If you havent seen this movie/documentary by Bill Maher -Religulous, its worth taking a look at. When Maher made this he was not yet a full blown dogmatic Atheist{as he is now} he was just on the cusp between Deism and Agnosticism veering towards pure I dont know Agnosticism. Somewhere between the movies release and some months to a year or two afterwards he became full blown atheist[and dogmatically so at that, unfortunately}. I was just watching a few old interviews from the time this was made/came out with him on various shows{on VHS, Id recorded and forget I had until last night}, ion most of them he OUTRIGHT STATES that he is not an Atheist because he believes it mirrors the certainty of religion{MY OPINION: it doesnt per-se, though Dogmatic/strong atheism does}. Years prior to this he would state or imply that he was a Deist. When he became an I dunno middle road agnostic, I, though deist, certainly respected that{and it was that which drove him to make this movie} and I wouldve respected his becoming an atheist, IF he had done so for good, illogical, balanced, individualist reasons, but he didnt, he did so for bad, reactionary, herd minded, illogical reasons. This movie/documentary is a fascinating look inside Mahers mind when he was going through this transition; furthermore, he makes SOME valid points in some of his criticisms, though it must be noted some of them are fallacious, strawman blanket assumptions, and a few ad hominem oriented slams{but then, he IS a comedian, and thats kind of the modern comedians forte, and I wont blame them, they do this is a funny way so as to make us not take ourselves or our views TOO seriously and so long as they do themselves to themselves/their views as well....good on em. But anyways, some of his arguments and questions here are very strawmanish, there are some valid ones too; and so long as its all directed at FUNDAMENTALIST monotheistic revealed religions{or at least monotheistic and/or abrahamic revealed religions}- the arguments and questions and criticisms he had/has were/are very valid, and the documentary is good in that context, but when he blankets all religion(s) and puts them ALL in one basket and makes his arguments for dooing so...he is engaging in strawman arguments, just an FYI. This documentary is a fascinating look inside Mahers mind during his transition of viewpoint on the God question and religion, and also a entertaining ...sometimes scary look at FUNDAMENTALIST and REVEALED-MONOTHEISTIC{etc} religions(its just unfortunate Maher blankets ALL religion(s) and paints them ALL and the whole idea with the same brush and engages in as many strawmen as he does, which for a rationalist to do is not very rational}. Enjoy: https://youtube/watch?v=E2zhlDbMfDg
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:07:51 +0000
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