Religulous

I delayed seeing this movie because I don't really care for Bill Maher and because I didn't think it would have anything I didn't know. It did though, but the movie was still pretty slow. The primary focus was on all the silly things Christians believe, and of course there are many. Jews also got a look at the nasty old testament murderousness, and they manage to look pretty damn ridiculous as well - especially a couple of orthodox rabbis engaged in producing absurd inventions supposedly skirting some Sabbath proscriptions.

Muslims don't get so much of a theological display, but he finds plenty of Muslims willing to lie about, or at least pretend to absurdly interpret, the more intolerant and violent passages of the Koran.

Among the non-Christians, only Mormons and Scientologists get a look. In the theatre of the absurd, Mormons trump Christians and Jews, but Scientologists get the prize.

Highlights for me were some notably anti-religious sentiments from founding fathers Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin. No contemporary politician would dare say what they said. Senator Pryor from Arkansas had a good quote too: "there is no IQ test for the US Senate."

Unfortunately Maher fails to deal with the question that actually interests me: if religions are so absurd, and they are, why do so many believe. He may buy into the indoctrination theory, but I don't. I suspect it must be genetic - some gene or genes that were once useful, for something.

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