Religulous

When Passion of the Christ and Fahrenheit 911 came out I was told that I must go see those movies because they were essential to my spiritual and political growth. People looked at me strangely when I told them that I simply wasn't interested in seeing movies that told a story I already knew quite well or were extreme rantings disguised as documentary. I feel the same way about Religulous, the new Bill Maher movie about the current state of world religions (in other words, let's see how stupid Christians, Jews, and Muslims are for having spiritual beliefs). But isn't it shallow and closed-minded for me to pass judgment on a movie I haven't seen? By not seeing it am I not exposing myself to other viewpoints I should at least hear? Perhaps. However, after reading reviews and commentary on Religulous I think it's safe to say that I can save time and money and not go see a movie that focuses mostly on the more extreme sects of religious communities. As Brett McCracken of Christianity Today said:

"Honestly, it's not the hardest thing in the world to make a religion look silly when you only focus on the kitschiest, most grimace-inducing practitioners of it. Sure, we have to own up to these unfortunate (but fortunately fringe) elements within our ranks, but Maher shores up little credibility for his cause by refusing to talk with any opponent with an ounce of nuance of theological rigor....Maher's biggest problem with this movie is not that it is reckless or condescending (which it is), but that it espouses a point of view that, quite simply, is not shared by many people in the world. Maher's ideology has no room for the miraculous or supernatural. Such things are all hocus pocus to him and cannot be believed by anyone with a brain. Faith of any kind (i.e., believing in something that can't be proved) 'makes a virtue out of not thinking,' according to Maher."

Looking at non-Christian publication, The Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt states:

"The problem, if you're going to take Maher's inquiry seriously, is whom he chooses to question and where he chooses to go. For the most part, he verbally jousts with evangelical charlatans and red-neck whack jobs. He visits a Holy Land theme park and a Creationist museum. Maher doesn't risk questioning a learned theologian or even a devote Christian or Jew who reads the holy scriptures as a spiritual guide without having to accept as literal truth stories written by men 2,000 years ago."

Finally, it seems so cliché to end this post with a verse, but it has to be said...

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." - Philippians 4:8

Religulous is apparently none of those things.