Religulous

On the News this morning they were talking about the newly launched ads on London buses that respond to the atheist party's posters (above) from a while back. Apparently 3 Christian groups have launched campaigns (along the lines of "There is a God. BELIEVE. and enjoy your life") to the tune of thousands of pounds. it's all insane (especially in the current economic climate) if you ask me, and at the very least just people shoving their opinions down my throat when i didn't ask them to... which is sort of how i felt when i went to a screening of Religulous on Tuesday eve. In the documentary, comedian Bill Maher (and director Larry 'curb your enthusiasm' Charles) basically say: enough is enough - we'd be tolerant about people's religious beliefs if only they weren't infecting politics and basically fucking everything up on a world scale, a fact that is especially insane since religions are essentially based on a load of completely ridiculous fairytales (hence film title ridiculous / religious, get it?). so far, fair point. Maher, a half catholic - half jewish comedian, announces his intention to find out what religion is all about and why supposedly sane people believe in things like talking snakes, messages from alien planets and people living inside whales for three days. and in the main, his investigations are hilarious - there are some fucking crazy religious people out there, who, when you scratch the surface, really don't know anything at all about the religion that's supposed to define them and the way they live their life - they're complete nutters. but, the thing is, it's so EASY to ridicule these targets - they're ignorant, money grabbing and arrogant. where are the articulate, intelligent believers? there are about 3 in the film, all of whom have limited air time (of course). Maher's interview style is quite Jonathan Ross, i.e shout over whatever his interviewees actually have to say. plus he actually laughs in most of their faces, which many of them deserve, it's true, but after a while this just becomes crass and annoyingly smug of him. still, it would all be fine if THEN Maher doesn't get all moralising and dogmatic and basically become an evangelical preacher of doubt and uncertainty, which is as bad as someone shouting at me to believe in god, i think - up til now the atheists have basically kept schtum, and i kind of liked it like that. anyway the film left a nasty taste in my mouth, despite the fact that for most of it i couldn't help laughing like a banshee.

could i have said 'basically' any more in this post? i don't think so.