Your review is quite good. As a “specialist” in religion I found myself agreeing with Maher on many points, but I also found his unwillingness to take on any serious scholars a little disconcerting. Not that I trust scholars that much! He could have made a stronger case if he’d taken on the big boys.

Also, I wondered how seriously we are meant to take the dire ending when it is pronounced by a comedian. Every time I’ve watched it, the ending gets me “right there” because I know the scenario isn’t that outlandish. Nevertheless, as I suggest on my blog, religion may still have a safe place in society. I’m just not sure where it is.

I initially wanted to turn it off. It’s pretty pathetic and disheartening to watch the deluded masses at the beginning, so out of their little minds on a concoction of rapture, desperation and stupidity. Nothing can reach these idiots. Reason seems to bounce off their mental buffers with ease. But ridicule hits the spot, so it was nice to hear Maher fearlessly busting their balls and calling them on their bullshit.

The spliced in silly footage matched and countered the surreal absurdity of the primates in it indulging in creation myths too stupid to belong in any fantasy tv series, and generally the espousal of ideas that can only be described as profoundly, supremely, and frighteningly retarded (e.g. those guys trying to circumvent the Sabbath laws, hooooolllleeeyyy shit). They deserve our ridicule and scorn and contempt.

I thought Religulous was decent, if a tad formulaic and over-spread. Some good laughs in there, and a serious, important message at the end.