I'm looking forward to hearing from those interviewed in the movie about whether they felt Maher depicted their views fairly. Given that one of Maher's criticisms of religion is that people proof-text - i.e. find in Scripture a quote to prove whatever they want - it's incumbent on him to be honorable in his use of interviews.
As it happens, I know about one statement he cites. In the beginning of the movie, he offers this quote from our second president, John Adams: "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."
Wow. That certainly provides stunning support for Maher's thesis. Did Adams really mean that? Well, no. Here's the full quote from Adams, which came in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817:
"Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.'!!! But in this exclamation I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly [two clergy from his childhood]. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite society, I mean hell."
Slightly different meaning when you see the rest of the quote, eh? Sort of makes one wonder how scrupulous Maher was with the rest of the editing. Perhaps this is an anomaly.
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Religion aside... Life & Death, cycle of life, Earth, sun, stars, the human body, gravity, rain, trees, fire, pregnancy, lightning, clouds, the engineering and the marvel in nature's design, insects, wings, motherhood... and the list goes on... who is this amazing engineer, inventor, creator... Why arent we, the intelligent species able to create or even re-create? Religions aside, why isnt Bill Maher and all the other Mahers in this world able to create or re-create.
Doesnt really matter who is wrong and who isnt. People will always believe what makes them comfortable believing BUT (and this is quite important) should respect each others beliefs. What makes me comfortable with being an atheist now is that even extreme atheism isnt destructive to others but simply rejects the idea of god. Extreme religious people though.... i dont even want to go there. The pain and suffering cause by extreme religious people goes against ANY good feelings i ever had about religion. How can something that teaches about an all loving all forgiving god (what i grew up in) be anything BUT!? Be so excluding and punishing and cruel and rigid!?!?!
Who created us??? Well, who created GOD? Did he do it himself? What makes us believe that in ALL this VAST universe, that we know NOTHING about, that we even matter? We might be to other life forms like what ants are to us. Ants will never understand us, what makes us sure that we are not the equivalent in some other life forms eyes? Doubt, humble doubt never killed anyone!
how does the planet earth break the 2nd law of thermodynamics? whether you believe in evolution or not, we still exist with a level of understanding that is higher than anything else in this world - a world over flowing with life (carl sagan anyone? from cosmos series intro). we have been looking for a very long time to find life on other planets, and waiting to hear from one of them for nearly as long (SETI... yawn).
fact: earth is special
fact: we break a scientific law by existing
"science and reasoning can explain why we have matter, but they cannot explain why we have science and reasoning"
As an atheist who enjoyed Religulous, it would be hypocritical to believe that Mayer's portrayal is without bias. His aim is to point out the excesses and flaws in religion, even mock it, at the price of allowing fair judgement. By deliberately picking unsuspecting targets liable to embarrass themselves (and picking and choosing what the viewer sees) he awards himself an enormous upper hand. I would like to see Lionsgate release full interviews online in order to spark a more accurate intellectual discussion. Not likely to happen, but it would be pretty cool.
My two cents.
Maggie, im pretty sure Bill Maher is not comparing himself to god or the great creator. hes mostly wondering why you think you have all the complexities of life figured out with some belief system created and tweaked at the discretions of men. also, i have created millions of independent thoughts and original ideas in my lifetime...is that not creating.
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