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September 25, 2008 | 5:11 pm

Bill Maher, Catholic and Jewish, master of guilt

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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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.

7 Comments — Leave your comment

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I like what he said about atheism being as rigid as religion. It is just what I say

But the license to avoid thinking seriously is not very respectable. Of course it’s a free universe. It’s not a plan, that’s all. We can postpone dealing with it, even for a lifetime. But it’s not something we can really sell to those who are engaged in the journey.

It is a question of integrity. Everyone is free to think what they want, but not to believe what they want. The reason is that once you know something to be true or even very probable, you need to accept it, commit to it, and possibly act upon it. Any less is a degree of denial, dissonance, and internal conflict.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 9/25/08 at 9:26 pm

Why do Jews need to mock Christianity? How insecure

Comment by Sam Weinstein on 2/23/09 at 3:43 am

Maher is not a Jew and does not take a Jewish position. (I know, his mother blah blah blah.) The reason he mocks Christianity is probably because like most people he knows more about it.

On the other hand, I usually feel that the opposite is true. The founding documents of Christianity mock and insult Judaism. Love, love, love. They paved the way for the rise of every other religious movement claiming authority from the Jewish tradition and scriptures including Islam, and are the basis for all of the religious bloodshed since that time.

I agree there is no need to insult anyone but the real Jewish attitude is that the opposite of love is not hate, it’s apathy. So all you Jew-haters out there, get a life. That’ll show us.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 2/23/09 at 9:31 am

maher is a jew. don’t let him fool you with that catholic crap. he’s a self hating jew who hates christians and america and those two attributes will always get you work in hollywood or academia.

Comment by bob on 3/10/09 at 10:11 pm

Actually, from what I hear (didn’t see it) Maher jumped the shark at the Academy Awards. He may get some kudos in his little pond but his act doesn’t really play in the big time.

By the way, if Maher is a Jew he is a non-Jewish Jew, and if you are too dumb to understand that then you are too dumb to argue about it.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 3/12/09 at 1:04 am

Ben…at first you came off as an intelligent individual (until I read your next comment).  Look past the subject matter…look into the thought process behind making the arguement.  I don’t believe the man was criticizing Maher, he was criticizing you.  You sit on the computer and argue for Judaism, but I think the real issue is that you don’t like yourself.  Look inside your soul and figure out why you feel the need to address others with such a narcissistic, condescending tone…..LOL, how hypocritical of me.

Comment by Michael K on 6/05/09 at 10:13 pm

Thanks for the analysis, but in the same vein you are actually describing yourself. If you actually read back without jumping out of your chair you will find that the word ‘Christianity’ is not found in my first intelligent comment, which is obviously concerned with Maher’s statement of agnosticism (though without using that word). My second intelligent comment did address ‘Sam Weinstein’ in telling him that he has it backward in more than one way.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 6/06/09 at 9:59 pm

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