Religulous
Jere and I went to see Bill Maher's Religulous last night. Very gutsy film, I must say. Maher plays the part of the little kid in The Emperor's New Clothes, basically pointing out how silly it is to believe in talking snakes and immaculate conception. It's pretty funny stuff, but it also points out the painfully obvious. He goes after most religions except for Buddhism (I mean, really ... is there one man who keeps getting born over and over in newer incarnations? I love the Dahli Lama and all, but come on) and Satanism (doesn't even merit his time, as far as I am concerned). It was a pretty brilliant film.
I almost agree with him on this topic.
I just can't help but think that to suggest that people give up their religions and "grow up" as he says, it feels a lot like censorship. Which I adamantly oppose. Religion, as nutty as it can be, is still a belief and it is unconstitutional to imply that there ought not be any. I am not religious, therefore I don't preach.
You can argue that religion has caused a great deal of harm, tragedy and needless death. True. And it still does. Or does it? I think *crazy* is responsible for that. Not words on a page or ideologies or strange costumes. I wouldn't blame Marilyn Manson for all the deaths at Columbine. So, I am not prepared to tell that sweet old lady down the street who dresses up every Sunday and congregates with her friends, sings a few songs, chews on a cardboard wafer and somehow enjoys it all to suddenly stop doing it. The crazies should be punished for their actions. The bastard priests who molest little children should be thrown in jail as should anyone who does anything unlawful, whether it be in the name of religion or not. The Son of Sam claimed that a dog next door told him to commit murder. Is it the dog's fault that these women were terrorized and killed?
I am not saying that I don't see an obvious connection between organized religion and needless death, but I think it's wrong to take away the beliefs of those who are otherwise harmless, lawful people because of the crazies who use religion as an excuse to harm other people. Would they not be crazy anyway? Do they need the bible or the Koran to make them nuts? People will always invent some reason to be immoral.
Live and let live. Who am I to tell you what you should and shouldn't believe? That there is a right way and a wrong way? If we start doing that, then what? Should I go after the fashion industry, too, because of their insistence that I wear specific articles of clothing simply because they've deemed them necessary, but only for one season? I think that is beyond foolish, but I'm not going to tell friends and coworkers to stop following trends. It's really none of my business.
I still say that the movie is great and you all should definitely see it.
I almost agree with him on this topic.
I just can't help but think that to suggest that people give up their religions and "grow up" as he says, it feels a lot like censorship. Which I adamantly oppose. Religion, as nutty as it can be, is still a belief and it is unconstitutional to imply that there ought not be any. I am not religious, therefore I don't preach.
You can argue that religion has caused a great deal of harm, tragedy and needless death. True. And it still does. Or does it? I think *crazy* is responsible for that. Not words on a page or ideologies or strange costumes. I wouldn't blame Marilyn Manson for all the deaths at Columbine. So, I am not prepared to tell that sweet old lady down the street who dresses up every Sunday and congregates with her friends, sings a few songs, chews on a cardboard wafer and somehow enjoys it all to suddenly stop doing it. The crazies should be punished for their actions. The bastard priests who molest little children should be thrown in jail as should anyone who does anything unlawful, whether it be in the name of religion or not. The Son of Sam claimed that a dog next door told him to commit murder. Is it the dog's fault that these women were terrorized and killed?
I am not saying that I don't see an obvious connection between organized religion and needless death, but I think it's wrong to take away the beliefs of those who are otherwise harmless, lawful people because of the crazies who use religion as an excuse to harm other people. Would they not be crazy anyway? Do they need the bible or the Koran to make them nuts? People will always invent some reason to be immoral.
Live and let live. Who am I to tell you what you should and shouldn't believe? That there is a right way and a wrong way? If we start doing that, then what? Should I go after the fashion industry, too, because of their insistence that I wear specific articles of clothing simply because they've deemed them necessary, but only for one season? I think that is beyond foolish, but I'm not going to tell friends and coworkers to stop following trends. It's really none of my business.
I still say that the movie is great and you all should definitely see it.
posted by Kim at
5:55 AM
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