Bill Maher on Daily SHow

mammasan

Speakers wrote:

Why?

Because religion is not a negative as Bill Mahr likes to portray it. I personally am not a religious person but I'm not so naive to think that people who are are somehow less intelligent or have a mental disorder as Bill likes to say. The only problem I have are though who choose to force their religious beliefs onto others.

jimed14

Can we please keep in mind ... Bill Maher is a COMMEDIAN!

It's his job to be over the top and make people laugh. It's his job to entertain, not to teach ...

If you have a new perspective based on what he says ... if it makes you think ... well, good ...

But, let's not pump him up like he's some world renowned theologist.

QuestionAuthority

jimed14 wrote:

Can we please keep in mind ... Bill Maher is a COMMEDIAN!

It's his job to be over the top and make people laugh. It's his job to entertain, not to teach ...

If you have a new perspective based on what he says ... if it makes you think ... well, good ...

But, let's not pump him up like he's some world renowned theologist.

AMEN to that!

MrBrian

jimed14 wrote:

Can we please keep in mind ... Bill Maher is a COMMEDIAN!

It's his job to be over the top and make people laugh. It's his job to entertain, not to teach ...

If you have a new perspective based on what he says ... if it makes you think ... well, good ...

But, let's not pump him up like he's some world renowned theologist.

yes! Perfect.

fugawzi

Maher kicks ass. Some people don't like him because he says what he believes and doesn't hold back. Sometimes he can be interpreted as condescending but I don't think so, he makes a lot of good points, obviously intelligent and really funny. People forget he's a comic, probably the most informed and outspoken on current events. I'm sure Religulous is gonna be hilarious.

Speakers

mammasan wrote:

Because religion is not a negative as Bill Mahr likes to portray it. I personally am not a religious person but I'm not so naive to think that people who are are somehow less intelligent or have a mental disorder as Bill likes to say. The only problem I have are though who choose to force their religious beliefs onto others.

I agree that religious people don't have a mental disorder. Maybe I have missed his point but my understanding is that he believes that the majority of people are religious and haven't really asked the hard questions about it. Blind faith.

It seems to be that his efforts are directed towards getting people to ask those hard questions. He even said himself last night something to the effect of "i'm not atheist because even that implies that I know the RIGHT answer and I don't claim that at all"

I don't have a problem with religon, as long as those people don't believe that everybody else is damned to hell because they don't believe the same way. That is where trouble starts. History has documented the effects of believing like this...

fugawzi

MrBrian wrote:

Based on his arguments during his last two tv shows, which I watched. He comes across as very narrow minded about religion for the most part.

He has made many mistakes when speaking about religion. Many historical inaccuracies for starters.

MrB,

can you give examples of or do you have links to the many mistakes or inaccuracies to which you're referring? I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just asking for a specific example.

I actually disagree that he's narrow minded about religion. He was raised catholic, and himself has said he is "not an atheist". He just looks at the subject in a rational manner. We don't know. Nobody knows. People have the right to believe in what they want, as he has the right to express how ridiculous he thinks those beliefs are. Many good things have come from religion, but do they outweigh the bad? Wars, death, oppression, sexual abuse, on and on. Some see it as more harmful than good. Watch the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IcUumWzue4

QuestionAuthority

fugawzi wrote:

MrB,

can you give examples of or do you have links to the many mistakes or inaccuracies to which you're referring? I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just asking for a specific example.

I actually disagree that he's narrow minded about religion. He was raised catholic, and himself has said he is "not an atheist". He just looks at the subject in a rational manner. We don't know. Nobody knows. People have the right to believe in what they want, as he has the right to express how ridiculous he thinks those beliefs are. Many good things have come from religion, but do they outweigh the bad? Wars, death, oppression, sexual abuse, on and on. Some see it as more harmful than good. Watch the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IcUumWzue4

Great video!

QuestionAuthority

another great video from the wonderful George Carlin..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

dg1979us

MrBrian wrote:

Because he does not fully understand religion, and if you bash something that you do not fully understand. That's not a good thing.

Why doesnt he fully understand it? I would say he understands it more than most religious people to be honest. Religion is simply stories passed down, and eventually written down by people who didnt have the slightest understanding of science, the world, the body, etc. So they made stories up to try to explain things they obviously did not understand.

MrBrian

Sorry no examples at the top of my head. Just something i've noticed watching his show. Anyway, let's see the movie. should be interesting.

Is religion good or not? I'm not even talking about that, I just feel that Bill Maher has been sloppy in some of his arguments. I dunno, let's start fresh with the movie since it's his latest work.

I'm not trying to defend religion or anything. Don't get me wrong.

Commy

MrBrian wrote:

Sorry no examples at the top of my head. Just something i've noticed watching his show. Anyway, let's see the movie. should be interesting.

Is religion good or not? I'm not even talking about that, I just feel that Bill Maher has been sloppy in some of his arguments. I dunno, let's start fresh with the movie since it's his latest work.

I'm not trying to defend religion or anything. Don't get me wrong.

religion has done a lot of good for a lot of people. it creates a sense of community, a very positive thing, abut also something capitalism destroys. It is also responsible for some of the more terrible acts in our history. Separation of church and state is crucial. Especially today. Religion should be a local establishment. UNfortunatley it grows into something more sinister, as all institutions inevevitably do. keep it out of power and its a positive influence on the community. allow it to infiltrate the state and all sorts of terrible things happen. find the balance, let people do their thing, keep it out of gov't, we should be fine.

Commy

MrBrian wrote:

Sorry no examples at the top of my head. Just something i've noticed watching his show. Anyway, let's see the movie. should be interesting.

Is religion good or not? I'm not even talking about that, I just feel that Bill Maher has been sloppy in some of his arguments. I dunno, let's start fresh with the movie since it's his latest work.

I'm not trying to defend religion or anything. Don't get me wrong.

religion has done a lot of good for a lot of people. it creates a sense of community, a very positive thing, abut also something capitalism destroys. It is also responsible for some of the more terrible acts in our history. Separation of church and state is crucial. Especially today. Religion should be a local establishment. UNfortunatley it grows into something more sinister, as all institutions inevevitably do. keep it out of power and its a positive influence on the community. allow it to infiltrate the state and all sorts of terrible things happen. find the balance, let people do their thing, keep it out of gov't, we should be fine.

MrBrian

Commy wrote:

religion has done a lot of good for a lot of people. it creates a sense of community, a very positive thing, abut also something capitalism destroys. It is also responsible for some of the more terrible acts in our history. Separation of church and state is crucial. Especially today. Religion should be a local establishment. UNfortunatley it grows into something more sinister, as all institutions inevevitably do. keep it out of power and its a positive influence on the community. allow it to infiltrate the state and all sorts of terrible things happen. find the balance, let people do their thing, keep it out of gov't, we should be fine.

I pretty much agree, but remember, then Government becomes a religion on it's own. With extremists.

I guess with or without religion people will be fighting. Like kids, when we were kids we had no real idea about religion, but we were always fighting eachother, over something small.

Maybe it's in our nature to fight. Some more than others. and like you said, religion has it's good, and it's often used for bad. But does that mean religion is bad? I mean most religions don't tell people to go around around hurting others, but people often do that in the name of religion. Perhaps just a guise for something else.

dg1979us

MrBrian wrote:

I pretty much agree, but remember, then Government becomes a religion on it's own. With extremists.

I guess with or without religion people will be fighting. Like kids, when we were kids we had no real idea about religion, but we were always fighting eachother, over something small.

Maybe it's in our nature to fight. Some more than others. and like you said, religion has it's good, and it's often used for bad. But does that mean religion is bad? I mean most religions don't tell people to go around around hurting others, but people often do that in the name of religion. Perhaps just a guise for something else.

I think people are more likely to fight and kill when they believe they are in the favor of a God. Like others have said, religion certainly has its good, but I think that good is to people as individuals, not to people in mass. I think Maher's biggest point, is that no one can possibly know what happens when you die. Yet, religion takes ancient books written by people who had the very slightest understanding of the world, and explains what happens when we die, or our purpose for being here, etc etc. It just isnt rational. So you basically end up with a completely irrational line of thinking that people in powerful positions use to make major decisions that affect many people in the world. And, many people in the world except those decisions because they also engage in that same irrational thinking.