‘Religulous’ begins with the end. Bill Maher introduces his documentary standing on a hilltop in Megiddo, Israel where, according to the Bible, the final battle will take place; it is the very site of Armageddon. This sobering backdrop juxtaposed with Maher’s brand of wry biting humor sets the tone of the rest of the film which jumps from hilarious to critical and promises an irreverent, at times biased, take on religion in society.

Bill Maher is the host of the hit HBO weekly “Real Time with Bill Maher,” a commentary show known for its heated round table discussions featuring prominent actors and musicians, as well as columnists and pundits from every point in the political spectrum. Maher’s style involves bringing up several hot button issues and then punctuating the ensuing discussion with his own blunt remarks. He brings this style to Religulous, prodding his subjects with pointed questions and then letting their well-edited circumlocutions and often unreasonable responses speak for themselves.

The topic of the movie is age-old: why do people believe what they believe and how, in the face of rational scientific thinking, can they go on believing it? It targets mainly Judaism and Christianity, diverting for a bit on the subject of Islam. Maher aims to look at how these faiths will react to a number of point-blank questions, to figure out just why people believe in them, and to show the viewer that his own belief in any kind of organized religion is absurd.

Maher himself was raised Catholic being born to a Catholic father and a Jewish mother. Thus, from the beginning, his view on religion straddled the fence of two very different faiths. He makes a point of interviewing people with similarly divided perspectives arguably to prove that the mystical veil becomes thinnest at the fringe. Maher interviews such fringe personalities as former director of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins who is a prominently religious scientist. Others include a fervently anti-Israel rabbi, gay Muslim activists, an ex-Jew for Jesus, a man claiming to be the second coming of Christ himself, among many fascinating others. From each of these perspectives, Maher cobbles together the central idea that no one of any faith, when pressed, exactly knows the nature of what they’re talking about. Their seemingly impenetrable certainty is actually a shallow defense for an irrational system of belief.

At one point, in what becomes a recurring line of argument, Maher dresses drably and stands at Speaker’s Corner, a public place to air one’s views located in Hyde Park, London. He begins propounding the central tenets and beliefs of Scientology which are generally agreed to be laughable. His street corner evangelizing gets a good crowd, but they are mostly interested in gawking at and humoring a seeming lunatic; no one thinks he’s actually correct. It is then that you realize Maher is setting up a parallel to any kind of accepted form of evangelizing today. The claims are no less outrageous, but receive a respect beyond question.

It is important to approach Religulous with the right sense of Maher’s agenda and of the film’s purpose. Maher is not an atheist in the strict sense; neither is he an agnostic i.e. unsure of God’s existence. The documentary takes aim directly on the human concept of religion which Maher describes as “a bureaucracy between man and God.” In fact, throughout the film on the subject of each religion’s belief system he maintains that he is only “certain about doubt.” As to its purpose, Maher never claims to be an academic and the film has more entertainment than instructional value. It is meant to be a starting point on a journey of disbelief, an initial cause to question one very important foundation of thought.

The film is also directed by Larry Charles who, two years ago, directed Sacha Baron Cohen’s hugely controversial Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan which tickled and ticked off audiences around the world. This gives you an idea of the film’s purpose: slyly exposing while maintaining a humorous exterior. Maher is first and foremost a comedian, and there are dozens of moments when the viewer will find himself laughing hysterically. Clever editing interspersed with a large variety of sometimes bizarre stock footage drives every humor-tipped point home.

In the theater, the crowd’s reaction varied from jeering to applause, stomping the ground and laughing hysterically to scorn and disgust. This is the kind of movie that will undoubtedly inspire strong feelings in every viewer. However, the viewer’s opinion of Religulous should not suffer on account of Maher’s style. Many viewers find his humor pointlessly caustic and intensely smug which will no doubt play a huge if undeserved role in the degree of the film’s success. A more discerning viewer will realize that Maher’s style shouldn’t overtake his message. That is precisely the point of the movie: that the human idea of religion is ridiculous regardless of the form it takes.

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