Bill Maher always makes me feel conflicted. When he talks about subjects that are not technical, I usually like what he has to say. But he also likes to talk about things where his ignorance shines like a beacon (like the mercury-autism "connection" or, more accurately, the lack thereof, and the "fact" that 90% of illness is caused by poor diet), and it makes me cringe.
I'm looking forward to this movie, but I agree with you shygetz. I do enjoy Bill Maher, but sometimes he says things that just leave me standing there blinking. I also have a fear that this movie will just be preaching to the choir. All us skeptics will enjoy the jabs, but the ignorant religious folks (note I don't mean all religious folks) won't learn much if anything from it. I hope I'm wrong. I'd like to see it be a vehicle for change.
mike aka monolithtma, I agree with you that it will just be preaching to the choir, but I think the jabs will be worth it. Ultimately I believe that it is impossible to change the minds of the ignorant masses. Yes, there are a few liberal-minded christians that there is hope for, but it will take much more than one movie to help them.
And what is with the story behind the name monolithtma if you don't mind me asking?
"And what is with the story behind the name monolithtma if you don't mind me asking?" I seldom get asked that, so I'm glad you asked. Years ago, I was playing a MMORPG called Clan Lord. It's still around, but I don't play anymore. I had a character who was a friendly and rather pious sort of guy, and the family that he came from had the tradition of giving their children inspirational titles in hopes that they would grow into the title. Thus, my character was named Monolith The Good. I played for quite some time, made lots of friends and then stopped playing for a while. When I came back I changed the name to just Monolith, and when asked if I was the one who used to be called Monolith The Good, I would respond "Yes, but now I am just Monolith The Merely Adequate". So MonolithTMA is an abbreviation of that. Years later when I decided on a domain name for my website I decided upon merelyadequate.net
I just googled my screen name: Results 1 - 10 of about 3,480 for monolithtma
They are all me. I've used that name for years in various discussion forums.
Maher tends to rely on a single argument against religion: It's ridiculous at face value. I think it's the best argument out there because it doesn't stoop to giving it the air of respectability.
From the clips I've seen he seems to make some effective comparisons. Like when he's in the park "preaching" the content of Scientology. Very funny! I'm looking forward to seeing it and I think it will be up to the rest of us unbelievers to follow up with conversations with believers in order for this film to be the desired vehicle for change and illumination.
I saw it tonight and it was awesome for empowering and entertaining infidels. As far as for convincing believers, it was better than I expected, but I wasn't expecting much.
In about 30 seconds he gives a fly-over of specific religious stories that predate the NT, yet sound suspiciously like stories that influenced the NT - I wouldn't mind these 30 seconds elaborated as a 300-page book.
He shows his ignorance of more scholarly Christianity in his interview with Francis Collins. Not that Maher loses the debate that he spliced together, but he admits that he had never heard of evidential apologetics. If I walked in thinking I had a good historical case for the Resurrection, I would walk out thinking much the same thing. The peripherals of my faith may be shot up, but my core would be validated by the fact that such a high profile critic of belief has never heard of my case.
His interview with the "ex-gay" Christian is absolutely priceless...
Those who pride themselves on their superior reasoning ability should keep in mind that ridicule, although an admittedly effective form of propaganda, does not constitute a valid argument.
Saw it tonight. Painfully bad, sophomoric, annoying. I discuss it a bit over at Victor's blog. Don't waste your money, wait for DVD if you must numb your mind with this crap. It's like seeing a freshman who just read Joseph Campell and now thinks he is more clever and scholarly than everyone else. I wanted to leave early.
I saw the movie yesterday in its first showing at one of the theaters here. I actually quite enjoyed it, although I tend to have a bit of twisted sense of humor. (I think I laughed more than most people in the audience.)
Today I read a lot of reviews online, and my take is that a lot of people out there (not here, but out there) are posting comments and reviews without actually seeing the movie, and as such, are totally missing the point of the movie.
Basically, here's my take on it: I really enjoyed it, even though it's highly unlikely to change the minds of Christians and other religious people. The reason I enjoyed it is, as an atheist, I was able to relate to many of Bill's comments. And second, at the end of the movie Bill Maher basically made clear his hopes and intentions with the movie -- to embolden and empower us non-believers to be more vocal about our "non-message." And so regardless of how silly or annoying people might find the movie, I appreciate the ultimate goal. And for that reason I give the film two thumbs up. :-)
I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, as I am still friends with plenty of Christians, and know some wonderful people who believe in God. My Dad and I went to see it this afternoon and we both enjoyed it. I'm an atheist, while my Dad does believe in some sort of God.
14 comments:
This is the web page related to the movie: http://disbeliefnet.com/
Bill Maher always makes me feel conflicted. When he talks about subjects that are not technical, I usually like what he has to say. But he also likes to talk about things where his ignorance shines like a beacon (like the mercury-autism "connection" or, more accurately, the lack thereof, and the "fact" that 90% of illness is caused by poor diet), and it makes me cringe.
I'm looking forward to this movie, but I agree with you shygetz. I do enjoy Bill Maher, but sometimes he says things that just leave me standing there blinking. I also have a fear that this movie will just be preaching to the choir. All us skeptics will enjoy the jabs, but the ignorant religious folks (note I don't mean all religious folks) won't learn much if anything from it. I hope I'm wrong. I'd like to see it be a vehicle for change.
mike aka monolithtma, I agree with you that it will just be preaching to the choir, but I think the jabs will be worth it. Ultimately I believe that it is impossible to change the minds of the ignorant masses. Yes, there are a few liberal-minded christians that there is hope for, but it will take much more than one movie to help them.
And what is with the story behind the name monolithtma if you don't mind me asking?
"And what is with the story behind the name monolithtma if you don't mind me asking?" I seldom get asked that, so I'm glad you asked. Years ago, I was playing a MMORPG called Clan Lord. It's still around, but I don't play anymore. I had a character who was a friendly and rather pious sort of guy, and the family that he came from had the tradition of giving their children inspirational titles in hopes that they would grow into the title. Thus, my character was named Monolith The Good. I played for quite some time, made lots of friends and then stopped playing for a while. When I came back I changed the name to just Monolith, and when asked if I was the one who used to be called Monolith The Good, I would respond "Yes, but now I am just Monolith The Merely Adequate". So MonolithTMA is an abbreviation of that. Years later when I decided on a domain name for my website I decided upon merelyadequate.net
I just googled my screen name: Results 1 - 10 of about 3,480 for monolithtma
They are all me. I've used that name for years in various discussion forums.
Maher tends to rely on a single argument against religion: It's ridiculous at face value. I think it's the best argument out there because it doesn't stoop to giving it the air of respectability.
From the clips I've seen he seems to make some effective comparisons. Like when he's in the park "preaching" the content of Scientology. Very funny! I'm looking forward to seeing it and I think it will be up to the rest of us unbelievers to follow up with conversations with believers in order for this film to be the desired vehicle for change and illumination.
argument against religion: It's ridiculous at face value
Not an argument.
I saw it tonight and it was awesome for empowering and entertaining infidels. As far as for convincing believers, it was better than I expected, but I wasn't expecting much.
In about 30 seconds he gives a fly-over of specific religious stories that predate the NT, yet sound suspiciously like stories that influenced the NT - I wouldn't mind these 30 seconds elaborated as a 300-page book.
He shows his ignorance of more scholarly Christianity in his interview with Francis Collins. Not that Maher loses the debate that he spliced together, but he admits that he had never heard of evidential apologetics. If I walked in thinking I had a good historical case for the Resurrection, I would walk out thinking much the same thing. The peripherals of my faith may be shot up, but my core would be validated by the fact that such a high profile critic of belief has never heard of my case.
His interview with the "ex-gay" Christian is absolutely priceless...
Those who pride themselves on their superior reasoning ability should keep in mind that ridicule, although an admittedly effective form of propaganda, does not constitute a valid argument.
Though ridicule may contain a valid argument.
Saw it tonight. Painfully bad, sophomoric, annoying. I discuss it a bit over at Victor's blog. Don't waste your money, wait for DVD if you must numb your mind with this crap. It's like seeing a freshman who just read Joseph Campell and now thinks he is more clever and scholarly than everyone else. I wanted to leave early.
Hi John, how are you doing?
I saw the movie yesterday in its first showing at one of the theaters here. I actually quite enjoyed it, although I tend to have a bit of twisted sense of humor. (I think I laughed more than most people in the audience.)
Today I read a lot of reviews online, and my take is that a lot of people out there (not here, but out there) are posting comments and reviews without actually seeing the movie, and as such, are totally missing the point of the movie.
Basically, here's my take on it: I really enjoyed it, even though it's highly unlikely to change the minds of Christians and other religious people. The reason I enjoyed it is, as an atheist, I was able to relate to many of Bill's comments. And second, at the end of the movie Bill Maher basically made clear his hopes and intentions with the movie -- to embolden and empower us non-believers to be more vocal about our "non-message." And so regardless of how silly or annoying people might find the movie, I appreciate the ultimate goal. And for that reason I give the film two thumbs up. :-)
Jeff Mark
(Author, Christian No More) <-- shameless plug :-D
I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, as I am still friends with plenty of Christians, and know some wonderful people who believe in God. My Dad and I went to see it this afternoon and we both enjoyed it. I'm an atheist, while my Dad does believe in some sort of God.
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