Bill Maher used his speaking time at the Academy Awards as a presenter of the “Best Documentary” to step on his soapbox and tell the world why his own documentary, ‘Religulous’, hadn’t been nominated.
“It’s a touchy subject,” said Maher, “but some day we all do have confront the notion that our silly gods cost the world too greatly. But there I go ruining the ending.“
It’s a touchy thing to do, shamelessly plugging your own documentary while sneering at the Academy members. Maher might have ruined his chances of being invited a second time by the Academy.
Fr. Robert Barron posted an excellent comment on Maher’s ‘Religulous’ on YouTube. The priest vs. the documentary maker. Who is the silly one? You decide.
Thanks for sharing this video. Excellent commentary. Bill Maher falls into a trap that many ‘documentary’ producers do, which is clearly letting their biases come to the surface while trying to suggest that they are producing something that equally covers both sides of an issue.
I still like most of Bill Maher’s stuff. So he’s an agnostic, I still agree with his political views for the most part. He is really a funny man. He’s entitled to his views on religion. I’m a Catholic and I can watch someone like Bill Maher and not necessarily agree with everything he says. I like to hear divergent opinions even if they mock something I may hold sacred.
Most media people are big heads. Look at EWTN. They had quite a shock when the coverage of the Pope’s visit was given to the Canadian Networks. Unfortunately the U.S.
does not have a more liberal alternative to EWTN.
Father Barron is da bomb!
Lots to admire there…
Bill Maher’s funniest moments in the documentary are with average God believing people. Father Barron says that Maher is obsessed with biblical literalism but most believers don’t know any better. Most priests in most churches do not teach us that some of the texts in the bible are allegorical. Father Barron calls some of the believers in the film “stupid” because they believe exactly what their churches tell them to believe. A majority of Chrisitans believe strictly on faith and they don’t rely on their own understanding. Since atheist are rational people they use their education to explain their beliefs. Christians have difficulty doing the same thing. Father Barron cannot expect all Christians to be rational people because the church preaches faith and not reason. Only well educated Chrisitians like Father Barron can say things that don’t seem “religulous” to a non-believer, but he’s a rare find.
this is fantastic!
I recommend reading: Fides et Ratio
On the Realationship between Faith and Reason _ John Paul II
http://www.catholic-pages.com/documents/fides_et_ratio.pdf
Also, the mockery is not simply of what some people believe, the
mockery is of Someone I love. God Himself.
Perhaps that is why I do not enjoy or tolerate Bill Maher.
He has nothing to say that I care to waste time listening to.
James:
“Most priests in most churches do not teach us that some of the texts in the bible are allegorical”
I suppose, for you to be able to make that claim, you’d have to hear “most priests” and probably attended “most churches”, if not, that’s just an irrational assumption.
“Since atheist are rational people they use their education to explain their beliefs” and “Christians have difficulty doing the same thing. Father Barron cannot expect all Christians to be rational people because the church preaches faith and not reason”
All Atheists are rational, and of course, not all Christian. Surely the most unbiased comment. Again, when did you interview all Atheists and all Christians to make this deduction? what kind of test did you provide them to test their rationale? That must have taken a lot of time and effort, but hey, it is worth it just for the sake of making these clearly unbiased and scientifically supported opinion.
The political ascendancy of Christian fundamentalists in American public life over the past 30 years has done more to harm the faith of genuine seekers and divert thoughtful people from God than anything Bill Maher could ever do. I’m pleased that Fr. Barron offered the Catholic view of scripture in this video. Serious, intelligent people who are only exposed to fundamentalism get the impression that Christians are idiots. And yes, this is exactly what Maher is suggesting about Christians, but he could not pull it off if fundamentalists had not done a very good job of convincing Americans that they represent the real Christianity.
The Catholic Church must do more of this kind of thing to show Americans that an alternative to fundamentalism, one that predates it, has been with us all along.