Another documentary that is more direct in its scathing rebuke of religion as a whole is Bill Maher’s Religulous (2008 was a rough year for Christian audiences). Maher is well known for his comedic disposition that targets the absurdity of religion mercilessly. His Friday night show on HBO is his most common vehicle for this brand of commentary, but this documentary served as a medium through which he could channel all of his thoughts and fears and outrage toward religion in one semi-coherent place.
His conceit in interviewing devoutly religious people is a bit Socratic: he lets them speak for themselves, presenting their views as best they can, and then he uses a couple different logical tricks, taking these religious ideas to their logical extremes to demonstrate their absurdity (if heaven’s so much better than earth, why don’t you kill yourself?) and just incessantly questioning their claims until they’re no longer defensible. Some find his demeanor over the top, but I think it’s forgivable for a comedian and social commentator to forcefully stand up to a dominant force in our culture. This movie is thorough and obnoxious, but mostly, it’s just very, very funny.
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Published: Mar 6, 2013 02:25 pm