Posted on 02/18/2005 8:16:23 AM PST by RobinOfKingston
Bill Maher: Christians have neurological disorder Says parents 'drill' religion into kids' heads using biblical 'fairy tales' Posted: February 18, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Bill Maher
Television personality Bill Maher, host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," says Christians and others who are religious suffer from a neurological disorder that "stops people from thinking."
Appearing as a guest on MSNBC's "Scarborough County" this week, Maher told host Joe Scarborough:
"We are a nation that is unenlightened because of religion. I do believe that. I think that religion stops people from thinking. I think it justifies crazies. I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. If you look at it logically, it's something that was drilled into your head when you were a small child. It certainly was drilled into mine at that age. And you really can't be responsible when you are a kid for what adults put into your head."
The former host of "Politically Incorrect" said the lack of enlightenment of so many Americans means the nation actually has more in common with its enemies than one might think.
Said Maher: "When you look at beliefs in such things as, do you go to heaven, is there a devil, we have more in common with Turkey and Iran and Syria than we do with European nations and Canada and nations that, yes, I would consider more enlightened than us."
Maher explained that he was not singling out evangelicals, but was targeting all "religious" people.
"I think the vote in Missouri [rejecting same-sex marriage] and a lot of other states is because people are religious," Maher said. "They don't have to be evangelical, but they're religious. They believe in religion, which as – I think it was Jesse Ventura who had that quote about religion is a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
The television host told Scarborough he was convinced evangelicals' influence will wane.
Said Maher: "When people say to me, 'You hate America,' I don't hate America. I love America. I am just embarrassed that it has been taken over by people like evangelicals, by people who do not believe in science and rationality. It is the 21st century. And I will tell you, my friend. The future does not belong to the evangelicals. The future does not belong to religion."
Later in the interview, Maher returned to the childhood-religion theme, comparing fairy tales to Bible stories:
"When you were a kid and they were telling you whatever you believe in religion, do you think if they had switched the fairy tales that they read to you in bed with the Bible, you would know the difference?
"Do you think if it was the fairy tale about a man who lived inside of a whale and it was religion that Jack built a beanstalk today, you would know the difference? Why do you believe in one fairy tale and not the other? Just because adults told you it was true and they scared you into believing it, at pain of death, at pain of burning in hell."
The sad fact is that he won't have anyone to hide behind when that day happens. He will be standing there as an INDIVIDUAL responsible for himself.
I confess to knowing absolutely nothing about his lifestyle. Now that I think of it, that might actually be a blessing.
When clowns venture into serious oratory, their asinity is no longer humerous.
Me too!
I don't know what I would do without that "crutch".
"We are a nation that is unenlightened because of religion. I do believe that. I think that religion stops people from thinking. I think it justifies crazies. I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative."
Our nation leads the way in human rights because of religion. He can blame religion all he wants for craziness, but the fact is that those people are crazy to begin with, they merely find a cause to express it in. Religion doesn't kill people, people do, just as guns don't kill people, people do.
"I think religion is a neurological disorder. If you look at it logically, it's something that was drilled into your head when you were a small child."
I became a Christian about a year and a half ago, after years of being told there was no God.
"Said Maher: "When you look at beliefs in such things as, do you go to heaven, is there a devil, we have more in common with Turkey and Iran and Syria than we do with European nations and Canada and nations that, yes, I would consider more enlightened than us."
European and Canadian Christians I know might take offense to that.
"Maher explained that he was not singling out evangelicals, but was targeting all "religious" people."
If he is referring to man-made organized religion, that's one thing--but if he refers to people who believe in God, that's another.
"I think the vote in Missouri [rejecting same-sex marriage] and a lot of other states is because people are religious," Maher said. "They don't have to be evangelical, but they're religious."
What about the vote in atheist/deist California re: gay marriage?
"They believe in religion, which as – I think it was Jesse Ventura who had that quote about religion is a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
Many attend church for the social aspect and need reinforcement to be faithful. I don't attend church but on resurrection day. The only other time you'll find me there is when I am helping friends unload food for the distribution to the poor. Those folks I help out occasionally are not weak minded, they are charity minded, and devote about 20 hours a week to helping the needy in this community. It is outrageous that Maher would classify such good and kind people as weak-minded.
"When people say to me, 'You hate America,' I don't hate America. I love America. I am just embarrassed that it has been taken over by people like evangelicals, by people who do not believe in science and rationality. It is the 21st century. And I will tell you, my friend. The future does not belong to the evangelicals. The future does not belong to religion."
He's right. The future doesn't belong to organized religion, it belongs to Christ.
We got him off of one show, now it is time to have him off of HBO. This guy is a discusting piece of ---- and it is tragic America has to put up with what he thinks is funny. He is totally anti American and loves to take pot shots at anyone who loves this country (under God) and the Constitution we live by!!
Maher is a nut case that just keeps on giving. The only appeal he has is to his fellow traveling nut cases.
'Course, we are pretty good at forgetting the less than savory parts of our own heritage, and the fact that many used God in an effort to justify actions that no one could believe were condoned by the Creator.
Maher is simply a worthless piece of human debris who thinks he's funny and enlightened...he's neither! Why does he even have a forum anywhere? I thought he would have been totally discareded after he lost his show. He's like a Looney Left Tick that we have to flush!!!
I love this quote.
Weak-minded people down through history: Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Amos, Judas Maccabeus, Jesus Christ, Hillel, Mohammed, Innocent III, Torquemada, Calvin, Luther, Huss, Cromwell, Washington, Lincoln, bin Laden, Bush.
You can disagree all you like about whether these men were good or evil, but only an insane person could refer to any of them as "weak-minded."
Why does this disorder only affect the Christians?
I'd bet he'd never utter this about a muslim.
Bill Maher is a jackass.
Bill Maher needs to read 'The Hidden Face of God' by Gerald Schroeder.
After that, he will realize that he was once an irrational goon.
What a one-sided idiot
Maher must be channeling Robespierre.
Just for funsies, I'd like to see Bill debate a Christian neurologist. I'm sure there are more than few who would be game to go toe-to-toe with this jerk.
The man is morally bankrupt. His opinion means nothing to me.
Not in my case. I wonder what his explanation is for those of us raised in non-Christian homes that are believers?
Verbal: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
and when Maher is standing before his Maker...
Maher, being a Jew, of all people should hit his knees every day and thank God that American "religious" came to the rescue of his ancestors and all Europeans not once but twice...
otherwise Maher's parents much less Maher himself wouldn't even be around today to voice his ignorance!
Maher is a coward and a third rate bully. He woudn't impugn Islam because he knows there would be a fatwah with his name on it. That's why he had Suzanne Somers put her hands over David Horowitz's mouth instead of doing it himself. Horowitz would have flipped him like a cheese omelette.
Gee, then I guess HILLARY CLINTON and JOHN KERRY are among those "weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
Right, Bill?
Bill?
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