I heard this guy on the John Stewart Show from Tuesday (9/30/08) talking about religion… His name was Bill Maher. He said some things that just really, personally, pissed me off. To be fair, I agreed with many of his points, like I do with everyone, but overall, he’s an example of what’s wrong with the anti-religious people on the left. Even though I admire John Stewart’s political and comedic genius, it disappoints me to see him have such an anti-religious guest on his show. Of course, I wasn’t surprised. It’s hard to forget Colbert got his jump start into fame with his segment ‘This week in God’ (which was hilarious) on the Daily Show, but it is still disappointing to have someone you admire be so hostile to something you love…
I’d like to grab some points that Bill Maher made and comment on them. You can watch his interview in two parts at http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=186755&title=Bill-Maher-Pt.-1 and http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=186756&title=Bill-Maher-Pt.-2.
First comment (Para-phrased unless put in quotations): There are two Americas. One is the progressive, European nation that most of us live in or would like to live, but it’s being strangled by this other, stupid red-neck nation that won’t allow it to develop.
Ok, not only is that a very broad and unfair generalization, but it is setting the stage for his later comments that only stupid people believe in religion. There are uneducated and misinformed people in both parties, and it is pure arrogance, in my opinion, to say that your views are better because you are smarter…
Second Comment: If you tell people the tenets of any religion, and people aren’t familiar with it, they’ll think you’re crazy. I was ranting the beliefs of Scientology in the streets of London, and people thought I was a nutter. That’s only because Scientology is a new religion. Christianity is just as crazy, we’re just used to that one. (He then goes on to imitate the conversation between Jesus and God, making comments like God is a single parent, he went down to impregnate Mary to give birth to Jesus, a.k.a Himself, etc.)
Personally, I also think the Christian understanding of Jesus and God’s relationship is a bit illogical, but for someone to attack the most complex and confusing part of a religion and point out it’s logical shortcomings as a basis for declaring that the whole religion is worthless is a little short sighted, in my opinion. It also ignores the most noble and effective parts of that religion. I believe that both Christianity and Scientology (as well as every other religion), provide an incredible service to their followers and to society as a whole. If they also provide a disservice (a debatable point), then it is still outweighed by the benefits any religion provides.
Third Comment (and this is the thing that atheists/strong agnostics say that frustrates me the most): John Stewart was pointing out that religion is comforting, and asking if that doesn’t give it some value. Bill Maher’s response: “Well, its comfort and aid that comes at a great price. Like almost every war in history, suicide bombings, and oppression of women and minorities, and having sex with children…”
The question I always have to ask when people say this is, “So did those things not exist before religion?” This statement is a perfect example of probably the most common logical fallacy: confusing cause and result. Humankind has problems, and if we study the rise and fall of civilizations, it usually is religion that helps lead the way toward progress and reform (again, a debatable point). Especially Christianity. Most hospitals and schools around the world were built by Christian missionaries, especially before the end of WWII and the creation of the U.N., which led to a rise in NGOs and International non-profit organizations.
Were WWI and WWII religious wars? The Japanese had suicide bombers during WWII. Were these religiously motivated? Greeks and Romans had sex with children. They oppressed women and minorities… In fact, it was often religious people that helped liberate women and minorities. Think of Martin Luther King, Jr. Gandhi. Mother Theresa. Also, for people that actually study the cause of war, it is recognized that most wars in history were fought over scarcity of recourses or national pride. Other than the Crusades, and the 100 Year War in Germany, I’d like some more examples of religiously motivated wars. The Revolutionary War? The Civil War? It’s such a bogus statement. People start wars, and sometimes they use religion to justify them, but religion itself rarely is the cause of war. Rarely… Religion is run by people, and so it is a victim of, and not a source of, evil. Evil comes from the selfishness and ignorance of people.
Comment Four (this is one I agree with – to be fair and balance ;): The Bible was written over 2000 years ago, for people who didn’t know where the sun went at night, or how women get pregnant, or what an atom or a germ was. It was forgivable to make up these myths. But now its 2008, it’s not so forgivable.
I agree with this to the extent that the Bible is outdated and should not be taken literally. It was written for a people who needed symbols and metaphors to understand the world. Imagine trying to explain an atom to someone in the 1st century. People would have thought you were crazy. (just to make a quick side point, what society thinks is crazy is very relative, and therefore is not a basis for what is true or not).
Fifth Comment: I’m not an atheist, because I find atheism to mirror the certainty of religion. What I say is that I don’t know.
Yeah, that is an excellent sentence, but whether he knows or not, it doesn’t stop him from portraying religious people as stupid…
Sixth Comment: “I understand that not having faith is a luxury of having a good life.”
Yeah, so only poor people who’ve suffered are religious… give me a break. I’ve led a very good life, and I’m very religious. There are probably just as many people among the rich as there are among the poor that believe in religion. Another very unfair and common generalization made by anti-religious people…
Anyway, I was annoyed. It really bothers me when people like to attack religion, and make a profession out of it. I know that religious people often believe and do some crazy things, but again, it’s dangerous to create a cause- result relationship out of something that could in fact just be correlation. For example, there are many non-religious people that believe in ‘crazy’ things, like the Zeitgeist followers who believe that international bankers control the world and that 9-11 was an inside job. This group is also anti-religious, so I could claim their bogus beliefs are because they don’t believe in God… but I don’t believe that.
I believe the search for truth has to always be open-minded and respectful. Humility is also important. Even though I think the Zeitgeist people are ‘crazy’ (which is a very relative word), I’ve probably spent over 25 hours watching various videos and researching claims that they’ve made. While doing so, I asked myself, “could this be true?”. My personal answer is “NO”, but I could be wrong, and I accept that. Using all the logic and reason I posses, I believe that religion is valuable and that God exists. This has been confirmed for me through various experiences and intense studying. I also believe that religion overall has made the world a much better place, despite its faults. I think it’s good to question and challenge, but to say that the other side is stupid for believing something is to ignore the value of what they believe and what they are doing. I think that it is good that Zeitgeist people believe what they do, because it forces people to question the way they are living and what is happening around them. I get a little annoyed when they call me blind or brainwashed, but I believe the only way to handle that is to take them point by point thru every claim in Zeitgeist and show them the contradictions, misinformation, and outright lies. If they are willing to take the same amount of time listening to me the way I listened to them, then I believe that we would both be wiser and closer to the truth…
By the way, although I aim to always be patient and open minded, and not to insult people that believe differently, I know I sometimes fail. It’s a goal to aim for, nonetheless.
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Youngil Ely Loew
