No that is not some strange typo, mixing up religious and ridiculous. Religulous is the name of a new kinda-documentary by Bill Maher. It sounds as though it is the screen version of the nasty attacks on religion found in a landslide of books during the past couple of years, God or the god-substitute knows that religion provides plenty of fodder for these diatribes. Sometimes I get hopping mad at what is done in God's name. It's just that most of the attacks are rants against the ranters, as one person has put it.
The methodology is simplistic. Find the worst examples of religious excess and kookiness and infer that all belief in a deity is just as weird. Let's face it, the line between absurdity and mystery is a fine one. But it's a little like saying that we are dismayed by one rogue forensic pathologist, therefore all forensic work is suspect.
I've read a couple of reviews of Religulous by reputable writers who have shown their hands and admitted that they are atheists. They still feel that it is a weak kick at religion that isn't fair or balanced.
I picked up a clever little book this summer called I Don't Believe in Atheists. I'm coming to the conclusion that some atheists can be religulous.
I have always thought of the humanitarian atheist as a closet Christian at war with the intellect, the fought for territory being the space in the brain where the belief that faith and intellect cannot be reconciled teeters on the borderline of belief. The atheist avoids the conflict altogether, the Christian waves the white flag, and both sides of the brain start talking.
ReplyDeletePS When I changed my blog address, my original choice of "teacher and pupil" was not available, but the system kindly suggests similar alternatives. The alternative "villageidiot-teacher and pupil" was first on the list, and I very nearly died laughing. The new address is "the teacher and the pupil". To those who commented on my choice of name, I say thanks.