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    Religulous

    Seeing as the atheism thread has been generating such lively debate I thought this film deserves a thread of its own as it totally passed me last year.

    Its a documentary by American satirist Bill Maher and Larry Charles (Borat director).

    Unlike Borat though there is no set-up or deceit towards the participants in this movie, its simply Maher seeking out multi faith religious leaders & believers and then attempting to skewer them thru his own knowledge (he's a lapsed catholic), often leaving them looking like complete idiots as they mouth stuff even they know is crap.

    In short its simply the funniest and most thought provoking film I've seen in ages, which is what's prompted me to start a thread for it as it deserves to be seen.

    I learnt a lot and its hilarious, the father xmas line in the trailer is a killer.

    Last edited by merf; 19-01-2009, 13:34.

    #2
    Is this on DVD? Sounds interesting

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      #3
      I'm surprised he didn't get stabbed or shot, given the subject matter. The trailer definitely has me intrigued. Amazon doesn't have a DVD date so I'm guessing it's about to come out in cinemas?
      Last edited by Sixty; 21-01-2009, 23:18.

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        #4
        It's not due for a cinema release in the UK until April. Not even out on DVD yet in the US. I've seen the first hour of the film and it's really enjoyable. Obviously Mahler has a point to make but the various religious extremists he talks to don't do themselves any favours.

        Some of the people make you laugh and shake your head in bewilderment at the crazy stuff they believe and the circular logic they use to justify their chosen deity / emotional crutch.

        Well worth a watch.

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          #5
          I read up and saw it was at Sundance last year and jkust assumed it never got a release over here and was going straight to dvd.

          I love the way he isn't a silly or overly aggressive wind up merchant, he just kills them in logic, which is a good place to start when arguing about people living in a giant fish for 3 days or a big man upstairs listening to everybody mumbling to him every night before they go to bed.

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            #6
            The problem I have over these things is he has full creative control over interviews and talks. It's incredibly easy, if you get enough footage, to make anyone look completely stupid in an interview, especially as if you ask them bad/stupid questions, what can you do? If you storm out you look bad, if you try to earnestly answer them you risk looking stupid.

            It's not hard to humiliate people using a camera, especially if you never have to worry about getting interviews from people in the future. These kinds of things go after easy targets.

            You could go to an anime convention and talk to cosplayers to make them seen incredibly weird (and this frequently happens) because you're taking advantage of people who are just having a bit of fun among people with similar interests, you could go to a gaming show and deliberately do lots of interviews that make all gamers look like shut in geeks.

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              #7
              i see your point but its a bit more worrying when a US Senator belives in creationalism, humans and dinosaurs co-existing etc, this person is voting on wars, billion dollar budgets etc, he's not just some nerd dressed up in a Chun-Li costume.

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                #8
                But then the Japanese PM is known to be a bit of an Otaku and is probably ripe for mockery

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                  #9
                  there is still a world of difference between a quirky hobby and a deep seated religious belief that seeps into your thinking and all decisions you make.

                  I suspect the PM doesn't make decisions based on how a character in Final Fantasy IV would have handled the situation.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by abigsmurf View Post
                    You could go to an anime convention and talk to cosplayers to make them seen incredibly weird (and this frequently happens)
                    Er... I don't mean to generalise, but they're not just a teensy bit on the nerdy side? <runs>

                    you could go to a gaming show and deliberately do lots of interviews that make all gamers look like shut in geeks.
                    True- we're not all geeks. Now excuse me while I return to my 10-hour session on Fallout. In my home-made raider armour costume.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by merf View Post
                      there is still a world of difference between a quirky hobby and a deep seated religious belief that seeps into your thinking and all decisions you make.

                      I suspect the PM doesn't make decisions based on how a character in Final Fantasy IV would have handled the situation.
                      He has been deeply against all attempts to ban lolicon manga

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                        #12
                        Watched this last night. I've got mixed feelings about it.

                        It's entertaining but Maher really irks me. Partly because he comes across as smug as fook but also because, ideology speaking, I'm on the same side of the fence as him, so I find it impossible to disagree with his logic, even if I wanted to out of pigheadedness.

                        I dunno, maybe it's impossible to make the case for atheism without ruffling feathers, but it's that dog with a bone side to atheism which really makes me cringe. I have no time for religious types who like to push their views down your throat, but over the last few years there has been a role reversal, and it now seems like it's the atheists who are pounding their chests, trying to convince everybody that their way of thinking is right and everyone else is wrong. Just seems like a colossal waste of time and energy to me.

                        My favourite part of the doc was when the Jesus impersonator stumped Maher for a second with his ice, water, steam defence of the holy trinity.

                        Woot, way to go, Jesus. Wipe that smug smile off his face.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by PrayforMojo View Post

                          Woot, way to go, Jesus. Wipe that smug smile off his face.
                          Jesus for the win! ... Anyone who knows what Jesus stands for, shouldn't be against people following his standards. Even if he didn't exist - the character of Jesus would be a good role-model.

                          What I like, is people exposing so called spiritual people, as nasty pieces of work. Just because someone says they are religious, doesn't mean they are good. A lot of so called religious people are complete bastards.

                          I think a lot of Atheists are nasty and smug. Especially the ones who bang on about not believing in God. They are really sad people.

                          Then again, no one said we are perfect. We can only strive to be as positive as possible. I'm not religious, but I do respect a lot of what the Bible teaches. It makes a lot of sense to me.

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                            #14
                            to me thats what really interesting about this subject,which I strongly support

                            nobody bats an eyelid at most mainstream pro-religuous material but the moment an athiest opens their mouth, even an articulate and very well educated one, its shock horror, even from fellow athiests.

                            the arguments for organised religion now have had hundreds of years to settle in so people can casually throw them out as fact but a vocl athiest viewpoint is a far newer thing so in some ways its easier to shoot at Bill Maher then the nutters and the rubbish they are spouting.

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                              #15
                              I just don't think you can persuade people to see reason by calling them idiots, which is what Dawkins and Maher basically resort to. Dawkins can get away with it because he's a brain box and his style less abrasive. Maher is a total lightweight in comparison. He even got caught out by the water, ice, steam thing which is the oldest trick in the book.

                              All I'm saying is the older I get, the less bent out of shape I get about what other people believe. I mean, that bit in the doc where Maher has a debate with a bunch of truck driving born again Christians was just too cringeworthy for words. Like watching someone making fun of handicapped people, or something.

                              Maybe in the US that dogged approach is more understandable because of the influence that powerful religious lobby groups have on national policy, but here in Blighty is religion even relevant anymore? Even our politicians don't like talking about their beliefs in public in case it harms their credibility.
                              Last edited by PrayforMojo; 05-04-2009, 23:03.

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