For those of us who’ve already seen Zeitgeist the movie, or are not holders of faith despite their parent’s upbringing, this movie does not bring anything new to the table. Bill Maher spends a lot of time to arrive at his conclusion - religion sounds like a fairytale to a rational man, and faith goes along the lines of psychosis… religion makes people submissive to leaders, and that’s a big threat in our politics today.

Ultimately, this movie has a particular audience. The audience who has already been down this path of questioning will find it long/entertaining, and the audience who is religious will not even watch past the first 5 minutes. Those who are in between, who call themselves ‘religious’ but don’t go to church, might find this insightful, as the questions he asks brings up a good way of approaching a mythology that captivates a lot of people.

There were a few good moments of hearing other people talk - for example a religious Senator whom Maher interviews, says a few things about politics in this country. Maher affirms with him that out of 10 commandments, there are only 2 that were relevant. So he poses this question, “what else should we add in order to make it relevant for today (such as don’t rape, etc)”, and the Senator doesn’t reply with anything…

These parts are similar to an Ali G interview - good shit. But you know, Maher isn’t Ali G in terms of style. Although in this movie, he questions both to prove a point as well as satisfy a curiosity, this movie was more like a written essay. He has his anecdote, his thesis, evidence, and commentary… then finally to a conclusion. I must say though, his choice in interviewees were pretty impressive, given both the accessibility as well as his public profile.

It was pretty entertaining at times because of this, but for the most part, it is difficult to get most people to talk about faith because they get defensive. Maher points this mechanism out - he says that it appeared most people will just say they know something is true because they “know it’s true” - hence, avoiding to answer further questions.

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