Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with some thoughts on the Larry Charles/Bill Maher movie RELIGULOUS sent in from a reader. We'll have some big coverage of this flick in the weeks to come. I interviewed director Larry Charles this evening and am scheduled to talk with Bill Maher on Thursday. The Charles interview went very well and I can only hope the Maher one will be just as entertaining.

It's interesting to hear reaction as this movie screens. Movies are always subjective, but I'd say this movie especially will evoke strong reactions from all different viewpoints. Here's a new one for you guys to mull over!

Greetings Quint,

I am a longtime reader of the site, but I never post in the talkbacks. Last night Capone hosted a screening of Religulous here in Chicago, and I thought I’d chime in. I feel as though Maher’s intention is to (at least) provoke an honest conversation about religion, which is a topic I cannot resist.

I would hesitate to call myself a “fan” of Bill Maher’s, but I have enjoyed his television shows in the past (I no longer have HBO), and have always appreciated his willingness to speak honestly about potentially controversial topics. With Religulous, he claims to embark on a journey to discover why so many people believe in God and follow the world’s three major religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. However, the film itself seems more like Maher challenging the people he encounters, rather than discovering the answers he claims to seek. Granted, this may just be the unintentional result of finding the most interesting clips to include in the final cut, but Maher’s investigation into religion ultimately feels like an unfair fight.

With so many reviews already appearing on the site, I know that this is a film that has been adequately summarized and critiqued. Coming from my relatively unique religious background – the Bahá’í Faith – I feel as though I may have a few more thoughts to contribute.

Without getting to heavy into what my religion is all about, one important principle of the Bahá’í Faith is the idea that religion and science are both necessary, and without science “religion is superstition (paraphrase).” What Maher seems to be chasing in this film is not an answer to “why are people religious?,” but instead, “why are people superstitious?”

I was pleasantly surprised by the pair of priests Maher interviewed at the Vatican, as both of these men recognized the futility in adhering to a literal interpretation of the Bible, and acknowledged certain flaws in Catholicism. These were religious men, comfortable enough in their faith in God to recognize that mankind’s handling of God’s message is imperfect. But for the rest of the film, the very idea of religion was reduced to a set of fairy tales and superstitions that set up a flimsy punching bag for Maher to pummel with his sharpened wit and regurgitated arguments. Granted, this idea of religion was provided by real folks and their fundamentalist beliefs, but it appears as though Maher sought out the crazy, extreme fundamentalists instead of rational, intelligent, middle of the road believers.

With that being said, I found many of the scenes hilarious, and I can admit that many of the issues Maher raises are concerns and objections that I share, especially because I belong to a religion that is being persecuted so heavily in the Middle East.

Maher’s closing “sermon,” where he says that we must abandon religion for the sake of the world, was a bit over the top. I believe a previous fan-review suggested that it seems to come out of nowhere, and it does. The film focuses on the fundamentalist schools of thought within each of these religions and then paints every believer with the same brush, which is a cheap move. But, to Maher’s point, a quote from the authoritative texts of the Bahá’í Faith says: “If religion becomes the cause of enmity and bloodshed, then irreligion is to be preferred, for religion is the remedy for every ailment, and if a remedy should become the cause of ailment and difficulty, it is better to abandon it.”

Isn’t this, basically, what Maher is saying? That these religions have become detriments to our society, and that their relevance has long expired? I mean, for all his bluster, Maher really isn’t saying anything new. I was disappointed that his film didn’t do anything more than just skim the surface of religion in this country. (It would have been interesting to see him talk with a Bahá’í, or see him react to the quote I supply above.) But, I must admit, I was laughing pretty hard.

The successes of the film, then, are not necessarily intellectual victories that Maher achieves over his prideful victims, but the constant humor throughout the film. Supplied not only through Maher’s sardonic wit, but also through the use of pop-culture b-roll footage and clever subtitles, there was never a moment where someone in the audience wasn’t laughing. Also noteworthy was the fact that so many people seemed to find so many different things funny; if I wasn’t laughing hard someone else was.