After a frustratingly long wait, iTunes finally made available for purchase Bill Maher’s anti-religion documentary, Religulous. We eagerly took it in last night and, not surprisingly, quite enjoyed watching Maher view the religious world with his trademark witty sarcasm. The show has Maher travel the world to challenge various religious practitioners as he seeks to dismantle the philosophical underpinnings of pretty much all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, and even Scientology. On his quest, Maher visits with quite a few truly outrageous characters and he does a good job of making most of them look silly, which is easy to do whenever anyone seriously presses people to explain their religious beliefs. There are quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, and my favorite parts were when he visited two religion-themed amusement parks – the Creation Museum (put on by the wingnuts at Answers in Genesis) and The Holy Land Experience (now owned by the shysters at Trinity Broadcasting Network). After learning about them, these two places have earned a spot on my personal list of “Places to see before I die”. I have no doubt they will make their respective marks on my list of funniest/most awkward moments.
The movie is indeed funny and certainly worth watching, particularly for those of you who, like me, are skeptical when it comes to superstition. However, that the movie is funny is actually kind of a bittersweet notion. Ultimately, what I’m laughing at is how ridiculous our minds work sometimes; unfortunately, this can have tragic side-effects, which often manifest themselves in horrificly violent form. It’s weird how a source for so much hatred, death and destruction in this world could also make for great comedy. What a strange world we live in.
