Christine and I made a last minute decision to go to a matinee showing of Bill Maher's Religulous. I already had the motorcycle out for something else, so we decided to ride two-up on my V-strom which was fun (and a little chilly on the way home).
I expected to like this movie. There's a lot of wacky things in religion and it's sometimes fun to take a step back and laugh. Maher goes around "asking" people questions about their religion but his questions are really nothing more than setups for jokes or starting points for a one person conversation. (We get it Bill, a talking snake is pretty strange.) I would have liked to hear him talk with actual religious scholars or followers of a religion who can actually talk intelligently about why they believe the things they do despite evidence to the contrary that it is presented to them.
The movie was certainly funny at times, but I think Maher missed the mark. Or maybe he hit the mark he was targeting. Either way, I didn't think it was very good. I would love to see a similar concept done by someone like Morgan Spurlock. Does anyone know of any documentaries that cover similar ground?
The Power of Myth is a great series hosted by Bill Moyers that covers religion and myths. More of an educational look but I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing a film that was more in line with Maher's that wasn't too bad but I don't remember at all what it was called.
Thanks. I just added it to my Netflix queue.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to hear what the two guys in the bar would have to say.
ReplyDeleteThe one huge thing I did a doubletake on was Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis and the parallels between him and Jesus (even though he was supposed to have been born centuries earlier than Christ). I looked it up on the InterWeb and got some hits, but does anyone know of a reliable source for this? I would really like to see this debated by both sides!
ReplyDeleteI also really wanted to hear the issues explored without Maher's own preaching. On the other hand, it was just cool to see anyone asking those questions aloud given the current climate.
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