Religulous

One doesn’t need to be a fan of Bill Maher to be able to appreciate his latest endeavor – Religulous, now showing at the Angelika Plano.  Maher takes his offbeat, outspoken style all over the world interviewing lay people and religious figures from various organized faiths. Maher challenges the world’s three monotheistic faiths – Islam, Christianity and Judaism by asking followers probing and challenging questions that force them to defend their faith. It becomes apparent that without scientific evidence, Maher has trouble believing.

No one religion is spared his humorous barbs.

We expected to be offended but were not. We give Bill Maher credit for having the courage to ask the questions that unnerved some of his subjects. We felt he treaded carefully on the thin ice that challenging religious discussions can become. Questioning one’s beliefs can either destroy them or strengthen them. We suggest viewing this movie with an open mind and maintaining a sense of humor.

In the end, despite Maher’s stance on organized religion, we agreed that faith is a personal possession that we each own and no one can take away. Our only negative comment would be that the people he chose to interview were his own selection and they unknowingly became the ultimate representatives of those faiths and that may not have been the most fair or accurate presentation of each religion.

This film will ignite conversation which is always good.

We rated this movie 3 to 4 out of 5.