Bill maher why is faith good

User reviews Review. Top review. I found this movie exhilarating. I'm with you, Bill Maher! That said, this film attempts to cover the basic tenets and idiocies of several of the major religions, namely Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam. But anyway Maher is a smart man, and I would like to think that he considered the points I feel were left out of the movie and chose not to include them for the sake of condensing the film.

However, there are several facts that I think would have made an even stronger case against mass religion in general: 1. Although Maher mentions several times that the Judeo-Christian Bible was written by men, and therefore contains the fallacies of men, he does not bring up the fact that the Bible has been constantly rewritten, translated from language to language, and amended to suit the needs of those in charge of its distribution -- for most of history since Christ, this was the Catholic Church and its founders.

And for those of you who don't know, translation is not an exact science. Languages just do not translate word for word, and the accuracy of the translation depends on the skill, vocabulary, and motives of the translator a human being, don't forget.

Catholicism was successful because it incorporated many old religions. Greek and Roman gods are just a few of those who have direct equivalents among the Catholic saints. Mahar discusses the inherent flaw in a monotheistic religion with bunches of demigods, but he does not point out that Catholicism deliberately found supposedly Catholic replacements for the more ancient, household-type gods.

Because those who wanted the religion to succeed decided that people would be more likely to convert to it if it weren't too different from what they were used to. Why did these men want the religion to succeed? For the same reasons that people promote religions today: to gain money and power, particularly in the form of influence. Maher reminds us that the story of Jesus Christ included many elements of older heroes or gods, but the film presents this as a matter of fact, not pointing out that Catholicism was built upon the success of these preceding stories and histories.

The types of dramas that move the human spirit have not changed over thousands of years--they have simply been retold and reinterpreted. My third point is more of a question. I was raised as a "nouveau" American Catholic, so I feel that I know a little bit about that religion, but I know next to nothing about Islam. However, it is my understanding that Mohammed did not want images of himself used to promote his teachings.

Is this why some Muslims get so mad when an image, ridiculing or not, of the prophet is publicized? I wish Maher had included this, as he did talk a lot about the violence specified in the Koran. This is a terrific film. It is funny and has a great soundtrack. My hat is off to Maher for his nerve in interviewing people who become belligerent when their religion is questioned.

I guess it partly comes from being a comedian--one must have guts and a thick skin! The message of the film, however, is not humorous at all. It is truly terrifying to think of all the murder, torture, and oppression that is perpetuated in the name of religion. Why then, is someone who calls himself "Godly" or "religious" considered to be a person with wholesome morals?

JumeirahSun Oct 6, FAQ 1. What does "religulous" mean? Details Edit. Release date October 3, United States. United States. English Hebrew Arabic Persian Spanish. A Spiritual Journey. Thousand Words. Box office Edit. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 1 hour 41 minutes. Put another way, in a truly civil society the right to free expression trumps the desire of religious folks not to have their feelings hurt.

We left high school long ago. Now that I think about it, I really have so many doubts about them. Maybe I should dump my holy book and read something for grown-ups? Just as the brilliant satirists of Charlie Hebdo skewer the institutions, precepts and potentates of Islam and Christianity, so Maher devastatingly unloads on religion, and with consummate mordancy, even stridency — as is his right.

At this stage in the fight against unreason, against this pernicious attachment we have to wicked old myths in gilt volumes, stridency is necessary, if not sufficient. Nonbelievers are finally making their voices heard in a society programmed to hum along with the numbing cords of faith. Make no mistake about it: This stridency, this anger , flows from a deep wellspring of offense -- offense at the utterly groundless pretensions the Abrahamic faiths espouse, chief among which are: I am saved and you are not; I have a hotline to the divine and you do not; I know what the Almighty wants and you do not; I walk with God, and you do not.

All this matters because religion is no mere spiritual matter; it exceeds the realm of personal conscience and infects public life. If the faith-deranged in the West can no longer treat nonbelievers to thumbscrews and the rack, flaming pyres and breast-rippers , they continue to stamp their ugly imprimatur on policy, both domestic and foreign, and in the U.

Maher has never let us forget this. He recorded it for the group Openly Secular. Secularists are bigger than that, way bigger. But you gotta show yourself. You might find that you have more friends than you think. Power is sex for people who can't get or don't want or aren't any good at sex itself.

John Westcott : Nobody's born gay. Bill Maher : Really? Have you ever met Little Richard? Bill Maher : [Megiddo, Israel] It seems peaceful, but this is where a lot of people believe the world will end. The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world actually could come to an end. Bill Maher : I know what you're thinking. I'm standing in front of a green screen at a studio in Burbank, California, and they digitized the Vatican in behind me.

No, no, that's really the Vatican. I ought to know. I just got thrown out of it. See, I wanted to interview the Pope, but I was willing to settle for a cardinal or a monsignor, or the flying nun - really anybody, but apparently I've been on the Catholic shit list for quite a while. Bill Maher : does that look like anything Jesus Christ had in mind?

Bill Maher : When you look at a building like that, a giant palace, does it seem at odds with the message of the founder? Reginald Foster : Well, certainly. Bill Maher : [giggles] Well, thank you. Reginald Foster : I mean, that's obvious. Bill Maher : It really is obvious, isn't it?

But does it bother you? Reginald Foster : [stammering] Well, I mean - well, yes it does. I wouldn't - if I were the boss, I wouldn't be living there. Bill Maher : You know, Scientologists Bill Maher : And right, you're like, "Oh, yeah, that's some crazy shit. But the Scientologists, they're the crazy ones. Bill Maher : When did the part of the story come when Jonah lived in the whale?

Steve Burg : It was a great fish. Bill Maher : It's one of my favorite nonsense stories, Jonah living inside of the whale. And their answer unfailingly is "The Bible doesn't say whale, It says big fish". Oh, yeah, big fish, that makes I'm sorry I was obsessing on that it was a whale, It's a big fish. Of course you could live for three days in a big fish, A tuna, a tuna, They do it all the time in Japan, They have tuna spas.

You go for three days, They pamper you, oils, You come out of that tuna feeling fantastic. You smell like pussy, but you feel fantastic. Bill Maher : This man lived inside of a fish for three days? Steve Burg : Miraculously, yes. Bill Maher : Steve, Steve, Steve. Steve Burg : You don't believe in miracles, That doesn't mean they don't exist. Bill Maher : Of course not! I'm not 10! He didn't lived in a fish, Come on. Steve Burg : Your bar on miracles is pretty low, I gotta tell you, bro. Bill Maher : Well, whatever.

Bill Maher : Gay Muslim activists. That is a very rare job description. You guys have big ones. Bill Maher : If you believe that the world is going to come to an end - and perhaps any day now - does it not drain one's motivation to improve life on earth while we're here? Bill Maher : The plain fact is religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people - by irrationalists - by those who would steer the ship of state, not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken.

Bill Maher : See you in heaven? Julie Maher : [shrugs] Who knows? Bill Maher : [laughs] Exactly. Bill Maher : [in a deleted scene on the DVD] No, it is not a surprise that a person would want to be a prophet.

What's ridiculous is that other people let him. It's just too easy to start a religion. All you have to do is: A. Some stuff that is so idiotic and weird that a person who believes it will be proving that ultimate virtue of faith; B.

Just wait. Just say your bullshit and stick to it. Believe me, if you do that, if you just say it, they will come. You are one of the very few people who are really running this country. It worries me that people are running my country who think - who believe in a talking snake. Bill Maher : [Bill is silent and unimpressed.

The Senator's face falls]. Bill Maher : Circumcision, I mean, I would've loved to have been there for the first time people would hear about this, you know? We're used to it now, you know. I'm sure when Moses came down with this idea there was one person going "Now, let me get this straight Bill Maher : Rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves.

Jeremiah Cummings : [a Christian reverend] Okay, but now, but now, things like houses and cars and clothes and money, they come as a result of my seeking God first. Bill Maher : I don't remember that in the New Testament specifically. Jeremiah Cummings : But it's there. Jeremiah Cummings : I remember it. Bill Maher : A passage about Bill Maher : The houses, the cars and the clothes, they'll come. Bill Maher : As Satan? Bill Maher : It's how you do your work, isn't it? You know, at the end of the day, whether you're the messiah or you're Satan, it's loving what you do and giving it a hundred percent.

Bill Maher : Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. And those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are our intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction.

Muhhamed Hourani : The direction of prayer, everytime you start your prayer you have to know how to exactly face the Kabaa in Mecca.

Bill Maher : A rock? The Kabaa? Muhhamed Hourani : No, no, no. Bill Maher : Isn't that A black stone. Bill Maher : Stone, rock I think they're the same. Muhhamed Hourani : We don't know the history of this stone. Bill Maher : Why is this Holy? Muhhamed Hourani : Muslims believe this stone came from Paradise. Bill Maher : Could the stone itself have been what we now know to be a Meteor?

Muhhamed Hourani : It's black, and in the area there are no black stones. Bill Maher : But does it make a difference that we now understand what a Meteor is? Muhhamed Hourani : This is the Stone of God! Bill Maher : Yes, right. Bill Maher : Why is faith good? Bill Maher : That's religion. You pray. You bow. You kneel. You fast. You trim the balls of a giant space penis. Bill Maher : There's been more killing in the name of "my God. Mark Pryor : or just by our DNA, we just somehow know that killing another person is wrong?

I'm not sure that is the case. We need God to decide not to kill each other? Mark Pryor : Well, you can look back at more primitive cultures and they were constantly at war. Mark Pryor : [subtitled "Modern Culture," war footage of bombings and mass destruction is shown]. Bill Maher : Who are you? The second coming.

The Old Testament talk about me clearly. And the New Testament also. Bill Maher : Now, the angels went to the house of the one Godly man in town - Lot. And the townspeople tried to rape them. Now, Lot, not wanting his town to get the reputation as the kind of place that would rape angels, offered up to the mob his own daughters to rape. And he was the good guy in town. Which brings me to this question: If I ever had to swear an oath, why would I want to put my hand on the King James Bible?

I think I could find more morality in the Rick James Bible. Julie Maher : You were so mad at us. Bill Maher : So mad at you, why? Oh, when Julie Maher : When you realized there was no Santa Claus. Bill Maher : And then when I found out there was no Jesus Bill Maher : The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Ken Ham : This is a God, he's an infinite God, he's not always working in ways we understand.

Bill Maher : Don't you think that's a cop-out? Ken Ham : He is God. Are you God? Bill Maher : No. Bill Maher : [Extra] Would you still say that you support people who would do harm to abortionists? Michael Bray : That kind of action, I'd say, cannot be condemned.

It's okay to defend a child against someone who's about to murder the child. There are some really fine people, I'm thinking of one, "Shelley" Shannon who's, you know, shot an Abortionist Tiller in Kansas Witchita in each elbow. Right up there close to him, shot him.

Michael Bray :. And you know, long Bill Maher : So he couldn't work. Michael Bray : Yeah but he went right back the next day. Bill Maher : I guess she didn't shoot him too good. Michael Bray : Yeah! Bill Maher : That seems better than killing somebody. Michael Bray : Yeah, it was merciful. Absolutely merciful. And yet she gets 30 years! Bill Maher : Boy, what's this country coming to when you can't even blow someone up without getting in trouble with the law?

Bill Maher : I think it's very interesting that you were a Muslim, you're a Christian now, and when you buy your clothes you buy them like a Jew. Benjamin Creme : Very.