Religulous – Horrible Movie, Great Review

I was wondering how to see Bill Maher's film Religulous without having to pay for it. After all, I'm not a movie critic, so I can't get free tickets. But I refuse to pay to see a film that mocks everything I believe. That's why I was happy to see that Chuck Colson – in today's "Breakpoint" email – reviewed the film. And he did such a tremendous job, I'm going to quote a large part of his review. Click here to read his complete "The Foolish of the World" message.

From this point on, it's Chuck Colson talking to you about Religulous.

Comedian and talk-show host Bill Maher has released a documentary called Religulous. The title — a combination of the words religious and ridiculous — tells you what kind of worldview we're dealing with. This movie is a showcase for Maher's contempt for religious believers of all kinds, from Christians to Jews to Muslims to Mormons. Maher interviews representatives of many of these faiths; then he lumps all the religions together and deems them forces for evil that "must die" in order for humanity to thrive. These scary words are accompanied by apocalyptic images of nuclear attacks.

Like another well-known documentarian, Michael Moore, Bill Maher tries to make his point basically by claiming that he's right and editing out almost everyone and everything that might show that he's wrong. Boiled down, the idea of the film is that if you're religious, you're an idiot.

(snip snip for space reasons)

He reminds them that guys in prisons and foxholes hang on to religion because they have nothing else…. Having been in prison myself, let me speak for those prisoners. Recognizing your need for God isn't a question of "smart or stupid." It's a matter of recognizing who you are — your own insufficiency, the sin in your own heart—and prisoners get that. And then you have to recognize your desperate need for a Savior.

But whether you're a prisoner or a doctor or a lawyer or a comedian, you don't have to have a gigantic I.Q. to see that it's necessary because you cannot rescue yourself from your own mortality or sinfulness — that is, you are not God. In fact, realizing your own spiritual need is probably the wisest thing anyone can do.

I think that's what Christ meant when he talked about God using the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, or those that most people think of as wise. Sadly, Bill Maher doesn't seem to have come to that place in his life where he's willing to risk that kind of foolishness.

I hope and pray that one day he will.

But don’t be dismayed by the wave of films and books that mock your faith. Get used to it. People today are desperate and angry with the economy. They’re looking for a secular savior. In my mind, the culture will only get more hostile as time goes by.