Religulous

Bill Maher's documentary about religions and religious people was very disappointing. I expected a deeper approach and not this simplistic Borat-like version. To tell the truth, it was so repetitive that i almost fell asleep!

It is so easy to take as targets people who are less educated, whose educational ignorance accompanies a simple and sincere faith. Such is the first group of truck-drivers he teases in their little roadside trailer-chapel in North Carolina. Now when it comes to a US Senator who is bold enough to tell him (and therefore us, electors who brought him where he now sits!) that ""one does not need to take an IQ test to become a US Senator", there is indeed value in underlining the crass ignorance (because in the long term it is more expensive than education) or even worse the state of intellectual denial that one adheres to in the name of religion. Another example is the ex-gay Reverend.... Sad! Very sad! And scary too.

The only "worthy" opponent was the Vatican astronomer. Interestingly, the more "fanatical" branches of Christianity in this documentary were the Protestant ones, whilst the more "open-minded" were the Catholics. Maher did not interview any Christian Eastern Orthodox (maybe he does not know about us?). In any case, this brings to mind the fact that for some Protestant sects, the Catholics are nothing but Satan's sons... You see, the catholic Church has long decided to repent for what it did to Galileo and now admits that the world was only metaphorically created in 7 days...while the Protestant "low" churches (Baptists and other funny evangelical denominations that only exist in the United States) as opposed to "high" churches (Lutherans, Anglicans Episcopalians, apologies if I forget anyone) still stick to the book, to the letter of the book that is, not to its spirit!