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Searching for Religulous Answers with Bill Maher
by Troy Rogers
 When it comes to politics and religion, comedian Bill Maher has never been afraid to speak his mind on two of the most heated topics that spark immediate debate. In his recent documentary Religulous, which finds its way to the digital holy land of DVD on February 17, Bill Maher traverses the globe in search of answers to questions surrounding the practicality of religion, why people believe in a higher power, whether religion is simply a device used to control the masses, if other religions are truly tolerant of others, if any of them are credible, and many more. Although Maher's skepticism of religion led to the making of Religulous, it's clear the answers he received in his global travels have further resulted in the comedian living life as a non-believer.
At the same time, as ridiculous as some things appear to be in Religulous, Bill Maher is also quick to point out that he, himself, doesn't have the answers to some of life's eternal questions. Instead, Maher takes a lighthearted, personal, and comedic approach to searching for the truth while challenging all that we've come to know from the Bible and religion. In Religulous it's not that Bill Maher is saying he's right, he simply asks deeply convicted and religious people to back up their certainty when questioned, "How do you know?" And it's not just the everyday, average blue collar layperson in the "Bible belt" of America either. Maher also searches out some of the world's most respected scholars, scientists, spiritualists, politicians and theologians from America to The Vatican to Jerusalem and back.
With Religulous making an unholy home video pilgrimage to store shelves on DVD, we caught up with Bill Maher on a recent conference call where we managed to ask a few questions about religion and politics and how he feels Religulous will hold up in the future.
THE DEADBOLT: Hi, Bill. Gee, I guess it’s a miracle that I’m talking to you today.
BILL MAHER: [laughs] Yeah. I get it.
THE DEADBOLT: There seems to be some similarities about how zealous some people were about the Obama movement and how crazy people get about religion. Do you see the same thing?
MAHER: [laughs] You mean that they’re positioning Obama as some sort of "chocolate Jesus," who’s infallible?
THE DEADBOLT: As sort of a savior, yes.  MAHER: Yeah, well, that's ridiculous. That’s not Obama, that’s Kanye West. Well, there always is a tendency in human nature to deify. I don’t understand it because I don’t do it myself. But I was talking to someone the other day and they were talking about this yoga class, and I said, "Who goes?" And they were saying, "You know, very cool, hip people. You’d like them. They were talking about your movie; they loved your movie."
But it’s ironic. A number of them - [laughs] - have already sort of made the yoga teacher into a god. You know, he’s up at the front of the room and he’s teaching them and they talk about him after the session like he’s some sort of other worldly being. And I was just laughing, because it just seems to be human nature to want to posit in another human being qualities that you must know in part of your mind that a human being couldn’t possess because you don’t possess them.
This is what I try to say in the movie. It’s like, do I know what the answer is? No. But you don’t either. These people who talk about the next world in such detail, you know? I mean, listen to Rick Warren - "Oh, when you get to heaven you’ll meet Jesus. He’s sitting at the right hand of the Father, not the left, the right. And he’s wearing a gold robe and it has piping on the sleeve and there are twelve angels there and three of them are playing trumpets." Like, how the f**k do you know? Are you kidding me? You don’t know. How do I know you don’t know? Because I don’t know and you do not possess mental powers that I do not. There you go.
THE DEADBOLT: How well do you think the film and the questions will hold up thirty years from now?
MAHER: Well, unfortunately, I think they will hold up because, unfortunately, I don’t think we will have killed off religion. I mean, these are eternal questions. You know, why is faith good? I don’t think that question is going to go away. Would it be wonderful if this movie was completely dated in thirty years because everyone had become a rationalist in the country? That would be magnificent. But I just don’t think that’s going to happen in my lifetime.
Other Conference Call Highlights:
Maher on whether there was anyone that looked at religion in a level-headed manner during his travels:
 "Absolutely. The two Catholic priests that we talked to. There was a lot of reaction over those men, because I think a lot of people were shocked, as we were, that they were talking so rationally about the religion. We talked to one gentleman, his name was Father Foster, he’s the bald man. We talked to him right outside the Vatican and I was asking him questions like, "Doesn’t it strike you as odd that this homeless man who started this religion and preached about the poor would then bequeath it to this prince of the church who lives in a giant palace?" And he didn’t argue. He said, "Of course. If it was up to me, Christ would be living in barracks outside the city." And he was saying, "Of course these are just stories we tell the common people." I mean, he was saying things that - I hope he’s still working there because I’d be surprised if he didn’t lose his job over that.
"Then we talked to another Vatican scholar. I can refer to him as that because he was, Father Coin, who was talking about science in a way that was much more rational than you get from the rank-and-file. I guess what it taught us is that the hierarchy of the church, they don’t really believe this shit. They know that the masses need it but they, themselves, don’t really buy it, which, on one level, is a tremendous hypocrisy. And I guess they justify it by telling themselves, "Well, we’re brighter than these people and we have to feed these scraps of nonsense to keep them in line. But we, ourselves, are not on-board with this." It was an astounding revelation."
Bill Maher on whether there was ever a time when he felt unsafe shooting this movie:
 "Oh, constantly. There’s also a scene where we're talking to those truckers at that trailer that was the truck stop chapel, and there’s that big, big guy who balls up first and goes, "If you start questioning my God then you’re gonna have a problem with me." And I was at the other end of the trailer, and it was a very tiny room, and I thought, "Oh, there’s no way I can get out of here. This guy is going to come here and pummel me and that’s going to be the end of this movie." But luckily he walked out. He turned the other cheek, and it was a sizable cheek.
"But yes, we were in the position of confronting people about their most cherished beliefs. There’s going to be a few hard feelings. But in general I think we did it in a way where we tried to be positive, and sort of laughing and happy and not poking fingers at people and belittling them. As I always said from the beginning, I don’t have to make fun of religion. It makes fun of itself."
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