Religulous... religicule?

I recently took in the new documentary Religulous by comedian/TV host Bill Maher. The film tackles an important subject: the role of religion in society. Let me be more specific. The film is an essay denouncing the role religion has played in society. It doesn't so much pose the question "has religion been a force for good in the world?" as it provides the answer. And that answer is decidedly no. At least according to Bill Maher. While I feel that the question has merit, the discussion is too important to be left in Bill's hands.

In a recent interview with Larry King, Bill said that the issue of religion was his white whale. I confess that I haven't read Melville's magnum opus, but something tells me that Captain Ahab would have given a lot more care to his passion project than Bill Maher has. I confess myself disappointed.

Bill should be praised for tackling a subject that everyone is too afraid to talk about, and considering the fates of Salmon Rushdie and Theo van Gogh, this is not surprising. But if you're going to walk through that sacred threshold, why not do it properly?

Bill approaches interviews with intellectual vigor, dwarfing his subjects with his usual condescending mien. And his interviewees are not exactly the creme of the crop. With the exception of one scientist who represented the Human Genome Project (standing in for the pro-religion side), Mr. Maher's cast includes a host of intellectually bankrupt characters (also standing in for the pro-religion side). We're talking the congregation at a truck stop chapel, the Jesus character at the local religious theme park (one of two we visit), and the hip hop artist Propa Ghandi, to name a few.

Mr. Maher wasted an opportunity to pursue rigorous intellectual debate on the matter, which I would have welcomed. There was not a single interview with a doctor of theology (if we don't count the self-styled 'doctor' preacher, who didn't actually have a degree). The movie isn't really a debate at all. It's a platform for his views. Call it agnosticism, atheism, secular humanism, whatever... the movement has millions of sympathizers all over the world. And this movie is for them. What a wasted opportunity to start a public debate.

The film is not without its merits. Bill Maher has some interesting and (again) important things to say. To bad he's preaching to the converted.