No offence to religious readers of The Documentary Blog, but I must say i’m pretty excited to see Larry Charles and Bill Maher give organized religion a little kick in the ass. Today Lionsgate sent out a press release for the upcoming documentary ‘Religulous’, directed by Charles (Borat, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and starring Maher. The film follows Maher as he visits various religious sites around the world, posing tough questions about religion and ultimately challenging the existence of God. The press release included our first look at the teaser poster, featuring Maher’s unholy image on a grilled cheese sandwich. But even more interesting were the written filmmaker statements which really solidify the tone of this film. Larry Charles seems to sum things up perfectly well:
“Ok. An old God, a very buff old God that lives in space decides to create the first man from earth dust, then makes a woman from that man’s rib. They get to live forever if they don’t eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, but the woman is tricked into eating a piece by a talking snake and all future humanity is cursed. Or, how bout this one? This same space God who lives in the sky and has power over everything decides he wants a son, so he impregnates a woman but she remains a virgin. And, the child can walk on water and raise the dead. But his father, the sky God, sends him on a suicide mission to save humanity. After he dies, he rises from the dead and flies into space to be with his father (who is also him.)
Greek myths? The latest installment of the “Lord of the Rings”? Disney’s new animated movie? No! These are the foundations of Western religion. The tenuous shaky belief systems that our entire civilization rests upon.”
Maher isn’t too far behind with a statement barbed in his trademark cynical humour:
“Since starting on Politically Incorrect in 1993, it has been my pleasure over the last decade and a half to make organized religion one of my favorite targets. I often explained to people, “I don’t need to make fun of religion, it makes fun of itself.” And, then I go ahead and make fun of it too, just for laughs.
With religious fanatics like George Bush and Osama bin Laden now taking over the world, it seemed to me in recent years that this issue — this cause of debunking the man behind the curtain — needed to have a larger, more insistent and focused forum than late night television. I wanted to make a documentary, and I wanted it to be funny. In fact, since there is nothing more ridiculous than the ancient mythological stories that live on as today’s religions, this movie would try to be a real knee slapper. Unless, of course, you’re religious, then you might not like it.”
Still no sign of a trailer for this one, but i’ll definitely be keeping an eye out. The film is looking at a spring 2008 release as stated by Maher in an interview on Larry King Live. Check out the video below and keep your eyes peeled for Religulous.
Related Video: Bill Maher Discusses Religulous on Larry King Live
This will certainly be an interesting project.
I wonder if he will tackle the faith of atheism.
The difficulty will be to take him seriously. After all, people excuse his unfathomable ignorance on the fact that “he is just a comedian.”
I could see people committing the ad hominen based on the fact that even if religious faith is fallacious, if the alternative is to be like Maher then, “No thanks.” Let’s face it, he is certainly not the best, or even mediocre, example of anything that could even be imagined to be decent.
He thinks that incestuous pedophilia is hilarious (http://lifeanddoctrineatheism.blogspot.com/2008/03/bill-mahers-sad-anniversary.html), he rejoices when people such as Jerry Falwell dies (as did Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens: http://lifeanddoctrineatheism.blogspot.com/2008/02/quadripartite-equine-riders-were-just.html), etc., etc., etc.
Maher has two difficult mountains to climb: he is a clown trying to make a serious point and he is sadly of very, very poor character even while trying to belittle others.
It is the Marianos out there, with their imaginary friends, who Maher exposes to thunderous laughter and applause. And it is the Marianos out there who gave us George Bush–the epitome of the Marianos’ anti-intellectualism AND its fruit as Nicholas Kristof so eloquently noted in the NYT
Bill has, sadly, chimed in as a perfect example of the New Atheism movement:
Belittling replaces rational exchange.
Straw-men replace comprehension about that which one argues against.
Prejudicial and disjointed thinking (from imaginary friends to Bush and beyond).
Yet, what else are we to expect from an adherent of a worldview that makes one think “I am right and the overwhelming majority of the whole planet’s population for all of humanity’s history is wrong”?
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I am praying for Bill and Larry.It is sad to see people so angry.
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The Documentary Blog » Bill Maher and Larry Charles’ ‘Religulous’ Teaser Poster and Filmmakers Statments Released
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