1. Comment #373184 by Isherwood on May 5, 2009 at 8:57 am

Beautiful. Almost worth subscribing to HBO.

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2. Comment #373187 by crookedshoes on May 5, 2009 at 9:02 am

When you stand up and tell the truth you are a "comedian" when you stand up and lie you are a "politician". What would be the major impact of having the two groups (comedians and politicians) change jobs for a term or two?

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3. Comment #373192 by Stephen Fagg on May 5, 2009 at 9:07 am

That site is blocked at school, but I bet it is funny if Bill Maher is evolved, um...,sorry, involved.

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4. Comment #373194 by LittleFluffyClouds on May 5, 2009 at 9:07 am

Seriously.

All I do is speak the truth, and people think I'm absolutely hilarious.

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5. Comment #373200 by jrodarte on May 5, 2009 at 9:16 am

Did Bill Maher say creationism and Darwinism are *equally* legitimate theories?? Evolution is a *Scientific Theory* and creationism, well, isn't scientific. Sorry if I appear too captious.

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6. Comment #373204 by black wolf on May 5, 2009 at 9:21 am

jrodarte,
no, he recited the false view "main-stream media" often represent in order to clearly state that it is.

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7. Comment #373208 by igetpissed on May 5, 2009 at 9:37 am

jrodarte, He was alluding to fact that the media often represent the two as equal, when in fact they are, of course, not.

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8. Comment #373209 by DiveMedic on May 5, 2009 at 9:37 am

It is always interesting to see how quickly people run back to grab a hold of the leg of science whenever they realize that there is a possibility that Jesus will not save them. I see it occasionally in my line of work. It is truly frightening, however, that there is a not so insignificant portion of the population that cannot be shaken from their faith even when their lives (or the lives of their children, neighbors, etc) are at risk.

Remind me again why faith is a virtue.

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9. Comment #373211 by jrodarte on May 5, 2009 at 9:39 am

@black wolf and igetpissed

Thanks for the response. The ambiguity in his statement worried me. This is one instance I'll let my confirmation bias go unchallenged.

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10. Comment #373212 by Verylee on May 5, 2009 at 9:44 am

8. Comment #373209 by DiveMedic

It is always interesting to see how quickly people run back to grab a hold of the leg of science whenever they realize that there is a possibility that Jesus will not save them

The corollary of "there are no atheists in foxholes" being, "there are no creationists in clinics"?

Other Comments by Verylee

11. Comment #373214 by Lucas on May 5, 2009 at 9:46 am

Ah, very nice, Bill. Keep up the good work.

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12. Comment #373222 by Spinoza on May 5, 2009 at 10:07 am

Bill... Viruses procreate?!

What?!

When did that happen?

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13. Comment #373224 by Dax on May 5, 2009 at 10:09 am

Now, if Maher would only use the same skepticism and reason when he's talking about medicine, he would actually be a great guy.

Unfortunately, he's big on the "Big Pharma is out to kill you, vaccines kill, alt-med is awesome" bovine excrement. Which makes me realize that the talk about tamiflu and the science based med approach to the oink-sneeze is rather paradoxical to his often regurgitated quackery.

Oh, and Spinoza, I can forgive Maher's little mix-up of viruses procreating. What I find more disturbing is that I hear people say "viri" to denote the plural of virus... although, on second though, that does make sense after-all. "Viri" means "men" like in "humankind" and we do behave like viruses.

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14. Comment #373226 by Cosmin on May 5, 2009 at 10:17 am

"God felt like fucking with Mexicans", LOL!

Way to go, Bill! Like always.

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15. Comment #373230 by davidsverse on May 5, 2009 at 10:20 am

Now if only Maher would come out on the right side of vaccine issue. His views on modern medcine are sometimes questionable.

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16. Comment #373232 by HandyGeek on May 5, 2009 at 10:25 am

Good stuff and it would have been a great moment for him to plug his documentary. ;)

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17. Comment #373250 by eirik on May 5, 2009 at 11:28 am

@davidsverse

Questionable..? You're joking right? ;)

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18. Comment #373253 by Thanny on May 5, 2009 at 11:34 am

jrodarte wrote:

Thanks for the response. The ambiguity in his statement worried me. This is one instance I'll let my confirmation bias go unchallenged.

Ambiguity? He said this:

"...creationism and Darwinism are not opposing but equally legitimate theories..."

How is that ambiguous?

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19. Comment #373254 by Needscowbell on May 5, 2009 at 11:36 am

Thanks Bill! Hats off to a wonderful l'enfant terrible.

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20. Comment #373257 by root2squared on May 5, 2009 at 11:47 am

"...creationism and Darwinism are not opposing but equally legitimate theories..."

How is that ambiguous?

He meant

creationism and Darwinism are not "opposing but equally legitimate theories"

as opposed to

creationism and Darwinism are not opposing, but equally legitimate theories

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21. Comment #373260 by Alternative Carpark on May 5, 2009 at 11:51 am

Good stuff.

Let's face it though, it's an easy target.

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22. Comment #373268 by Sally Luxmoore on May 5, 2009 at 12:05 pm

I don't always know the people he's talking about, being on the other side of the pond, but I do love Bill Maher and especially New Rules.
This one is really good.
How many people in the States watch him? Is his show a minority interest or mainstream?
Either way, he's certainly helping. His kind of ridicule can often get a point over faster than mere argument.
I saw Religulous in London. Not much of an audience, sadly - I'm sure not many people over here have heard of him, but those that were there seemed to enjoy it.

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23. Comment #373276 by Hetero sapien on May 5, 2009 at 12:39 pm

Good video!
I enjoyed Religulous too :)

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24. Comment #373278 by petermun on May 5, 2009 at 12:45 pm

OK, he's getting better (and the more we see of him the more comprehensible he is becoming this side of the pond) but sadly he's no replacement for the wonderful George Carling.

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25. Comment #373280 by LaurieB on May 5, 2009 at 12:51 pm

Sally,

Bill Maher is the reason I pay to subscribe to HBO every month. It's refreshing to see someone here in the States battling back against the religious-right on the national stage. Ok, I don't agree with him on every point but we have so few people like him here that I'm happy to support him. Last August he was in Boston to tape his HBO special, "The Decider" about Bush and I saw the show and loved it. It is available on DVD now. Religulous was very funny and that is also out on DVD.

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26. Comment #373292 by JesperB on May 5, 2009 at 1:14 pm

As said by several others, Bill Maher is great when talking against the religious right, but an absolute nutcase to listen to when it comes to modern medicine. That's why I feel rather ambivalent about him certainly embracing it. But this was fun to watch, no doubt.

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27. Comment #373302 by Sally Luxmoore on May 5, 2009 at 1:23 pm

Thanks Laurie.

I think I might look on Amazon for those DVDs,
to add to my increasingly heretical collection.

Other Comments by Sally Luxmoore

28. Comment #373310 by Driver on May 5, 2009 at 1:42 pm

He had to use the term "procreate" to set up the joke about Mel Gibson.

It wouldn't have worked as well if he had said that viruses "embed their DNA or RNA into the host genome, utilizing the host cell's replicative machinery for propagation."

Sometimes you have to come to a compromise and sacrifice some of the science for humor.

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29. Comment #373312 by Needscowbell on May 5, 2009 at 1:48 pm

Bill Maher saying that Americans are fat and overmedicated is crazy talk? Um, no. He is correct, we Yanks eat too much and we worship the pharamceutical companies. "Modern" medicine spends too much time medicating symptoms rather than getting to the root cause of most illnesses.

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30. Comment #373315 by petermun on May 5, 2009 at 2:03 pm

Needscowbell is right - just got back from a cruise on a boat which had mainly American passengers. The one way to ensure solitude was to use the stairs.

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31. Comment #373317 by b0ltzm0n on May 5, 2009 at 2:06 pm

That creationist that Gov. Perry appointed to head the Texas Board of Eduction just so happens to represent my district (SBOE District 9--Dr. Don McLeroy). This guy believes that the Earth is 6000 years old and that dinosaurs walked around with humans. Sad times when the chairperson of a State Board of Education honestly believes that the Flintstones was a documentary (<- shamelessly stealing from LB).

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32. Comment #373319 by JesperB on May 5, 2009 at 2:13 pm

@Needscowbell: I couldn't help noticing your use of quotation marks in "Modern" medicine.

Before I go on a rant about so-called "alternative" medicine and other woo, would you please elaborate on that? thank you.

Other Comments by JesperB

33. Comment #373320 by JesperB on May 5, 2009 at 2:14 pm

@b0ltzm0n: Ah, but when stealing, steal from the best!

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34. Comment #373323 by Colwyn Abernathy on May 5, 2009 at 2:19 pm

That's for us sinners.

Damn right. Still dig Bill. :)

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35. Comment #373324 by Colwyn Abernathy on May 5, 2009 at 2:23 pm

When you stand up and tell the truth you are a "comedian" when you stand up and lie you are a "politician". What would be the major impact of having the two groups (comedians and politicians) change jobs for a term or two?

INGENIOUS! Let's make it happen! :)

Other Comments by Colwyn Abernathy

36. Comment #373351 by Eshto on May 5, 2009 at 3:44 pm

I AM HAPPY TO REPORT:

A long-time Christian friend of mine just came out as an "agnostic" after watching Bill Maher's Religulous, which he loved.

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37. Comment #373352 by Gregg Townsend on May 5, 2009 at 3:46 pm

37. Comment #373351 by Eshto



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38. Comment #373354 by Steve Zara on May 5, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Comment #373351 by Eshto

Brilliant! So much for those who rant about it being impossible to reason with the faithful.

Interesting that he loved the film that "converted" him, and did not feel regretful, as if it was bringing him bad news.

Other Comments by Steve Zara

39. Comment #373362 by Frankus1122 on May 5, 2009 at 4:12 pm

37. Comment #373351 by Eshto

Good news. Sometimes I think some people have just not thought very hard about what they believe. To see it mocked as it is in the movie is a wake-up call for some.

It is hard to argue against what the critics of religion have to say if you are being honest with yourself, despite what people like Terry Eagleton say.

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40. Comment #373376 by LaurieB on May 5, 2009 at 4:37 pm

Sally,

My DVD collection is also increasingly heretical. Any suggestions for my future additions?

Other Comments by LaurieB

41. Comment #373382 by sophia_mr on May 5, 2009 at 4:49 pm

WIN

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42. Comment #373385 by Border Collie on May 5, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Children of the Taliban ...
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/pakistan802/video/video_index.html

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43. Comment #373389 by Sally Luxmoore on May 5, 2009 at 5:09 pm

Laurie -

Well, apart from all the DVDs on this site- including the Jonathan Miller one and his history of atheism series that he did a while ago-

for comedy there's Dave Allen, Billy Connolly, Bill Bailey, Stuart Lee and also Marcus Brigstocke (but I don't know about DVDs for him, I generally look for snippets on Youtube).
I've also got 'Why Atheism?' from the British Humanist society- (good)

That's all I can remember from my collection at the moment, but I'm sure others can think of more that would be good. Hope this is useful.

Other Comments by Sally Luxmoore

44. Comment #373408 by LaurieB on May 5, 2009 at 5:40 pm

Sally,

Thanks. I'll check those out.

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45. Comment #373454 by wetbread on May 5, 2009 at 7:25 pm

LaurieB,

If you're patient with downloads, the Atheist Movies blog is a treasure trove:

http://atheistmovies.blogspot.com/

Other Comments by wetbread

46. Comment #373455 by prettygoodformonkeys on May 5, 2009 at 7:27 pm

Eshto

wonderful news

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47. Comment #373462 by Ponde on May 5, 2009 at 7:48 pm

If Texas had Board of Studies it doesn't now.

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48. Comment #373466 by Roland_F on May 5, 2009 at 8:09 pm

A long-time Christian friend of mine just came out as an "agnostic" after watching Bill Maher's Religulous

When is the screening of Religulous in the vatican cinema £

And why God created the swine-flu virus - well God moves in mysterious ways !

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49. Comment #373475 by IPV4 on May 5, 2009 at 8:26 pm

Funny stuff!

Bill is the only reason why I subscribe to HBO.

He is the only person in the USA with a media outlet that bashes religion/theist. It's like a breath of fresh air.

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50. Comment #373520 by mordacious1 on May 5, 2009 at 9:54 pm

Same sort of video. Chris Matthews tries to get a straight answer out of Republican Mike Pence about evolution:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/05/mike-pence-descends-into_n_197243.html

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