Feeling Religulous?

For months I had wanted to see the recently talked about film “Religulous” starring Bill Maher. The film goes on a journey throughout the United States and other countries to examine and satirize religion. Bill Maher does not necessarily refute religion, he just questions it. Maher believes that since he does not know if there is a God or an afterlife, he wants to hear from people who believe they do. He wants to see if there is someone out there that knows something he does not. Through these interviews, he attempts to prove his point that since we do not know what happens in the end and there is no possible way anyone else could. On the Jimmy Kimmel Show, Maher discusses that he wants to apply to the people who just claim, “I do not know”. He questions the turmoil religion creates. He claims that since each religion hypothesizes the end of the world or Armageddon, the followers of these beliefs are in reality going to cause this end because they are not in touch with reality. Since he is human along with the followers of these religions, if he lacks these examples, then so do they.

Although he uses the interviews to prove his point, he uses nearly lunatics of certain faiths to interview. One reverend that he interviewed told Maher that he was a pimp of the faith and that God wanted him to decorate himself with gold jewelry. He barely uses people who were devout, but did not push extremist ideas on others. My favorite interview that he did was with an Italian priest in front of the Vatican. It had to be in front because Maher had gotten kicked out. The man was about 80 years old and I could tell that Bill for once throughout the entire movie somewhat respected his beliefs. Instead of answering as many others did by saying his religion was right and Bill was wrong, all the man said was, “We live and die with our own stupid beliefs. Who are we to say they are correct?” This idea resonated with me and followed a somewhat similar belief. I have belief in something that watches over me, but I have no idea what it is. I can really follow Maher’s idea that since we do not know for sure, how can we fight and push for our beliefs to be in the forefront? Also, how can religion be so influential in government especially concerning large issues such as abortion and gay marriage?

An aspect that I disliked about the film was its reference to the Islamic faith being violent. Maher’s view of this religion was extremely Americanized. He used only examples of terrorist groups who followed Islam and completely dismissed the Muslim woman he interviewed. The woman attempted to talk about a similar theme that we have seen in The Secular and the Sacred. The idea that there are many different views and interpretations in each religion and the only part that is exemplified in American culture of Islam is terrorism.

Islamophobia

I find it fascinating how many people associate the terms “Islam” and “Muslim” with terrorist. There is no doubt that there are Islamic Extremist sects such as al-Qaida that fund and orchestrate terrorist attacks, but why has the entire faith of Islam been branded? After the attacks of September 11th, 2001 President Bush made it clear that the men who committed the acts were perverting Islam and that neither Islam nor mainstream Muslims were responsible for the attacks. We are in a “War on Terror” not on Muslims so why do so many associate the two? There are radical fringe groups in every society such as White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis, both of whom frequently align themselves with Christianity to support their cause. Even the term terrorism conjures up almost exclusively images of Arabs in turbans screaming “Islamic Jihad” yet if we look at the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995, the most recent major attack in the United States’ memory before September 11, we see that Timothy McVeigh was an Irish Catholic. So why then are Muslims the ubiquitous American image of terrorism? Is it simply an effect of media propaganda and fear of a largely unknown culture or is there more to it? When Professor Gary Scudder came to speak to us he said that Islam is a religious, social and political system. Could this somehow make Christian terrorists appear different than Muslim terrorists to Americans? Reel Bad Arabs suggested that maybe we have been brought up since childhood to believe Arabs to be violent and barbaric. Maybe it is not a big stretch for Americans to accept that all Muslims are Arabs and they must act the same way.



Recently we have been looking at the depiction of Muslims and Islam in the media and in film over the past decades as well as constitutional issues of freedom of speech. I think it is valuable to place the two side by side and ask where we should draw the line. To what extent (if at all) should Anti-Islamic or even Anti-religious media propaganda be regulated? American Fear is slowly subsiding now, almost eight years after September 11, yet many Americans still fear Islam and are largely ignorant to what it really is.



How then can we ensure that we preserve our civil liberties in the face of ignorance and fear? Should constitutional rights be flexible to ensure public safety or should safety be compromised to protect individual rights?