posted October 03, 2008 04:00 PM         

I think Bill Maher is great, and I have high hopes for Religulous.

Even if you do believe in a higher power, to create god's image to your own preference (religion) is not only arrogant but it is true blasphemy.

I've long found religion to be dangerously presumptuous, and I'm really excited to see this film.

posted October 03, 2008 08:38 PM         

When I last visited my granny, she found out I'd been a runaway when I was 15. (She didn't know I had runaway from home until I was 18--she lived a couple of hundred miles away, home life was chaotic, and Mom kept brushing her off, no doubt scared Granny would report me missing and she'd lose her child support.) Part of that topic got to how she woke up from this nightmare of me choking to death next to her. She woke up and felt it was so real and that I was in danger that she prayed for me. Now there's no way to find the exact day or line it up exactly, but that was right around the time that I came real close to suicide after my best friend was killed until I had a vision of the goddess Freya that inspired me. As granny was talking, I got to wondering, Is her god my goddess? That is, Freya was exactly who I needed, and also fit my life experience. Had my life been different, I might've instead seen Brigid or Mary, Mother of God, or Jesus or Elvis or little grey aliens.

Talking a little more about it, I told her why Freya's Heaven was a lot better than the Christian Heaven (eg, sex). She said something, "It does sound fun."

"You'll visit me, then?" I asked, half-serious (I'm not even sure there's an actual afterlife).

"Oh, I think they're all the same. You'll just see your trappings and I'll see mine, but we'll still know and love each other."

That thought really awed me. Her misspent life among beatniks, nature children, hippies, and others seems to have been well-spent. Her views don't strike me as arrogant. I'm sure plenty of Christians would see her views as blasphemous, but I personally don't.

Still, that said, I'm of the apparently rare opinion that I'd rather a politician NOT be religious. I don't buy that religion makes one moral or honest. It can actually do the opposite, if a person believes God wants certain people harmed or oppressed, etc.

Anyway, I'm thinking of seeing the movie. I'm not sure I can afford it though.

posted October 04, 2008 12:04 AM         

I only ask because some people feel strongly against structured religion. Does that feeling encompass the rejection of spirituality?

posted October 04, 2008 10:51 AM         

Brilliant question.

posted October 04, 2008 01:42 PM         

I used to be spiritual, but it seemed like a placebo. How much of it was me fooling myself?

I sympathize with spirituality, but spirituality is still only a FEELING. Forget me being a Water Sign, because everyone is under constant sensory bombardment, so it's easy to get persuaded by false stimulation.

I very much feel connected to something greater than myself. But it is less of a faith and more of a rationality that this unimaginably complex and delicate world couldn't possibly be a result of mere coincidence.

posted October 04, 2008 07:38 PM         

quote:

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It's about time someone made a movie on the absurdity of religion.

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posted October 04, 2008 07:56 PM         

I'll be writing more hopefully sometime soon. The only thing is my holiday finishes today, so I will be trying to squeeze the time in to explain!!!!

posted October 05, 2008 05:01 AM         

My "Report Card" for Bill Maher:

I find Bill Maher primarily smug, glib, and narrow-minded,
although occassionally funny and spot-on in his criticisms.
I believe he has a good heart and is well-intentioned, but,
that arrogance obscures his otherwise exceptional mind.

Bill overlooks a great many things, and,
in his fervor to suggest himself as a freethinker,
practices a very dogmatic brand of skepticism --
which, in its lower manifestations,
is nothing better than simple-minded cynicism,
characterized by willful ignorance
and a flat refusal to consider the evidence against him.

Like all the laziest critics, when attacking religion,
and pointing out its inconsistencies and ironies,
he confines himself to the religion of the opiated masses,
the new age nutjobs, and fundamentalist hacks,
leaving out anything that remotely challenges his position,
and doesnt fit squarely into his conservative,
black-and-white visions of the world.

I don't think these faults would bother me quite so much
if he wasn't so damn satisfied with himself all the time.

Still, I'm sure the movie will be worth a watch.
It's always amusing poking fun at the easiest targets.

posted April 16, 2009 11:13 PM         

Maher spent a half hour w/ Ron Howard on his show this week. [also Gore Vidal] and it was mentioned that the prequel to Dan Brown's The Di Vinci Code called Angels and Demons is set for release.

The Religulous out-takes I have seen have been his 'man on the street' style..talking to people, asking questions, hilarious. I'm sure this will have it's share of profound moments.

posted April 17, 2009 01:16 PM         

I watched "Behind the Divinci Code" on the History channel this weekend and was fascinated by the history and the myth... I don't know why people made such a fuss about these books, they are very clearly fiction, just based on some similar stories that did occur in a skewed way historically.

The A&D story is probably more blasphemus to modern Catholicism, but the science they incorporate is pretty cool...