‘Religulous’ mocks religion

The subject of Religion is not one that is crossed into lightly in the film, “Religulous,” which was the next film shown for the Documentary Film Series in the Atwood Theatre.

The documentary was shown Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bill Maher takes this challenge on full by the horns when he did the documentary Religulous.

Finding humor in the movie wasn’t difficult, despite the expected skepticism.

But, one could see where it might upset a few people and cause turmoil between differences in opinions.

Many people feel the need to hold onto something, whether it’s faith or not, in life.

Fear puts up permanent residence in most people, taking different forms.

Death and the end of the world are no different.

But really all Bill Maher was saying was take a look at belief, push boundaries and take chances.

People should not get caught up or stuck in something they don’t want to be in, though.

Those who are sensitive regarding Christianity or other religious related views, they should stay away from this movie, because they will most likely be offended.

If however Christianity isn’t a bag that resides in the closet, go see Religulous its hilarious.

Now that that’s covered as the saying goes ‘we can get down to brass tacks’. Bill Maher is a generally well known comedian, a pretty funny one too.

Raised in a household where one of his parents was Jewish and the other Catholic, he and his sister were sent to Church and did the whole nine yards that comes with following Catholicism.

But when he was about 13 they just stopped going to church.

Of course, it didn’t matter much then because he was a teenager and anything to get to sleep in on the weekends was a plus.

So he stopped going to church.

Many people come from families that don’t go to church but still hold some religious beliefs or customs in the home.

It is possible that being forced into Catholicism caused these kids to shy away from reilgious beliefs altogether.

Some of the points he made were how people could believe in a talking snake.

Even less credible is the stories of how angels only seemed to show up in the middle of nowhere and usually to one person.

These types of statements sound like some guy in Alabama who saw something “weird” floating in the sky from a distance, and pegged it for a UFO, causing an uproar. All the craze over something that didn’t even exist.

If there were really aliens present, it is hard to believe why people have not seen them yet.

In the film Maher says that “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. Doubt is humble and that is what man needs to be, considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong.”

Maher visits several places as he goes about the film, he goes to the Vatican, to Megiddo, Israel, and several other places with biblical connotations.

He interviews preachers and travels through the “the Holy Land Experience” and talks with “Jesus”.

The Holy Land Experience is an “amusement” park in Florida that was near Disney World, just in case the kids would rather go there.

The movie was a hilarious documentary, making a light comedy out of a very heavy topic.

It is recommended to all that would not be offended of a little bashing of religion.