Bill Maher is Pretty Much God in My Eyes Now. Wait. The Defeats the Purpose of the Movie

I never saw a documentary in a movie theater, but I'll be darn, it was one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had. I saw Bill Maher's Religuous with a friend last night and it was pretty much one of the best projects I've ever seen.

Basically, Bill Maher travels the Bible Belt in the US straight on to the "most sacred sites" in the world-- getting kicked out of many of them, might I add. The mission of Religulous? To create doubt. To make smart people reconsider their beliefs. To stump believers by asking logical, rational questions that they end up not having answers to and really look like complete asses because they can't even explain what they believe in. He interviews people from most all mainstream religions, as well as followers, including visitors to a Jesus theme park in Orlando.

I'm like Bill Maher. I am against organized religion and am a complete skeptic.- always have been. All that said, this movie was so enjoyable. I encourage everyone to check out Religious so they can be enlightened, or just learn a new way of looking at things. It doesn't matter what religion you are or aren't, this movie needs to be seen.

Of course in Bill Maher style, the movie is filled with comdey as well-- clips of various movies, old stand-up, clips of televangleists and all sorts of unbelievable stuff, all edited in such an enjoyable fashion. In post-editing, subtitles were thrown in to make fun of what interviewees were saying- showing facts to the mistakes they make. A complete riot!

I think I am going to go see this again this weeked.

To learn more about the movie:

http://www.lionsgate.com/religulous/

Jesus Stopped By While I Was Out

I don't have many pet peeves. I am totally open to all people and beliefs. Except cults. I'm not a fan of cults. I'm not a fan of cults who try to recruit me.

Today when I opened my flimsy screen door, a pamphlet fell out. Today is Monday. The Jehovah's Witnesses aren't supposed to be out today, but maybe it was stuck in my door from Saturday. Thank goodness I wasn't home.

The pamphlet asked if I wanted to learn more about the bible, if I wanted help in understanding the bible and if I was willing to spend time each week learning to understand the bible. They will even come to my home if that is more comfortable for me. Sorry folks. All the brainwashed Jehovah's Witnesses do is ruin lives. I've had personal experiences with someone close to me whose family was involved in the nonsense and I saw where it got them. That's a whole book right there!

All I want delivered to my house is my newspaper, my mail, my internet mail orders and surprise deliveries from Ed McMahon-- not religious propaganda from the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Little Things that Bother Me

This will be a quick post. Just have to vent about one of those little things that irritate me. I was at Sheetz with a friend this afternoon paying for my fabulous Iced Chai Tea when I noticed all the stars with names on them- the typical charity where you donate a dollar and get to write your name. This Sheetz is right by work, so I looked at the stars while the cashier counted my change to see if any coworkers had bought a star. Then I noticed one that stood out:

JESUS LOVES YOU in shaky black Sharpie.

Why must people use a that vehicle to spread their religious nonsense? Ugh. Just write your freakin' name and leave the propheting to someone else. It made me mad. But then they called #750 and my refreshing cool drink was done and then I felt a little better.

A Day Full of God... or Not (Norman Mailer, Freedom from Religion, Etc.)

MY PROFESSOR KNOWS GOD

This morning as soon as I logged into WebCT-which is the platform for which Wilkes uses for its low-residency creative writing program, I found a message from a classmate, Rick which said one our program's co-founders and faculty members had a story in this week's New York Magazine. Way cool. Dr. J. Michael Lennon befriended Norman Mailer 35 years ago and has since become his historian and biographer. Mailer is on the advisory board of the Wilkes University MA in Creative Writing program, actually. And together they wrote a new book, On God: An Uncommon Conversation. (RandomHouse)

New York Magazine published an expcerpt of the book in an article called "The Rise of Mailerism." Mailer is neither an athesist or a traditional practictioner of any religion-- he has a very unique take on god that makes much sense, at least from the excerpt that I read. I am very fascinated by peoples' beliefs and I think that this book will do quite well. People seem to be much more open these days to looking at different interpretations of religion.

I encourage you to read the article: http://nymag.com/news/features/38961/ and maybe even preorder the book.

FREEDOM FROM RELIGION
I have always had my doubts about there being a god, and even more than that, had major issues with organized religion. I could go on and on about that. However, as I got older and attended a liberal school and met more liberal friends, I have realized that how I feel is okay. I know people just like me, who respect the bible as literature and live by ethics instilled by those bible stories-- however again, have major issues with things revolving around organized religion. I am also extremely fascinated by creation stories-- every culture has one. In an Art, Music, Literature and Culture class I took at Wilkes with Dr. Steven Thomas, we read many of these stories. Some said the world was created by nature, and so on and so forth. To me, humans all question where we came from and why we're here. That's why there are so many stories that have been pondered-- and who is to say which is right? Again- I could go on. But... let me get to the point....

I did not get to the newspaper until this evening. In the Faith section of the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, which runs every Saturday was an article about a convention for atheists and agnostics. First of all, kudos to the Times Leader for printing this article in this section. That is just very cool that they also consider atheists and agnostics to have valid beliefs and I think they were brave by printing this article in this particular section of the paper, rather than move it to say, the news or features section.

So anyway, the article was about Freedom From Religion Foundation. Each year they have a convention in their home city of Madison, WI. I was intrigued by this group and agree with their mission. So today, I became a student member of the group for $25.

The Purpose of The Freedom From Religion Foundation is: (from its website)

The history of Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion.

In modern times the first to speak out for prison reform, for humane treatment of the mentally ill, for abolition of capital punishment, for women's right to vote, for death with dignity for the terminally ill, and for the right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion have been freethinkers, just as they were the first to call for an end to slavery.

The Foundation works as an umbrella for those who are free from religion and are committed to the cherished principle of separation of state and church.

So, today has been a day of discovery for me.... God as an artist, God not existing, etc. Some things to think about for sure... thoughts anyone?