Religulous

I went to see Religulous tonight, the new film by Bill Maher. We have this great old theatre here in town which has but a single screen. It's the only commercial venue in town where this sort of film is par for the course.

Do not let the reviews you may have read fool you about this flick. It is very much anti-religion. I say that as a matter of fact and without judgement for or against the movie - or religion, for that matter.

The basic gist of the movie is that anyone who approaches religious belief with certitude is a fool. Religion is foolish and dangerous. Dangerous because the apocalyptic fantasies that are at the core of so many religions are now possible due to man's recent grasp of apocalyptic technologies.

Technologies such as nuclear weapons which, along with pollution, are listed as some of the ways man's technologies could facilitate the apocalyptic fantasies contained within various scriptures. I would add biological and chemical weapons to that list of apocalypse-enablers.

Bill Maher says at one point, "The only thing worse than prophecy is a self-fulfilling prophecy."

To close the film, he sums it all up with, "Grow up or die." Meaning religious faith is immature and its foolish tenants can lead to our destruction given man's grasp of modern technology.

I am agnostic, myself. I don't claim to be wise enough to know what the answer is. I agree with the assertion that religious institutions are prone to corruption and have been so for centuries and millenia. Centuries and millenia of corruption have most likely lead to a perversion of the teachings of Christ, Muhammed, Moses, whoever.