in the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries B.C. when Abraham [4] and his immediate descendants appear to have lived, camels were already known in small numbers in the northwestern corner of the Arabian desert where the western Arabian trade route branched out to go to Egypt or further into Syria. Richard W. Bulliet, The Camel and the Wheel, 1975 [6]
However, I was not able to locate a verse that said Moses left Egypt on a camel but maybe I'm missing it. The verse I was able to locate at Exodus 12:37, 38 says: "And the sons of Israel proceeded to depart from Rames for Succoth, to the number of six hundred thousand able-bodied men on foot, besides little ones. And a vast mixed company also went up with them, as well as flocks and herds, a very numerous stock of animals"
But at Exodus 9:2, 3 God warns Pharaoh, "If you continue refusing to send them away and you are still keeping hold of them, look! God's hand is coming upon your livestock that is in the field. On the horses, the asses, the camels, the herd and the flock there will be a very heavy pestilence."
On the Hebrew language, it is thought that it was the one original tongue of mankind as "secular history knows of no other."
Interpreting the Hebrew language into different languages to get the exact expression or meaning can be quite a task. "HZOYCIN" in Hebrew can be tranlated in English as "They-shall-be-arriving". So that would account for additional words being added in the numerous translations.
Hebrew poetic lines are short-many are no more than two or three words-making the total effect one of strong impact. Professor James Muilenburg, a member of the Revised Standard Version translating Committee, has fittingly noted: "Speech [in Hebrew poetry] is concentrated, and all the emphasis is placed upon the important words. The Hebrew text of Psalm 23 contains only fifty-five words; our modern western translations employ twice that number. Yet even in translation the economy of the original Hebrew is not lost . . . Hebrew poetry is language that is alive in speech . . . The Hebrew poet helps us to see, to hear, to feel. The physical sensations are fresh and alive . . . the poet thinks in pictures, and the pictures are drawn from the area of everyday life common to all men."- An Introduction to the Revised Standard Version of the Old Testament (1952), pp. 63,64.
The Bible is the most tranlated book in history, millions being translated each week in almost every language spoken on earth. A testament of God's will.
Janice (God is Gracious) Hebrew
I recently saw Religulous and it is absolute truth and genius. I consider myself to be a spiritual person, but not a religious idiot. I don't think the bible is the infallible word of God, after all it is written by ancient men, with ancient minds. We should understand it for what it is: a piece of literature. Helpful? Possibly. Insightful? Maybe. But infallible? Ridiculous.
Religious zealotry has lead us down a very destructive path. How is it that the hypocrisy is so insanely ignored? Wars are waged in the name of God, not the devil. Isn't war the child of evil, not good (God)? I don't get it. How is that reconciled in the name of a belief system that is supposed to be based on the concept of love? Maybe I'm just stupid.
I believe spirit infused us with a sense of reason in order to USE it! I am forever astounded at the complete divorce of reason and intellect in modern religious thought. I just wish evolution didn't take so long. I am afraid we may not have much of a world left if we have to wait for evolution to take care of these low- minded, mental midgets who have somehow gained power in this country. Oh, wait, that was the US Congress I was talking about, sorry I have digressed.
Anyway, Thank God (sorry) for voices such as Bill Maher. We need more of them.
I recently saw Religulous and it is absolute truth and genius. I consider myself to be a spiritual person, but I am not a religious idiot! I believe spirit infused us with a sense of reason in order to USE it.
I don't believe the Bible to be the infallible word of God. It was written by ancient men, with ancient minds. The Bible should be understood for what it is: a piece of literature. Helpful? Maybe. Insightful? Possibly. But infallible? I think not.
I am forever astounded at the complete divorce of reason and intellect from contemporary religious thought. This religious zealotry has placed us on a very dangerous path. I am afraid we will not have much freedom left at all if we only allow evolution to take care of these low-minded, mental midgets, ie politicians, who have managed to gain power in this country.
Then there is the whole war issue. I can't be the only person who can't reconcile waging war in the name of God (Good). I don't see anyone waging war in the name of the Devil (evil). That would actually make sense.
It is 2009! I feel like I am in a ghastly remake of the Dark Ages.
Thank God, or whatever you want to call it, for voices such as Bill Maher. We need more of them! Please! Bill, don't stop.
I literally just finished watching “Religulous” and all I can saying is fucking right. Too many times I have been shunned by family and friends for my views or lack there of. I don’t take anything away form what they believe but rather ask the questions that bring doubt to my mind. I was not raised going to church because but rather my parents wanted me to find my own way. They were forced to go as children and left the religion but in their later years they went back. Why you may ask… I don’t know probably because in their young naive youth, you all know it, they thought that they could answer everything they grew up and still had questions that neither science nor their own experiences could answer. Right now I am at the point where really anything that happens to me could tell me the meaning of life but I am not limiting myself to only one view.
One of the greatest things about Bill Maher’s “Religulous” is that it doesn’t solely focus on Christianity, the main religion shoved down every American’s throat. But rather asks questions to many religions. I myself think, as pointed out in the film, that there are too many religions / beliefs that share too many commonalities. So, with those facts, facts being the similarities how can one man, one lonely human being on a plant of billions with and unconceivable amount of influences, rationally decide that one is better or correct? That is a question I ask.
Doubt is the one thing that makes us human. To question everything and have the free will to decide on our own is what makes us not only human but individuals as, if you will, God made us. So, who is one man to say who is right or wrong? There are too many explanations of “because Jesus or God said” to explain all the occurrences in the vast universe we live in today. As pointed out in the film by a Catholic Priest; the Bible is simply stories; this is where I usually get in trouble with this topic. The Bible was written by man, past down from other men, and you bet your ass that they put their own interpretation on it. So, who is to say what is right, not me.
I am going to leave you with this… All man needs to survive is to believe in something. That something for a lack of better terms is God. Not the God for or from a specific belief but rather a God related to that individual person to help them either get through a tough time or explain the unexplainable. With that we will make it through the hardest thing we know… LIFE. Again my own views not to impose on you
The film “Religulous” is a well put together film to provoke the doubts in those who are open minded to other people’s views. But there are still many questions to ask and many religions to ask it to. So with that not to have a full following belief is not to be damned but rather to express the qualities that God gave us.
---Ped
Just watched Religulous, and it was interesting to see how little sense of humor anyone of the people you talked with had. I think that when it comes to religion it is a way for smart intelligent people to control uneducated mentally challenged people. Seriously, have you ever noticed how many uneducated people are religious fanatics? Bill I think it's great that you gave some educational excerpts in your film. I think if we educated people, and help them to understand things, give them facts, we might see less people inclined to believing in nonsense. I also believe that there are just too many people out there that want to control everyone! So they do it with religion cause then they think they have some bonafide proof that they have the right to take away others rights! I mean look at just how many laws we have passed that were based on religious mores. It is frightening..!
As a non-believer by choice, I would like to introduce the idea that just because someone chooses to have religous faith does not mean that they are somehow ignorant of the facts. I believe it's perfectly possible they could have had all the same life experiences, read all the same books I have on the subject and still come to the conculsion that religious faith makes sense for them. I know I don't like the arguement when it's directed to me that if only I "understood" the Bible I would be a believer. I do understand it, and I still think it reads like a myth!
The other morsel of food for thought I'd like to introduce is the point that neither the existence of absence of religion would change human nature. There would still be power struggles over resources in the form of war or conflicts. And, there will always be methods used to control peoples actions and thought. Religion just happens to be the one that seems to have stuck. But, if it disappeared from the human experience tomorrow, does anyone really think that the world would be wonderful?
Discuss amongst yourselves :0)
MJ have you read the entire Bible? I don't think anyone understands it completely.
Just saw Religulous yesterday and truly enjoyed it. Finally got to see a documentary from my perspective. Living in the bible belt, most of my friends are somewhat christian. When I was 11, I asked my Sunday school teacher, "If Jesus is the son of god, who created god?" The answer I got and continue to get is "HE JUST WAS!" Logically then, couldn't another god "JUST WAS" again? None of my christian friends seems to have an answer for that one.
Just saw Religulous yesterday and truly enjoyed it. Finally got to see a documentary from my perspective. Living in the bible belt, most of my friends are somewhat christian. When I was 11, I asked my Sunday school teacher, "If Jesus is the son of god, who created god?" The answer I got and continue to get is "HE JUST WAS!" Logically then, couldn't another god "JUST WAS" again? None of my christian friends seems to have an answer for that one.
Janice, My gut response to your question about whether I've read the entire Bible, was the smart ass, "No, just every other page", but I didn't want to come off as disrespectful, because I'm not. Yes, I have read the Bible several times at different points in my life. I went to church twice on Sunday and spent every Wednesday night at Trinity Temple (a non-denominational church in Las Vegas) from the time I was born until I was 14. At that point I moved to the Middle East and then went on to 3 years of boarding school in Europe. Both of those experiences profoundly called into question what I thought I understood about religion and the world. So, I'm well aware of the concepts and traditions of Christianity. I have also read English translations of the Torah and Quran, and many, many other books on the subject of religion and man's relationship to it. Religious studies are something of a hobby for me. And I completely agree no one quite understands the Bible. I respect that people spend a lifetime trying to decipher its messages and meaning. I don’t profess to understand it any better than anyone else, I simply understand it as well as most people who choose to believe it as truth. As I said, it reads like myth to me. It has the same elements of storytelling as any mythology from any great civilization before it. And it serves the same purpose. To explain the seemingly pervasive big questions of our creation, the afterlife and the natural world that has plagued man since the beginning of human existence. It also introduces through storytelling a moral code of conduct that if followed promises glory and if defied promises some form of misery. There has always been some deep seeded need in people to believe in something they can’t see in an effort to explain the things they don’t understand. I just happen to be someone who is at peace with not having all the answers.
Thank you MJ. I realize in a forum people are more apt to say what they really think and feel moreso than if they are speaking with persons face to face. So I thank you for your kind response. When I started reading the Quran I attempted to start from the beginning at the request of a Muslim friend. I stated reading it from the beginning and made it to the 3rd chapter. I saw no point in finishing for it seems more like poetry throughout and if I wanted to read poetry I could find something much more meaningful at the local library. I did also read the Chapter of Miriam at the request of another Muslim friend and it also didn't make sense to me. I was however able to get a wealth of information from the Bible even if I didn't always understand it. Studying it indepth within the last few years I have come to understand quite a bit.
Correct, no one has actually seen God so I it is a wonder why a person would believe in something they can't see. In the Bible it says Moses saw the back of God because no man could see his face and still live. Being that God is a spirit and not in the form of a man, I'm not sure exactly what he saw. That being said other verses mention those interactions were actually not God but representations of God such as when Jesus said 'anyone that sees me has seen the Father also', and he was a exact representative of God or his qualities.
So, it's true no one has ever seen God but people do have experiences of seeing, hearing or feeling what others can't or don't. These occurrences do not happen to everyone or may not happen until later in life or not at all. Sometimes it can be a mind over matter sort of thing. If a person believes in God, heaven or hell, then they may dream a strange dream visioning this. If they don't believe these things, their dreams probably won't reflect such things.
We all understand the universe had a beginning so it's hard to understand how a force such as God had 'no beginning and has no end'. In the same way it's hard to understand evolution how something could start from nothing unless there has always been some force operating continuously before the beginning of the universe if that makes any sense.
I agree it seems as though religion has been made the scapegoat for everything wrong in the world. The world that we know continues on a downward spiral and religion is only part of the problem. But just because we dont' know doesn't mean we should not keep searching for those answers.
Janice, I’m all for searching for answers, I just wish the big questions on everyone’s mind were different. I’d like our collective energy to be spent on how to make this world a community concerned about the well being of all people. How do we nourish every body? How do we eliminate poverty? How do we education our children to understand and celebrate our differences? I choose to have faith in the human ability to adapt to whatever is demanded for survival. I just want us to care about the survival of everyone, not just ourselves. And, I believe we are closer than ever to realizing we are all in this together, and that allowing our differences to divide us so violently will be our demise.
I don’t even pretend to remotely understand what created this infinitely exquisite universe, but I adamantly believe humans have the ability to create a better world and eliminate much of the suffering in the here and now. The problem as I see it is people find it easier to believe that God has it covered (really?!). After all, doesn’t he have a plan and purpose for everyone’s life? If so, many reason that they don’t need to worry themselves with being part of the solution because it’s obviously not part of their purpose, since in many cases they avoid exposing themselves to the unpleasantness and magnitude of the problems! I also fear they believe those suffering in this life have a shot at a better afterlife, so it’s a wash if life here sucks for them. I’d just like to call a truce on the religious influence in public policy for a decade and focus all our efforts on finding secular solutions to these issues in the name of all humanity. Cheers ~
Oh MJ,
Sorry for the delay, sometimes I have to remember to get back to my life . . . lol
Anyway, I was thinking about what you said and I guess since Obama has been elected, many are dreaming of a better world and that perhaps he is the one that can help accomplish these goals. I have no doubt he will bring the world together in some way, despite knowing it will never be a perfect world to live in. There will always be victims of abuse, kidnaping, robbery, murders, etc. I live in a relatively small town and the newspaper reported the police and FBI reported over 200 people downloaded child pornography on their computers today. Everyone wants to be naked on the computer whereas there was a time when this was unheard of. Children are exposed to these things as well as drugs, obscene music lyrics, tv shows that depict parents as idiots and some of the worst conditions in their own home. Most of us want a safe and secure world to live in while many just want to wreck havoc on society. I see a world out of control and when families fall apart, societies collapse.
Outside of trying to help a neighbor or donating to a cause or volunteering there’s not much people can do now as in the past. They have paid taxes and see government giving their money to the already rich and to pet projects while they live in tent cities and their taxes go to nations and governments elsewhere and even that money falls into the wrong hands. People have always struggled in life for the entire existence of the world. Socialism hasn’t worked. So maybe the world is moving more toward a combination of socialism and capitalism. What I’m trying to see is what is more of a fantasy? People putting their hopes in God to bring about a new government or people putting their hopes in one man to bring about a new world.
Actually, I think we have enough money and resources for everyone on the face of the earth to have the basic necessities of life; food, housing, education and healthcare at the very least. I think we are still bypassing the problem which is human nature, corruption, power and greed. There seems to be gross mismanagement and these supposedly intelligent, educated elected officials whether they follow their religious doctrine or not, don’t consciously or unconsciously think to themselves: The poor will have a better life in the afterworld so let’s just spend all these trillions of dollars on weapons instead. And I’m still trying to figure out what the yeck they’re doing spending trillions on a space station. Does anybody see anything wrong here? What is the point in progress when people’s morals and priorities are out of wack?
People go hungry while nations stockpile weapons of war. Religion can be a valuable tool when some entity wants the end to justify the means. Others want a target to fix their anger or frustration when the root problem is still power, corruption and greed. This is human nature and will always be a part of the world. I’m watching the news everyday and everyday there’s something to cry about and feel powerless. I’ve lost all faith in governments or mainstream religion but I’ll always continue to have faith in God.
Bill,
Really enjoyed your film and appreciate the crusade against religious nonsense generally.
I started a blog about 4 years ago called "The Experience Driven Life", in response to Warren's book which I regard as a truck full of horse manure. Here is a sample entry -- if you have a moment I think you'd enjoy it.
http://experiencedrivenlife.blogspot.com/2005/12/truth-about-christmas.html#links
Cheers,
Frank X. White
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-michels-pope-condoms.artmar22,0,3108161.story
I LOVED YOUR MOVIE!!! great points! in the end i was like, damn.....
Hey Bill,
Well I just saw your movie and I have to say you really took on the retards and made them look ridiculous. Boy you really risked it when you took on the trucker priest and the guy that did cannabis for Jesus or whatever, wow you took on the challenges. The funny thing is that I don't even know if you did pick out the stupidest people in the world to represent their religions so that you could make religion look ridiculous or if they actually made good points and you just cut them as movie people tend to. I'm sixteen and agnostic but I could defend those religions better than them. I mean come on you really seemed to concentrate that we need to stop religion because it causes SOOOOOO many deaths, and they religious people are SOOOO violent, but the truth is that peace activists get violent sometimes, that we didn't flatten Hiroshima or Nagasaki for religion, and that even though a shit load of people die every year in car accidents, we're not going to stop driving. People make mistakes, you can't blame any particular group for it because its just everybody. Faith is not a killer any more than cars and definitely not as much as politics. It used to be in the old days, true, but not anymore. I bought the movie hoping for laughs, and got a few, like three, but mostly I was embarrassed that the people you interviewed apparently couldn't defend their ideas more than I could have. Is that a challenge? Yes it is.
Just to back up a bit . . . someone asked about wars being fought in the name of God, or the question may have been; why would a God being good and not evil condone warfare?
The Israelites were at times ordained by God to war against wicked nations of people. It should be noted that not all wars fought by the Israelites were dictated by God. Other nations were also chosen or allowed to war against the Israelites or take them into exile. God however has not directed any nations to war since ancient times.
Man was created in God’s image capable of doing good or causing evil. In order for a person to have free will, he would need to possess the attributes to do evil. Evil can also be described as executing justice against a wrongdoer. An example would be similar to wars fought during our modern era. During World War I and World War II many nations took sides in these conflicts against other nations. Many innocent people were killed or displaced because of these wars and whole cities were destroyed. Many consider war as a necessary evil to rid the world of nations or countries that pose a threat to society even though general populations of people suffer drastically. Victims, women, men, and children killed in war are often labeled collateral damage.
Another question people ask is why would God condone killing women and children? Another example to consider wherein the ancient Egyptians became afraid of the Israelites as they increased in population. They enslaved them to make sure they would not rise up and overpower them. In modern times, soldiers often make the claim they are compelled to kill anyone that approaches them whether women, elderly, children, etc. because they are brought up to hate their enemies and are used by the enemy to attack or detonate devises to kill them. Many innocent people suffer because of efforts to control the rise of wickedness or evil. This may not seem right or fair but this is life and always will be a part of the world. It is not the world God created for man but the world man chose when he decided to rule himself.
God as Creator and Supreme Sovereign of the universe is obligated by justice to execute or authorize execution of the lawless. Therefore God was just in wiping out the wicked at the time of the Flood, in destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in bringing destruction upon Pharaoh’s forces.
According to Bible prophecies, God in the future directs a final war or battle to end all wars and rid the earth of all wickedness and restore peace. The Bible also speaks of a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous. Possibly many that have died in previous wars will be given the opportunity to live again during Christ’s kingdom reign over earth.
As a special note: The Bible is not considered absolutely perfect but the perfection would be in it’s message concerning the gospel of Jesus or the good news of God’s kingdom through Christ.
Mr. Maher,
Just finished watching your movie for I believe is the billionth time (atleast once per every Muslim that will probably never see it) and I really appreciate everything this documentary addresses with faith. No overwelming explanations of history, just the basic discrepancies, which are the fuel to the fire for every person who has ever questioned religion in its entirety. My question to you is, is this the real blog of Bill Maher?
I saw Religulous the other day in London, a tiresome and immature film, lacking in consistency of argument and actual knowledge. Maher even questions whether Christ existed at all - there's no substantive controversy over this.
I think many of the commenters here should form a Maher Cult and build a shrine in his name. Atheism is just another belief system in the end.
Seen and loved "Religulous." You, Bill, now have to see "IF GOD HAD BLOGGED" at http://www.sonofthecucumberking.com/.
First off, I have to say that the questions posed by Maher were poignant and timely. The movie certainly had its great moments of truthiness.
That being said, I couldn't help but feel like I was watching a Michael Moore film. Sorry, Bill, but you picked the biggest wackos you could find... And you kinda played down to their level.
I was very happy to see you point out the Jesus/Horus connection though. Just like the flood stories, passed down among civilizations and generations, then written down by different groups of people. Leads me to think there's little bits of a "true" history in there, predating all the major religions.
Unfortunately, humans got involved, and started religions. And they differed just enough for one of them to say "I am right. You are wrong." Before you knew it, "do unto others as you would have them do to you" became "If you don't believe the same thing as I do, you must die!" Its not faith that's the problem. Its people using faith as a scapegoat for our God-given talent for killing each other over resources.
Natural selection at its finest.
Anyways, good film, Bill. At least I didn't feel like I wanted my two hours back. That's getting dishearteningly rare these days.
Re: Chris B
I think you're missing the point on how dangerous religion is. You said it wasn't as dangerous as politics, but religion is politics. Especially in the Middle East. And here.
Re: Janice AM
Thank you for your comments throughout. You provide a refreshingly open-minded and scholarly approach. I was worried what I might find from defenders of the faith when I came here, but you eased my fears. And gave me a few more things to ponder :).
On quantum mechanics, it would certainly be difficult to explain here, but for a relatively easy-to-follow introduction into the theories, along with editorial on how it plays into creation, check out "What the bleep?! Down the Rabbit Hole." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499596/
Peter
Thank you for the link. Hopefully, I can get something from it. And thank you for your comments for I was hoping my efforts were not in vain. It can be really frightening to hear a really hard-nosed approach and heart breaking to see so many just give up and not keep searching.
Jesus was an intelligent man and he reflected God's intelligence. Religion doesn't always reflect that intelligence and the lunacy of it really turns many people off.
I appreciate your insight as well. Religion and Politics can never be separated entirely. And you are correct, once a story or rumor gets started, it's totally different by the time we hear it. That doesn't mean there's not a bit of truth to the story. It seems the lie was working overtime to compete with the truth. The similarities between Horus and Jesus do seem to be quite a few.
Anyway, I did a review of Maher's movie but it's kinda long and I wanted to do some more research. Take Care.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13413974
great article regarding freedom of people to speak freely about religion. It needs to be out in the open. It's about time.
Wow! I saw the movie. I am 15 years old. Many questions i had were answered plus more that made very good points. I have always been fascinated with science especially when I was little. My family wasn't very religious, but I lived in a very Christian town. After many years of contemplation I decided to denounce any religion. I only call myself an athiest because I want nothing to do with religion. All the ignorance and violence frustrates me severly. I think that on somethings religion is ok for the teaching of morality, but somethings are wrong, such as the animosity towards gays or other religions. This movie only helped me to believe more strongly that I should not be a part of any religion.
Had to post this weirdness somewhere:
The Prayer Cross
Personally, knowing this post has likely fallen by the wayside seeing as the movie is almost a year old, my rant my go unheard. However, I don't understand why Bill Maher was allowed to get away with this film. I am a Catholic. Raised as a Catholic, went to Catholic school. There is an undeniable truth about faith, that is that personal faith that comes from an individual is unexplainable. What Bill attempted to do is simply not right. He attacked people who believe certain things mostly because it is their only salvation in life. His "asking questions" approach is inappropriate and demeaning. He came up with witty answers to people who preach their own faith because they understand it the way that it works for him. He asked the wrong questions, approached the subject incorrectly. My suggestion for Bill would be to actually read not scripture as a history but as a story that reflects some of our many cultures important values and asks certain questions. He talked to the wrong people plain and simple. He used only his prior experience to bash the catholic church and the catholic faith. I will answer one of Bills questions for him. The act of receiving holy communion. The act of receiving holy communion in the catholic faith is simply an act that displays the mystery of receiving Jesus word. By taking the communion and crossing ourselves we reflect that we believe in the written word of Jesus Christ. That fact that he debates that Jesus was an actual person is ludicrous. That is not the point Bill. The point is the story of Jesus or whomever he believes Jesus was modeled after is a guide book of sorts to the way that people can lead a happy and fulfilling life. By following his teachings of compassion one can tap into an unused realm of human emotion. We can connect with people in a way that is universal. Religion offers a common point of interest if you will for people to communicate with each other and connect on a level of understanding. His assertion that people kill each other in the name of God is as insane as our former presidents assertion that we are bringing democracy to underdeveloped countries. Political motives can easily be masked by the fact that our countries religion demands we preform certain actions. Lets take early Christianity as an example. The vast majority of people who were christians at that time could not read. So the word of God was dictated to them by people who were not religiously motivated but politically motivated due to the utter corruption of the political system at that time. Which is why the United States founders, who were all classic liberals and trusted no one due to their undying cynicism of human nature, created a notion of separation between church and state. That is why Bill was able to make fun of a Democratic senator who holds somewhat questionable beliefs. I propose that Bill actually read a couple writings by people who understand their beliefs in a more complete way than just on an act of faith. I suggest that he start with Nietzche or maybe St. Thomas Aquinas, the man who studied the phenomenon of faith for his entire life but proclaimed before his death that all he wrote was straw compared to the truth he received in a near death experience. Bill also might want to take a good hard look at Catholic Doctrine and Catholic law. He might want to consult a Catholic priest who is not obviously insane. But most of all I suggest that he might want to look at the meaning of the words and stories as anecdotes or as lessons as opposed to looking at the minute details of wether or not th stories are plausible but the hidden meanings behind the passages. Again let's take another example. We can look at the parable of the talents. This parable is about a master who gives 10 talents to one servant, 5 to another and again 1 to another. The one with 10 makes five more, the one with 5 makes more, and the one who got 1 buries it in fear his master will hurt him if he loses it. The master comes back and rejoices with the one who made five more and the one who made more, but he casts out to the darkness the one who buries his because he is a wicked and evil servant who is not worthy of his master's generosity. Bill might say something pompous like " Talk about Jesus being compassionate, he seems like an asshole capitalist, maybe Christianity is American!" When in fact he doesn't consider the message that is those who have and use what they are given live a meaningful life but those who wallow in their own pity live a sad life because they provide themselves no ability to experience what life has to offer, the message is to go out and live life with what you are given and not complain. Bill approaches this one sided and does what he hates most, makes his documentary a self fulfilling prophecy. He proves to himself that Religion is all hulabaloo. So congratulations to Bill on accomplishing making himself appear correct and making an ass out of those whose emotions block a true understanding of religions purpose.
I have just seen your movie. I can't believe that there's anyone else out there that has gone as for as I have in distaste of religion (and that's putting it very lightly). I've been saying for years now that religion should be abolished, we have enough reasons to kill each other without any need of religion! It shouldn't, but it still amazes me that people will believe so blindly and condemn me to hell because I say that you should live a decent life here on earth for the sole purpose of this life alone because this is the life we know. There are no guarantees of the next, just in the here and now. I'll find out what happens when I die, when I die, and whatever it is that does happen, will happen regardless of whatever faith these sheep cling to preaches. So Bill, please keep up the good work and fight the good fight!
Just wanted to add to MattL post a bit. It is important not to give up searching for answers to questions about life or our existence. An old saying goes, 'if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again.'
To get the most out of reading the Bible is not by skimming through or relying on memory of Sunday school lessons but try to start from the beginning of Genesis through Revelation about 3 to 5 chapters a day.
There's always a lesson to be learned even if the events seem perculiar. I found the web can be a wealth of information including Rabbinical writings on the Hebrew scriptures and many of the ancient 1st century writers shed light on the Greek scriptures as well.
Dear Matt,
I read your post, and I have a criticism or two. While you make a good point that scripture could be interpreted as a "guide book" rather than a historical document, unfortunately,I think you missed one of the major points of the documentary. There are literally tens of millions of Americans who believe that the bible is true from cover to cover. The Christian Fundamentalists are extremely powerful in this country and their actions impact my life directly.
Not to beat a dead horse (I have a point here), do you remember when
Al Gore won the popular election in 2000, but lost on electoral votes? Without Fundamentalist Christian support, that election wouldn't have even been close. Gore would have won in a landslide. It's one thing to get drunk, rip off all of your clothes, run outside and howl at the moon. It's another thing to do it in my living room. My point is that when you know that your life is being adversely affected by a group, they become a fair target for derision. The kinds of whack jobs and nutcases that the documentary attacks are not very far off from mainstream Christians in this country. There are a ton of people that think the Earth is six thousand years old, and we shared it with the dinosaurs. Yes, Maher and team pick extremists to drive home the point. I concede that picking on extremists is not the best way to make the strongest argument. However, Maher is a comedian and our director's previous claim to fame is the movie Borat. This movie is supposed to be irreverently funny.
We need to debate the "value" of religion in our society. Religulous does that. I also concede that Maher doesn't help his argument by questioning the historical evidence of Jesus. While it's possible he's on to something, it seems likely that Jesus was a real person (even if he wasn't the Son of God). But, it's not "wrong" for him to ask questions about the subject. How can you suggest "His 'asking questions' approach is inappropriate and demeaning"? How else are you supposed to make a documentary? When I watch one of Errol Morris's brilliant documentaries, I know Morris is asking questions even though I can't hear his voice on the soundtrack. Maher inserted himself in the film to sell more tickets, but whether he asks the questions from behind or in front of the camera makes no substantial difference to the answers people give.
Finally, you said one thing that has me scratching my head. I'm no Gore Vidal, but I don't think you have to be a famous historian to be puzzled when you say "His assertion that people kill each other in the name of God is as insane..." Matt, I'm not sure where you're going with that one? You seem to be suggesting that people kill each other for political reasons, but these political reasons are mistaken for religious reasons. So, when a suicide bomber blows himself up, what is he thinking about right before he does it: "Take that George Bush," or "I'm about to be neck deep in a pile of naked virgins..."? Sorry, but getting mad at George W. might make you do some slightly crazy stuff like vote for a black man (just kidding), but the promise of 97 vaginas will make blow yourself up. If that's not enough to convince you, you really only have to look at the things your own church has sanctioned to defeat your own argument.
Sincerely,
Mark
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