Posted on 09/25/2008 7:58:38 AM PDT by Sybeck1
Bill Maher's Anti-Religion Movie “Religion is detrimental to the progress of society.” That’s my favorite quote from Bill Maher’s often brilliant, but often unfocused “documentary,” called “Religulous.” It opens in early October right after its debut at the Toronto Film Festival. The articulate, quick-witted comedian sets out in this film — which was supposed to have been released last Easter — to prove that line is true. Directed by Larry Charles, the man who put "Borat" together so skillfully, "Religulous" is blatant about Maher’s feelings: religion is bad. All religions are bad. They are ruining everything. If you go for that, then "Religulous" is for you. Unlike Michael Moore, whose controversial films at least allow stories to be told, Maher is not interested in other viewpoints. Rather, "Religulous" is a long Maher spiel that pauses only to underscore his own points. At first the film is very funny as Maher gently mocks one organized religion after another. He questions just about everything in Catholicism, even though he was raised Catholic. (His mother is Jewish, but threw it all over for the father.) Everything from the Immaculate Conception to crucifixion re-enactments are covered. By the time “Religulous” is over, the faith-seekers in the audience will have scratched Catholic off their possibilities. Not that the other major religious groups don’t come in for razzing, either. Maher is brutal to Orthodox Jews and just as nasty to Muslims. (He interviews gay Muslims in Amsterdam, a city where he also smokes a lot of pot and finds many easy laughs.) Mormons get it, and so do Scientologists, whom Maher mocks in London’s Hyde Park. Maher sends up everything outrageous and unusual in religion, cherry-picking the fringe elements wherever he can find them.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“Atheism is a belief.”
The burden of proof is on someone proposing a positive preposition. ie belief in a deity. Saying that atheism is a belief incorrectly attempts to reverse that burden.
We need to distinguish between those who claim to have an open mind on the question—”nontheists,” say—and those who have reached a conclusive rejection of the proposition.
As an “atheist” is literally one without God, that amounts to a fairly positive rejection of the theist case, and, therefore, a positive belief about the universe. One can feel fairly confident (or not) about how one reached that belief, but it is, in fact, a positive belief.
The word for those without belief on a particular point is “incredulous.”
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