Maher’s Religulous : More Borat Atheism

Bill Maher’s mockumentary Religulous opens in theaters on Friday. Judging by Maher’s media interviews, it’s more of the same type of sophomoric ridicule that has been so self-defeating to the atheist movement and that I have written about at this blog and in recentarticles. Watch the trailer of the film, directed by the high minded genius who brought us Borat.

As this NY Times review describes, Maher chooses the easiest of targets to interview in his film, such as an amusement park Jesus. In the process, Maher makes fun of fundamentalist religion while seldom addressing the moderate dimensions that many Americans find so meaningful.

Maher’s claim, like Dawkins and others, is that the goal of his film is consciousness raising among agnostics and rationalists, lending them the strength to speak out against religion. But if Maher’s and Dawkins’ rants become the model for our own Borat-like conversations with friends and neighbors, as atheists we are likely to be scoring a lot of self-inflicted wounds.

I discuss the impact of the New Atheist movement in this recent video interview with Big Think.