As much as I love and respect every perspective Bill Maher has on current events, I have been and remain skeptical that his upcoming film “Religulous” will represent any effort on his part to open up a bit from his skewed, incredibly insulting and borderline ignorant stance on the subject of faith and religion.
As a believer in faith if not the organization of same, I’ve expressed these concerns before, but I was so happy to see someone really try to go toe-to-toe with Maher on his show, and doubly happy that the person was The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan.
Here is a clip from last night’s “Real Time,” which featured a solid panel of Sullivan, Naomi Klein and Will.I.Am. Around the 6:30 mark, Maher pulls out yesterday’s USA Today and points to an article about believers in guardian angels, and Sullivan takes the opportunity to strike. It’s a good exchange, though painfully indicative of Maher’s resistance against any gray area where belief in a higher power is concerned. At one point Sullivan tells Maher, “Bill, don’t describe my faith to me,” and I wanted to give the guy a round of applause. Sadly that part is cut from the end of the clip below, but maybe it’ll pop up soon on YouTube.
I’ll be seeing “Religulous” next Wednesday with Maher and director Larry Charles hanging around for a reception following. I’d love to address some of these concerns in an interview setting, but I just haven’t seen evidence that the guy can get outside of his own head on the matter.