Religulous

Religulous

In Religulous (2008), Bill Maher travels the world attempting to dispute and rebuke the heresy that he calls “religion.” In his comedic style, Maher poses his burning question to viewers; “How did we get so serious, and where is it taking us?”
Maher's Thesis

Maher’s main qualm with organized religion (among many) is that he believes religious leaders and fanatics are dragging us blindly into a self-fulfilling prophecy of world-ending destruction. This point is well made during the film, as Maher mostly focuses on the social and political ramifications of intense religious belief. The direction of his film is admirable and many can agree with his thesis. However, Maher’s arrival at these points is in poor taste. Maher represents a class of comic that should have delivered more, and audiences are left with a broken faith, not towards religion, but towards the standard of his satire.

In a 101 minute time-frame, Maher tackles conservative Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Scientology, Mormonism, and other fringe religions. With that hit-list, Maher is required to create a caricature of each faith, and does not succeed in convincing the audience that these faiths are as simple as he paints them. If he had chosen just one religion, he could have easily filled the time, and have made a higher-class of comedy.

Religulous in Action

During the film, Maher rubs shoulders with the likes of Francis Collins, Aki Nawaz, and Ken Ham. Within these interviews, each person attempts to give their own perspective and voice their opinion, but are instead consistently cut-off by Maher and his own remarks. In a way, Maher becomes dogmatic about his own atheistic beliefs, and ends up appearing as fanatical as the individuals he interviews. Instead of letting the religious gurus walk themselves into a foolish pit, Maher pulls them in, and both parties end up looking ridiculous.

Maher also discredits his own intellect in clearly choosing some “small minds” as his...