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Religulous


Bob

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Is anyone planning on seeing this documentary/mockumentary?

I am, and I am very confident/religious in my Roman Catholic faith.

Anyone else in the same boat? Or quasi-interested in the movie?

I am a HUGE fan of Maher, and really can't give a good reason to my friends who call me out on supporting a movie de-basing all faiths, including my own. I still though have no qualms seeing the film, as I devour anything and everything Bill Maher (Real Time, his HBO standup).

For those of you not aware, Religulous is a film criticizing ALL religion as the final barrier to advancing humanity as a more tolerant and intelligent society. He finds all religious people to have a 'mental' disorder/block from rationally deducing that any faith is 'dumb.' It is directed by the man who directed Borat, wrote for Seinfeld, and directed episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Am I alone on this?

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it kind of offends me. i understand people who dont believe in God and whatnot, let them do their thing. but to mock something is kind of on the lame side.

WORD...

I don't exactly know what this movie is all about even though I saw the preview, but I think it would be pretty offensive with what I personally believe...definitely gonna pass.

Borat was dope though!

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I frequently watch Real Time on HBO and agree with some of Maher's views on politics. I wouldn't have a problem with this movie if he was just criticizing religion. I have a problem with him belittling people's personal faith & their personal relationship with their higher power. I don't think most people who have a real personal relationship with God(or whatever faith they are) have a mental disorder. I think it's dismissive of Maher to lump all people who believe in a higher power in one huge lump.

Are there a lot of idiots who use their faith to kill, murder and discriminate against other people? Absolutely. But I also think that there are people who genuinely practice their faith & are tolerant of other people's views. I may not agree with them but I'm not going to tell someone "they're going to hell". All of us have sinned & fallen short of where God wants us to be.

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This sounds insanely annoying. I doubt i'll go anywhere near a theater showing this. People are people, we have our beliefs but there is no reason 2 openly insult or try 2 upset people who don't agree with u. Period. People with no faith at all should keep their mouths shut becuz they don't have any reason 2 stand up for anything. They are just running their mouth 2 get attention and make others unhappy or uncomfortable which i believe is a pathetic way 2 exist.

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Well, I just saw the movie.

4 out of 5 stars.

The only thing glaringly hard to overlook was when Maher made factually inaccurate statements about certain things in the Bible. For instance he tried to claim the Pope was not in the Bible (Matthew) and that the New Testament had no condemnation of homosexual actions (Corinthians, Romans).

On the whole, I thought the movie was brilliant. He gave no free pass to anyone. I loved the tie-in with Scientology, as he goes, "Ya, you laugh at that, but a pregnant virgin, now THAT is rational."

Charles is an artist in the way he directs and the clips of movies and raw footage were compiled perfectly. The message makes you question your most strongly held beliefs. And for good reason, as Bill Maher presents the reasoning why people of faith adversely affect him and the world.

For those of you who say he shouldn't go there, and it's a personal thing, Bill's response is that it is only as personal as your influence. If you can vote, and you vote for a person who works off of faith, rather than reason, or a specific form of faith, you can influence how society works based off of one person's skewed set of beliefs. Bill's honest question is this:

Why is believing in something without reason good? What good does it provide for society that is unattainable without such assumptions?

They are tough questions to answer. I know my faith is something I firmly believe, but I think it is crucial that I at least hear the question and try to respond in a way that satisfies my own curiousity.

P.S...You will cry in laughter regardless of your religion or belief.

Edited by Bob
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All this movie is a statement of uncertainty when it comes to a higher power and all the thought a belief in one creates (such as the afterlife). And although I'm the minority in this board, and country when it comes to saying this nobody could possibly know about these things, yet contradictory opinions are so openly voiced with irrational certitude. But I do realize having no faith is a luxury of not having too bad a life, and when stuck in hard times faith enables people to find comfort and optimism and I understand that.

With that being said, religion plays too much of a role in politics and society today for it to go unquestioned and accepted as having factual accuracy and incontrovertible morality...

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This sounds insanely annoying. I doubt i'll go anywhere near a theater showing this. People are people, we have our beliefs but there is no reason 2 openly insult or try 2 upset people who don't agree with u. Period. People with no faith at all should keep their mouths shut becuz they don't have any reason 2 stand up for anything. They are just running their mouth 2 get attention and make others unhappy or uncomfortable which i believe is a pathetic way 2 exist.

You're an idiot. Because I have no faith I should keep my mouth shut and I "don't have any reason 2 stand up for anything"? I have plenty of reason to stand up for plenty of things. Religious zealots in this country are fighting to have myths taught as science to my child. How about I require that devil worship be taught in every class? How's that sound? Religious zealots in this country are fighting to prevent two people in love getting married, they want to institutionalize bigotry. How about we ban heterosexual relationships, only homosexual relationships are legally sanctioned by the government? Does that sound fair? Would you be up for that? Or how about the sham that is "abstinence only" education funded by my tax dollars and pushed for by religious zealots? Teen pregnancy and STD's are a serious, serious problem and study after study after study have shown that abstinence only education fails miserably, that safe sex education is needed to counter the problem.

I'm not "running' my mouth "2 get attention", many, many, many religious groups in this and other countries are causing major problems because they would rather back something based on "faith" than facts, and I have EVERY reason to shout at the top my lungs "Hey, morons, stop it, you're screwing it up for everyone!"

By the way, it's "you" not "u" and "to" or "too" not "2". Your an adult, try using big person words now.

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Wow, someone is getting this thing personal, lol, and teaching must of us some english lesssons too. I might not come to this topic anymore. lol. Back to it, I think everybody is entitled to have an opinion on everything, thats free speech. Even God in the Bible gave us the choice to pick if we wanted to use the Big door or the small one, it is our choice. Its too bad a lot of people keep on choosing the small one, but in the end it is their choice. The movie sounds ofensive, and I wont spend my money to go see it. Period. Just wont take it personally.

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Schnazz and Ashtrey are just saying, "hey, you have an opinion, religion is an opinion. And you live your life off of that opinion. That includes voting or acting off of that opinion and affecting others. So, what if I disagree with your opinion? Should I be adversely affected by your opinion?"

We have freedom of speech, except when it comes to religion. That's absurd. Someone who has not taken the leap of faith to accept something that is illogical (I'm willing to admit it. It's faith, which is the absence of the most basic reason) should be able to be as LOUD or influential as the faithful. If we silence one group, or try to discredit that group because they are speaking against the majority's opinion, are we really promoting a democratic view of the world?

And Visqo, it got personal when AJ said those without a religion should shut up because they don't have any reason to stand up for anything. To accuse someone of having nothing for which to stand, and then telling that person he/she shouldn't have a say, THAT is personal. If I told you, "You're a Christian, so shut up", how would you react?

Edited by Bob
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I think we can disagree without being disagreeable. I think AJ took it to a personal level and it didn't really need to go there. We have all been given free will to make choices and some choose not to believe in God. That's their choice and although I may disagree with their choice I won't make them out to be bad people.

As I said in an earlier post, people use their religion to cause wars & discriminate against people of different religions and lifestyles. Some of these people are just as close-minded & dismissive as some people are who don't believe in God. In the U.S. we have freedom of speech & freedom of religion even if that means they don't believe in religion. We all have the right to believe in whatever we want to believe in.

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Schnazz and Ashtrey are just saying, "hey, you have an opinion, religion is an opinion. And you live your life off of that opinion. That includes voting or acting off of that opinion and affecting others. So, what if I disagree with your opinion? Should I be adversely affected by your opinion?"

We have freedom of speech, except when it comes to religion. That's absurd. Someone who has not taken the leap of faith to accept something that is illogical (I'm willing to admit it. It's faith, which is the absence of the most basic reason) should be able to be as LOUD or influential as the faithful. If we silence one group, or try to discredit that group because they are speaking against the majority's opinion, are we really promoting a democratic view of the world?

And Visqo, it got personal when AJ said those without a religion should shut up because they don't have any reason to stand up for anything. To accuse someone of having nothing for which to stand, and then telling that person he/she shouldn't have a say, THAT is personal. If I told you, "You're a Christian, so shut up", how would you react?

Exactly! Couldn't possibly put it better...Me and Schnazz aren't bad people for not being able to accept something that doesn't make sense to us. Doesn't mean that we don't want to stand up for society's rights and freedoms.

I personally think of it this way...if there really is a superior being watching over us and rewarding all that is righteous, he would definitely want us to question so many of of the things done in the name of religion.

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