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Teri Bonsell 10/18/2008 8:40:00 PM
I enjoyed the article on Bill Maher. I believe that all people have a right to their opinion and to live their lives as they choose to. Bill's movie brings to light some of the different religions that are present in our world today. The movie is a comedy (I have seen it twice and both times I laughed out load at particular moments)and also serious as it demonstates how crazy some of these religions are. The movie sure made me stop to think about the religion that I have been raised to believe in. Whether it be politics or religion, Bill Maher is always true to himself and is not afraid to show it.
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Michael O. 10/15/2008 11:52:00 AM
It's unfortunate that most people can't proclaim their uncertainty about religion the way Bill does. Not only does the questioning of religion threaten a schism among family and friends, but it is incredibly hard for most to come to terms with saying "I don't know" to those who claim they do. Uncertainty translates into confusion/weakness to most believers of organized religion (even atheists!). I've heard atheists (Tom Leykis) get just as offended as religious zealots when you proclaim you're not certain. Which leads me to this question: Doesn't atheism help perpetuate the idea that religion is a black and white issue, when it really isn't? Isn't any total certainty (or total uncertainty) of a religious being or religion in general impossible? Religion is the biggest gray area known to man. It's not fence-sitting. It's not confusion or weakness. It's reality. It's letting go of having to know all the answers.
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Craig 10/15/2008 7:54:00 AM
Not a bad article, yet, the writer came across as very negative towards Bill and his work throughout the start. (Attention is tough to hold past a few paragraphs these days) Hopefully, there will be great reviews for this movie due to the fact all are in need of this refreshing point of view . Thanks are due to Bill and all involved for finally bringing this side of the religion argument to the table. The argument cannot remain merely which religion is right and who desreves damnation.
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Craig 10/15/2008 7:54:00 AM
Not a bad article, yet, the writer came across as very negative towards Bill and his work throughout the start. (Attention is tough to hold past a few paragraphs these days) Hopefully, there will be great reviews for this movie due to the fact all are in need of this refreshing point of view . Thanks are due to Bill and all involved for finally bringing this side of the religion argument to the table. The argument cannot remain merely which religion is right and who desreves damnation.
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Craig 10/15/2008 7:53:00 AM
Not a bad article, yet, the writer came across as very negative towards Bill and his work throughout the start. (Attention is tough to hold past a few paragraphs these days) Hopefully, there will be great reviews for this movie due to the fact all are in need of this refreshing point of view . Thanks are due to Bill and all involved for finally bringing this side of the religion argument to the table. The argument cannot remain merely which religion is right and who desreves damnation.
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Craig 10/15/2008 7:53:00 AM
Not a bad article, yet, the writer came across as very negative towards Bill and his work throughout the start. (Attention is tough to hold past a few paragraphs these days) Hopefully, there will be great reviews for this movie due to the fact all are in need of this refreshing point of view . Thanks are due to Bill and all involved for finally bringing this side of the religion argument to the table. The argument cannot remain merely which religion is right and who desreves damnation.
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j wang 10/15/2008 7:38:00 AM
The delemma of starting a movement to sustain and expand the views proposed by Biil Maher requires the creation of an organization and structure of a religion of no religion. if created,.I suspect it eventually will be no different than any other religious organization. To sustain the movement it will have to receive funding from the donations of the membership and once that is introduced to the equation it will go down the same path as all religious organizations. Although I doubt it will be anywhere close to the success of converting and retainning a membership with the numbers comparable to Christians or Muslims or any other religion because most members of this group lack the commitment , passion, loyalty and true faith to this no-religion. I agree with so much of what Bill Maher points of view as they are introduced in the movie, and feel threaten by the power and fury of the blind devotion of the believers. Not that there is anyhting new in these fears or that I am unique. I do see some hope from the religious community when I saw some bumper sticker that read "god bless everybody, no exceptions" to me , it never made sense why would any god bless a select group of people, weather it be a nation or a race or any other classification. I feel if there is a allmighty god he would be blessing everyone and anyone, regardless even if they are even a believer. I think people are entitled to their believes, after all ,there are questions science cannot answer in our lifetime and maybe never in the lifetime of the human race. I also believe there would be more harmony in the world if the believers will accept the notion whichever god they believe in is not their god but everyones god, and if their god is allmighty and omnipotent and all kowing the all forgiving, savior of all people, then this god will also treat the non-believers the same way. And the nonbelievers can find comfort in knowing they are also blessed if there is a god wheather they believe it or not. Is this a radical concept? a free god? one I can have without having to believe in, participate in any rituals or pay any kind of tithe to? What a deal! Just the thought of this probably offends the true believers .
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Eddie Tabash 10/15/2008 5:01:00 AM
I believe that nonbelievers have nothing to be ashamed of in Maher's film. There is an unspoken notion that it is socially acceptable for religious believers to proclaim how those who don't share their views will burn in hell. Yet, it is not socially acceptble for nonbelievers to proclaim why there is no god or hell in the first place.
To ridicule superntarual claims, whatever they might be, should not be considered outside the boundaries of polite society. A major difference between us atheists and many religionists ist that we would never want to criminalize personal or group religious observance. Yet, many religionists, particularly the religious right, would want it to be illegal for the rest of us to live differently from what they perceive to be the straight and narrow path.
An example, those who want to ban same sex marriage are trying to impose their religious views on all of society. Those of us who want to preserve same sex marriage just want to maintain freedom for everyone. We certainly don't want to ban heterosexual marriage.
Nothing should be off limits to ridicule and doubt. There is no intellectually valid reason why religious beliefs should be exempt from the scrutiny and criticism leveled at everything else.
If people are upset at Maher's film, let them argue, scientifically and philosophically, why the fundamentalist view is factually correct.
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Luke Jackson 10/10/2008 2:43:00 AM
What I find funny is that Maher mocks those who play it safe and "down the middle" like Jay Leno, but that seems to be what the writer of this article is doing. Why interject her irrelevant personal opinions into the article, i.e., that religion is oh-so-worthy of respect in some instances? That's the exact same kind of splitting-the-difference bullshit we read in every other major magazine-- religion MUST have some value because so many people believe in it-- that Bill so correctly ridicules. It's not the social consensus that is intelligence, it's the ability to exercise intelligence, often to criticize that social consensus.
