I have to confess to being a big fan of that great American patriot Bill Maher.
Maher’s documentary movie called “Religulous,” originally slated for an Easter opening, is now to be released October 3 in the US. “Uproarious nonfiction film about the greatest fiction ever told.” Preview here. HuffPo has an exclusive clip. Maher discussing movie with Larry King here. [Warning: religious types won’t like any of this.]
The movie also has its own website disbeliefnet. This features: the “homo handshake” (Know how to protect yourself, should you be subjected to the homo handshake); a guide to suicide cults (Absolut Jonestown; choosing the cult that best matches your personality and eternity goals); YFZ Ranch (the Little House on the Compound) and much, much more.
And for some quite unintentional humour from the local christian right, scrubone at Something should go here does his best to entertain… If, after reading scrubone, you’re in the Hawkes Bay and planning on going to the beach, the “homo handshake” could come in handy…
Update: It appears that the film is due for release in November (thanks Stephen).
Tags: christian right, fun
Jafapete's Weblog 
July 23, 2008 at 12:35 pm |
Oh yeah. Another “documentary” poking fun at the pseudo-Christian cults and the foam-at-the-mouth fringe of Christianity. Not exactly a small target here.
But then, I wasn’t really expecting subtlety from the director of Borat now, was I? 🙂
July 23, 2008 at 1:07 pm |
Funny bugger Bill Maher! What other docos HAVE there been MacDoctor?? Jesus Camp? It’s also worth noting that he claims to have insulted every religion, not just Christianity.
July 23, 2008 at 1:54 pm |
Stephen:
Jesus Camp certainly springs to mind. Also The Lost Tomb of Jesus, Brian Fleming’s Finding My Religion, Alexandra Pelosi’s Friends of God and Cult documentaries too numerous to mention. All of these documentaries purport to be unbiased, but most seem to dig up the most bizarre wingnut they can find and portray him or her as a true representation of Evangelical Christianity. This is the equivalent of finding Borat and saying he is a true representative of socialism…
OTOH, at least Bill Maher is likely to be making something that’s fun to watch rather than deeply irritating. But I’m not sure if the fact that he is an ecumenical insulter is really a plus… 🙂
July 23, 2008 at 1:58 pm |
Kay, well, never heard of those other ones I have to say.
No doubt Maher will find some wingnuts (the leader of the Raelians maybe), but I think the point will be that once ANY religious person is interrogated in a little depth about their faith in a system of belief that features ‘talking snakes’ or virgin births or certain knowledge of an afterlife etc etc…they ALL start to look like wingnuts.
July 23, 2008 at 2:16 pm |
Sure, Stephen. And I could interrogate any atheist or agnostic on the logical inconsistencies and preconceptions involved in their non-belief and make them look like complete dumb-asses. However, that would be a very unfriendly thing to do now, wouldn’t it?
July 23, 2008 at 2:23 pm |
It certainly wouldn’t be out of order – I don’t think it would be unfriendly, as my impression is that most would relish the opportunity for such a discussion.
July 23, 2008 at 2:25 pm |
As long as it was a civil one, of course. I saw in that preview one guy who seemed to be pretty pissed off that Maher was to paraphrase ‘questioning his religion’…
July 23, 2008 at 3:45 pm |
Unlike ugly mockery where the intent is to wound rather than engage, irreverent humour is harmless. To bridle at ordinary humour is likely a sign of someone who is not truly convinced of his own beliefs.
However, my point here is that there is a large difference between a simply conversation about beliefs and an intentional trolling for inconsistencies in order to mock. This is precisely why I do not normally post specifically on my Christian beliefs. Although you and I, Stephen, could probably have a sensible dialogue about these, eventually our conversation would be hijacked by trolls (even on a relatively quite site like jafapete’s). Of course, any time you or JP are around my side of Auckland (Southside), I would be delighted to chat over a beer… 🙂
July 24, 2008 at 9:56 am |
I’m not sure where Maher is going to be on the ugly mockery/irreverent humour spectrum, probably more irreverant than anything, but he’ll probably come across as rude for some anyway. I will certainly see Religulous, as i’ve listened to several of his podcasts, and he is delightfully cynical.
I believe there is a whole project called ‘The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible / Quran / Book of Mormon’ (http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/) which does just what you are referring to – their reasoning for doing so is in the FAQ. I can see why you wouldn’t bring chrisitanity into your blog posts, as someone will inevitably bring up out of context quotes or homosexuals or blahblahblah