Why Bill Maher's Movie "Religulous" is so Important Right Now

Comedian Bill Maher, veteran host of news oriented talk shows like Politically Incorrect and his current TV show Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO has never been one to shy away from controversy. As ribald observer of American culture and more, he's not timid nor self serving to avoid offending people. Indeed the vehicle which brought him mainstream notoriety Politically Incorrect was hit with waves of complaints after an on-air controversy which saw Maher agree with a guest that the 911 terrorists were not cowardly. He fanned the flames further by saying, "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

A firestorm of complaints erupted and even White House press secretary Ari Fleischer chastised Maher. He apologized for the remark, and clarified his meaning, saying he was condemning U.S. policy, not soldiers who carry it out. Nevertheless, within 9 months ABC canceled Politically Incorrect, claiming it was only because of declining ratings. Maher maintains it stemmed directly from 911 terrorist controversy and that advertisers started to bail out towards the end of the show's run.

Now with this new documentary, in collaboration with Larry Charles of Borat fame, Maher is questioning the world's religions and their influence on politics, people and just about everything else. Religulous sees Maher traveling the world talking to Christians, Jews, Muslims and other faithful. His investigative journey has him interviewing those who claim to have the answers to the universe, and in many cases believe they were handed those answers from the mouth of God.

From early reviews, it's clear Maher isn't denigrating religion, nor casting his own beliefs or lack thereof, on those who faithfully worship a deity. According to Maher, his film core mission is to question why people do the things they do in God's name. Why do they hate others who don't attend the same church? Why do terrorist groups flourish claiming to be doing God's work? These observations may be scathing in their content, but also hilariously delivered. After all, Maher is first and foremost a comedian. Comics can always get away with more than most of us. From Lenny Bruce to Richard Pryor to Howard Stern, agile comic minds concoct deliriously funny bits from the mundane. They're all the more rib tickling, because they're culled from our lives and the culture at large. Religion is certainly fair game, since it touches all of us on some level.

In today's world of fractured belief systems where brother and sister of differing faiths quarrel, where religious extremism has shed so much blood many simply accept it as the way things are, people must talk about what can be done. I don't agree with everything Bill Maher says, but I'm excited to see someone ask the real big questions in such a big way like Religulous. If we all were brave enough to ask more questions of our political leaders, our religious leaders and of ourselves, we'd have more answers. At the very least, we'd not expect to get honest answers from those who may have hidden agendas and motivations, which compel them to ensure a constituency or a flock is kept complacent, silent and unquestioning.