Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1010 in Movie
• Released on: 2009-12-21
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Running time: 101 minutes

Customer Reviews

Come out of the closet all you sane people!
What Bill Maher is doing in this film is not debating religion, not trying to convince anyone that religion is totally wrong. He does not care about the die-hard (no pun intended) religious folks. He is saying to the REST of us that it is OK to say "I do not believe 100% of what religion says." He is telling us to stop apologizing for thinking for ourselves. You do not have to be an atheist or even agnostic to enjoy this movie, you just need to be able to look at the fact that ANY religion will look ridiculous when taken literally and as word-for-word fact. All you need to enjoy this film is an open mind. Unfortunately, that is becoming a rare commodity. He is a brave man for doing this film on many levels! I really admire him.

A Review to Span Viewers of All Types
I watched this movie during a very key time of growing out of my Christian upbringing. I needed this movie to be able to laugh at not only how ridiculous religious dogma is, but to laugh at MYSELF for having once believed something that brought so much grief to my life. This movie was a breath of fresh air and a great stepping stone from a Bible-based upbringing here in the, "Bible belt." For this alone, I give the movie 5 stars. If you're teetering on the edge of belief and non-belief, this movie should pretty well give you the confidence to finally lean to one side or the other. Laughter and Bill Maher's predisposition aside, these people make their very own beliefs look ridiculous.

Highlights for me include parts like this one guy who claims he knows God because of the many, many miracles he has experienced; yet, when Bill asks him to give examples, the guy is unable to intially give any. In response, Bill questions how significant these miracles could've really been if the man is unable to recall even ONE when asked! When the man finally does come up with an example, it's incredibly laughable and you're left thinking, "wow, this guy should've kept his example to himself!" Granted, the man may have very well come up with his example just seconds after saying, "I don't know," but here again, the example he did give is preposterous.

Touching back on something I said in the first paragraph, this film also gave me permission to laugh at myself. Like many who lose their faith when they broaden their world view, this film was a resounding, "ahhhhh," when I realized issues like injustice and suffering don't fit in the equation of faith in the Judeo-Christian God for a reason.

Without going into a diatribe about how selflessly selfish I find many religions to be, suffice it to say, I have finally broken the divisive chains of ignorant and ill-founded faith. The ties that binded me were typical of many religious moderates; fear of death, desire to see loved ones beyond life, personal divine guidance and support through hard times, et al. I lived my life in a superstitious and indoctrinated fashion that narrowly shaped my world view and when I dared to step out of this narrow world view, the questions I asked were usually satisfied with cliche ignorance such as, "God has a plan for everything" or, "my feeble human mind cannot possibly comprehend God's plans!" Rubbish! Now I see this world for exactly what it is and I have been humbled 10-times beyond that of what religion ever did. But I digress...

Back to the movie, Religulous isn't for those of you who are intellectuals well-versed in the thoughts and works of people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. You may get a number of chuckles but the underlying message (the one in which Bill ends the film with) is exactly that of religion being a detriment to humanity. You will more than likely wish Bill had taken the message a bit deeper, but because I saw this movie at the point I did in my shedding of religiosity, I stand as an example of person who found this to be exactly what I needed to solidify the ground beneath me during my leap from faith to rationale.

With that being said, if you identify at all with how I have portrayed a part of myself to have been, I *HIGHLY* recommend this film! If you've seen this film and you're looking for a much more in-depth explanation or rationale of the message Bill ends the movie with, I recommend the following things to you:

1 - "Root of All Evil?" Documentary by Richard Dawkins: http://richarddawkins.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=7 (One of the most engaging and definitive documentaries on the ill-founded grounds of religiosity and spirituality as defined by the superstitious and dogmatic today)

2 - Sam Harris' Lecture on Religion: http://rapidshare.com/files/175676905/Sam_Harris_-_The_View_From_The_End_Of_The_World.mp3 (This is a VERY informative and engaging lecture. Sam's calm, cool and collected disposition - with his effective use of the English language - really drives his point home)

3 - "Jesus Camp": http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Camp-Becky-Fischer/dp/B000KLQUV2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1233848044&sr=8-1 (If you want to see just how messed up it can get with the Christian fundamentalists raising children, watch this documentary)

4 - "Who Wrote the Bible?": http://atheistmovies.blogspot.com/2009/01/who-wrote-bible.html (An excellent documentary regarding the creation of the Bible)

And with that, I will end this review. Apologies for weaving in and out between reviewing this movie and divaricating off into other topics, but I wanted to write something relevant to the whole topic and give people who want to dig further, a place to start. Thanks for reading.

-Stephen
http://eradicatereligion.blogspot.com

PS - I forgot to mention the obvious: If you're religious, you will get from this movie exactly what you expect to get out of it: Being offended. If you're religious and you're watching this movie merely to see a bully supposedly picking on poor little innocent religious people, then prepare to walk out of the theater pissed off and having completely missed even the most obvious of notable points made in this movie.

Agnostics And Atheists Unite!
More than any in recent memory this is the movie I have been waiting for with great expectations... and it doesn't disappoint. No holy cows are spared, as Bill Maher ridicules Christianity, Islam, Judaism and a few smaller religious sects in the name of rationality and intelligent doubt.

The film is a documentary largely carried out through a series of interviews conducted with religious leaders, believers and a few skeptics. Highlights include an interview with evangelical, and none too bright, Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor and a Jews for Jesus believer who hopes that the end of the world will occur in his lifetime. The laughs are side-splitting and they just keep on coming throughout the movie.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about this theater going experience was how the audience seemed to bond through the shared moments of laughter. Living in the South, those of us who are not religious are vastly outnumbered by the fundamentalists that this film so joyfully satirizes. So to feel that sense of camaraderie with my fellow skeptics was a wonderful feeling. As Maher says, it's time to come out of hiding and let our voices be heard!