NJHN Web Talk

Take a Stand for Free Speech!

The American Humanist Association, in partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment, is supporting the release of Bill Maher's forthcoming comedy documentary, "Religulous." We'll be organizing group viewings, hosting discussions after advance screenings, and placing national ads that ask people who like "Religulous" to take the next step and explore humanism.

We've agreed to support this film because efforts are afoot worldwide to limit the right of people to publicly criticize religion. Laws exist and are being proposed to prohibit "religious defamation." Can it happen here? Could America's free speech be curtailed?

Not if we stand up right now for the freedom of religious critique. And that includes going to see Bill Maher's "Religulous." It is set to hit theaters October 3rd in "limited release." This means only major cities and cineplexes will get it right now. But it may come to a cineplex near you--if not immediately then in a number of weeks.

An extension of Maher's irreverent humor, the film ridicules some of the extremes of organized religion. Since we anticipate a backlash against the movie, it's important to defend the freedom of expression--including freedom of religious critique. We see the value of social satire and want to encourage a current American trend toward greater questioning of dogmas and superstitions.

So we encourage you to not only see the film but be willing to counter those in your area who might promote censorship. You may also want to organize group activities around the film, perhaps in connection with a local chapter or affiliate of the American Humanist Association. A complete list of local groups is available online at www.americanhumanist.org/chapters/.

Your activities could include any of the following:

1. Attend a viewing as a group.

2. Build a local meeting around discussing the film.

3. If there is a picket against the film, launch a pro-freedom counter picket.

Please share information about the film with your friends, allies, local group members, and others so that more people become interested and perhaps involved.

Also, as part of this partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment, many local AHA groups are receiving free tickets to distribute to their members to generate interest and word-of-mouth promotion. The AHA is also running newspaper ads aimed at reaching the audience that this film will bring out of the woodwork. Your local group may want to run a similar ad in the theater section of your local newspaper. The AHA will provide an ad template on request.

To learn more about the film, go to the "Religulous" website to watch a preview and get updates: www.lionsgate.com/religulous/. Then check your local theater listings to see when and where it is showing in your area!

In a string of frank, often hilarious but always well-considered conversations with various Christians, Maher incisively asks them exactly what skeptics always ponder about religion in general and Christianity in particular. To John Westcott of Exchange Ministries, which tries to "convert" gay men, Maher questions, given that Jesus never once talked about homosexuality, why is it such an issue for New Testament Christians? To churchgoers in Raleigh, N.C., he notes there's no firm proof that Jesus Christ ever actually lived. Perhaps most profoundly, he asks Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), a devout evangelical, "Why is faith good?"

To the film's credit, Maher never engages in Michael Moore-style gotcha tactics, but rather asks questions that raise more questions, in the form of a Socratic dialogue. To believers expecting a blind hatchet job, this will prove both thought-provoking and a bit disarming; skeptics may be surprised (as Maher is) by the occasionally smart replies to his queries.

Pic gets in satirical digs at all faiths -- and yields some of its biggest laughs -- with clever inserts of clips from movies and other sources spinning off the topic at hand, be it fantastical Biblical tales, Mormon beliefs or the number of empires that have invaded Israel. Snarky subtitles are often inserted underneath conversations, meant to undercut the interview subject.

Latter section turns to Judaism and Islam, of which Maher is an equal-opportunity critic. Jewish laws around the Sabbath come in for some heavy ribbing, while the current wave of violence by wings of Islam is faced head-on. Chats with Muslims, from rapper Propa-Gandhi to scholars at the holiest Jerusalem sites, expose an internal debate raging among contemporary Muslims.

While he examines the Big Three religions of the West at length (Eastern faiths get a pass in Religulous), Maher even gets in some choice stabs at Mormonism (whose tenets may astound those not in the know) and Scientology.

Ending minutes, though, will catch auds up short: Suddenly, the laughs die down, and as in his closing monologues on "Real Time," Maher turns deadly serious with a final statement that will stir raging arguments in theater lobbies.

Considering he was once a minor comic on the circuit and a supporting thesp in generally awful film comedies, Maher's transformation into one of America's sharpest social critics is remarkable. He takes no script credit, but his periodic monologues to the camera are undeniably written, and written well.