I just got back from seeing a pre-screening of Bill Maher’s new movie, Religulous. I found it quite enjoyable. It was very different from my usual, prefered method of approaching religious skepticism. I’m accustomed to the more intellectual approach championed by the likes of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. In contrast, Maher comes across very much as an everyday, average kind of guy. You know, the kind of person you’d want to have drink with in a bar or vote into the highest office on the planet.

Also different about this movie is that Maher doesn’t describe himself as an atheist. He’s more like Michael Shermer who describes himself as a militant agnostic - “I don’t know and you don’t either.” Maher goes one step further. Not only does he point out that religionists don’t know, but he points out that what they think they know is, as the movie title implies, ridiculous. But the admission that he doesn’t know the answers to life’s big questions is such a point of strength for him. He appears very humble next to the interviewees who express such absolute certitude.

True to Maher’s style, the movie was infused with humor, the best of which was often the looks on people’s faces as they react to him. Other moments are funny because of how surprising they were (I won’t give these away). His natural charm even enabled him to get laughs from people who clearly didn’t like him.

On the down side, this movie really didn’t offer any new insights or facts for the free thinker. Instead of being informative, it was merely entertaining, which I suppose is what a movie is supposed to be first and foremost. I think there is potential for the nominal religionist - the Christmas-and-Easter-only church goer, the “my parents were Christian so I guess I am too” crowd - to get something out of it. There’s enough meat for these types to say, “wow, there are some ridiculous aspects of my religion.”

Also, I would have liked to hear more about making the non-believer voice heard. Like Dawkins’ The God Delusion, Religulous points out that in America, the non-believing community is a huge minority; larger than jews, homosexuals, and NRA members combined and even larger the African American community. We need not be timid. Unfortunately, that point was only touched on.

Finally, there was an attempt in Religulous to tack on a message on the end. This message was not a theme throughout the movie nor was it built up to towards the end. It’s almost as if they felt obligated to ‘get serious’ before the credits. It simply didn’t work. I wish it had stuck with the theme of the movie, which was belief in ridiculous things can make people do ridiculous and sometimes dangerous things.

Overall, this movie is worth seeing. It’s shortcomings have no impact on it’s entertainment value. I recommend this to anyone who likes humor and is not overly sensitive about their own religion, if saddled with one.