Religulous

[Lisa White]

Has anyone seen Bill Maher's movie Religulous? I saw it last weekend and generally wasn't impressed, but he brought up a few good talking points if anyone's interested.

[James Nored]

Lisa, I have not seen it, but I need to. Maher is a bit outrageous at times, and of course an agnostic. However, he often pokes fun at what deserves to be poked fun at as well. I'll give some thoughts here when I've seen it.

[James Nored]

Lisa, what were the good talking points? Let's discuss them!

[Lisa White]

I think the most unfortunate thing is that Bill Maher seems to know a lot more about Christianity- and have a better understanding of who Jesus is- than many of the Christians he talks to. An interesting thing he brought up was the Egyptian god Horus, who seems to have the same life story as Jesus (son of God, born of virgin, preached sermon on the mount, died on cross, was resurrected), and he supposedly came 1200 years before Jesus. I did some searching and found several comparisons, but I haven't come across the actual myth of Horus. It's a pretty funny movie overall, but he didn't bring up many things that I haven't heard from several atheists already.

[WesWoodell]

Lisa - the Horus comparison is a false one. There's no evidence there - simply an urban legend.

I did a little write up on this movie if you'd like to check it out: http://westcoastwitness.com/2008/12/03/religulous-in-a-nutshell/

[Lisa White]

Thanks for replying, Wes. I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with your write-up. When you see a movie like that, you have to ask yourself if the person asking the questions is really trying to get a better understanding or or just trying to make people look stupid. As long as people realize from the beginning what his intent is, the film should be pretty harmless. I don't think a rebuttle film is necessary. That would be giving this movie too much credit.

[James Nored]

Wes, great review of Religious! We should appreciate comedy where it rings true, and not take comedians too seriously.