Bill Maher Unleashes Anti-Religion Website to Promote 'Religulous'
Filed under: Documentary, Movie Marketing, Michael Moore
Because Michael Moore can't make enough movies to piss people off 24/7, we fortunately have people like Bill Maher, whose new anti-religious documentary, Religulous, hits theaters this fall. Of course, Maher has said that he shouldn't be compared to Moore, whom he considers to be a genius. Plus, Maher didn't direct the film, Larry Charles, of Borat, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, did. But in the same way that Al Gore is credited with An Inconvenient Truth, Maher, who hosted one of my favorite shows of the past (Politically Incorrect) and currently hosts HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher (which I've never seen, because I don't have HBO), will be continually given credit for this film. No matter who gets the higher billing, though, it's certain that Religulous is going to be hilarious thanks to the talents of both gentlemen. Now, to help promote the film and presumably to get people either laughing or offended a few months early, Maher has unleashed a new website called Disbeliefnet.com. It seems to be part satire, part examination of the world's religions, part blog of religion-related news and part movie marketing. Movie fans might want to check out the grouping of clips/trailers from films detailing the endless suffering of Jews. Personally, my favorite gag is the "Donate Now" button that goes to a randomly chosen religion's donation form. Now I can give to everyone equally with ease.
And speaking of equal coverage, Maher and Charles' film seems to touch on all the major and minor religions of the world, bringing their "guerilla" shooting style into places cameras have supposedly never been before. But if the film doesn't focus any attention on your religion, don't worry: you can be offended about not being able to get offended. Or something.
Religious opens October 3rd.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-05-2008 @ 8:56PM
Marty said...
if this is supposed to be an anti-religious film then I wonder if they will apply the same to Islam or will it just be to Christianity. Let's see how scathing Bill Maher is of Islam and if he addresses the true evil of Islam in all its honesty then he should get 24/7 security for he will be their next target.
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6-05-2008 @ 9:29PM
Christopher Campbell said...
When interviewed on Larry King Live, Maher mentioned visiting the Dome of the Rock, so he must be including Islam.
6-06-2008 @ 12:50AM
facebookfake said...
@ Marty
I think you're assume that by religion he means Christianity, which he does not. He usually picks on religion as a whole (on the basis that they are all equally crazy).
“I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder.”
My personal favorite: “Religion to me is a bureaucracy between man and God that I don't need.”
6-05-2008 @ 9:44PM
kaitlin hess said...
My sentiments exactly Marty!
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6-05-2008 @ 11:21PM
Steven said...
Bill Maher is well known for ridiculing all religions, so every Christian who likes to play the victim card shouldn't feel they're the only ones being picked on in this movie.
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6-06-2008 @ 1:45PM
akaison said...
I agree that it's telling how much whine we are having read about Christians as victims even with a guy who is avowedly anti-all religion. The idea that Christians should be singled out as not to be ridiculed is really your goal here. Stop whining.
6-06-2008 @ 1:47AM
gottacook said...
Just so you know: The audio track of Real Time with Bill Maher is available as a free iTunes podcast.
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6-06-2008 @ 4:08AM
Niko_Bellic said...
Hey, Chris, look up TULLYCASTS on youtube.
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8-02-2008 @ 1:20AM
Andrew said...
Saw the premiere. As a conservative I thought it was a great movie. You should see it only if you have an opened mind to ideas.
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8-26-2008 @ 10:46PM
Matthew Putman said...
There are so many levels of bravery in life, and bravery for an entertainer is often things such as doing a low budget film for scale salary. I am a scientist, and certainly agree with Mahar on what I have heard of his rational attacks on religion, and am glad that he is backing up his agnostic beliefs with science, and scietists such as Richard Dawkins. I have recently read an early twentieth century essay titled "The Faith of a Naturalist", by the author and naturist John Burroughs. This essay has not been given much attention, at least in 70 years, yet I found it the only book which offers me the right to experience joy through discovery, even without the god of religion. I only mention this because it is not often read, and while I respect Dawkins, and others greatly, it is nice to see this romantic, and sometimes sounding spiritual appoach to God only to see that the God of Burroughs is much like the God of Einstein.
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8-26-2008 @ 10:54PM
Matthew Putman said...
I think he has been fair in the past at attacking both religions. In recent months, I feel he has tended to look not just at some ridicualous and harmful political and personal aspects of organized religions, but of the more serious questions of whether beliefe in God itself causes irrational behavior. If this is how he is thinking, I expect the film to be rightly against any religion, for the false creation of a diety which we as humans have no way of contemplating rationally.
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