Quantcast

Search our Archives!


Advertisement

The God Blog

Email | Print | Text - Text +

September 25, 2008 | 7:11 pm

Bill Maher, Catholic and Jewish, master of guilt

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg


Photo

And we’re back. Joining me again is my guest, Bill Maher.

Now, this is Bill’s sixth appearance on The God Blog in as many weeks; I suppose the visits will stop soon after his new docu-drama, “Religulous,” is greeted at theaters by protesters Oct. 3.

Yesterday I mentioned that even Bill is prone to irrational beliefs, his having to do with medicine. And today, I offer this snippet from my feature about his new film.

This portion appears toward the end of the article:

The so-called New Atheists—bestselling authors who appeal to science, logic and intellectual elitism—typically preach only to the choir.

“I don’t like the term atheist because, to me, that is as rigid as religion is,” Maher said. “I preach the doctrine of ‘I don’t know.’ I don’t know and I don’t think it should matter. I don’t think people should be so obsessed. Give yourself a break. You don’t have to worship something, you don’t have to worship something that is really just in your head, that you made up.”

But Maher avoids two of these major trappings—he can’t help the high-minded snobbery—and sticks to what he is good at: comedy.

“I think Jesus was probably an awkward teen—big Jewfro, bad at sports,” he says in the film, at which point a clip of Jonah Hill from “Superbad” flashes on the screen: “Here I am!”

And what better way to discredit something than to make belief in it laughable?

With his Catholic and Jewish backgrounds, Maher should feel guiltier than anyone about such heathen humor. But instead, the religious moviegoer is the only one worrying about God’s forgiveness.

Tracker Pixel for Entry
The Jewish Journal believes that great community depends on great conversation. So, jewishjournal.com provides a forum for insightful voices across the political and religious spectrum. Bloggers are not employees of The Jewish Journal, and their opinions are their own. Our entire blog policy is here. Please alert us to any violations of our policy by clicking here. (editor@jewishjournal.com). If you'd like to join our blogging community, email us. (webmaster@jewishjournal.com).

More from JewishJournal.com

COMMENTS

We welcome your feedback.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Terms of Service

JewishJournal.com has rules for its commenting community.Get all the details.

Publication

JewishJournal.com reserves the right to use your comment in our weekly print publication.



About this Blog

Blog Home
About the Blogger(s)
Contact

RSS


Blog Archive






Newspaper

Serving a community of 600,000, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles is the largest Jewish weekly outside New York City. Our award-winning paper reaches over 150,000 educated, involved and affluent readers each week. Subscribe here.

© Copyright 2013 Tribe Media Corp.
All rights reserved. JewishJournal.com is hosted by Nexcess.net. Homepage design by Koret Communications.
Widgets by Mijits. Site construction by Hop Studios.

counter fake hit page