Religulous

{{Film}}{{title-italics}}
{{cquote|And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die, I promise you, you don't. How can I be so sure? Because I don't know, and you do not possess mental powers that I do not.|||Bill Maher, ''Religulous''}}

'''''Religulous''''' is an [[United States|American]] film featuring [[Bill Maher]] and the baby [[Jesus]] that takes the piss out of [[religion]]. The film explores various religious groups across many locations ranging from the [[Vatican]] to Salt Lake City. Maher interviews a wide variety of religionists, including Hasidic [[Jew]]s, [[Muslim]]s, [[Mormon]]s, creationists as well as untraditional popes. In an early section, he asks what is possibly one of the most asked questions from non-religious people: why is [[faith]] good? Apart from a slight bit of abuse, he doesn't seem to get a straight answer out of anyone.

==Release and box office performance==

It was released on 2008 October 3, after a delay caused by the writers' strike. ''Religulous'' grossed $3.5 million in its opening weekend on 502 screens, resulting in a $6,972 per screen average (second among major new releases).<ref>[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2008&wknd=40&sort=avg&order=DESC&p=.htm Box Office Mojo -- Weekend box office results for October 3-5, 2008]</ref> In contrast, ''[[Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed]]'' managed only a meager $2,824 per screen in its opening weekend. <ref>[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=expelled.htm Box Office Mojo ''Expelled Intelligence Allowed'' page]</ref> 

''Religulous'' was released on the same weekend as ''[[An American Carol]]'', a right-wing screed aimed at documentarian [[Michael Moore]].  Although ''Carol'' had a slightly better opening week box office take ($3.66 million), it was shown on 1639 screens compared to ''Religulous's'' 502 screens.  I.e., ''Carol'' had only one-third the number of butts in the seats per theater as ''Religulous''.  According to boxofficemojo.com, as of 10 October 2008 ''Religulous'' had surpassed ''Carol'' at the box office -- $5.122 million versus $5.031 million.  Because ''Religulous'' has made back double its original budget ($2.5 million) at the box office, it is now considered to have turned a profit.  (The budget for ''Carol'' was $20 million.)  In the end, the US box office take for ''Religulous'' was $13.01 million<ref>[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=religulous.htm Box Office Mojo ''Religulous'' page]</ref> compared to $7.01 million for ''An American Carol''<ref>[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=americancarol.htm Box Office Mojo ''An American Carol'' page]</ref> and $7.92 million for ''Expelled''.  (The makers of ''Expelled'' have never made public the movie's official production budget.  Big surprise.)<ref>{{wpa|Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed}}</ref>  <ref group=note>The budget for ''Expelled'' is now listed as $3.5 million (US).  '''''If''''' this is true, Ben and company made a (very small) profit.   '''''If''''' this is true.</ref>

==Criticism==
''Religulous'' has come under fire for [[quote mining]] and allegedly misrepresenting facts to suit its agenda. One particularly criticised aspect of the film is an interview between Maher and [[Francis Collins]], head of the [[Human Genome Project]] and devoted Bible believer, in which Collins appeared confused while attempting to defend the historicity of Genesis. Collins has claimed that Maher misled him about the topic of the interview, confronted him with questions unrelated to the discussion and used selective clips from the interview to make it appear that he was unable to answer the questions.<ref>[https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/stevenwaldman/2008/10/the-case-against-religulous-th.html The Case Against Religulous — The Misleading Francis Collins Interview]</ref> He also quoted [[John Adams]] as saying that "this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it", ignoring that in its full context the quote clearly states that Adams opposed this view.<ref>[https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/stevenwaldman/2008/10/the-case-against-religulous-ta.html The Case Against Religulous — Taking Quotes Out of Context]</ref>

''Religulous'' also argues that Jesus may not have existed, basing the argument on claims that his story is similar to the stories of Horus, Mithras and Krishna from Egyptian, Roman/Persian and Hindu theology. The claims about Horus come from Tom Harpur's ''The Pagan Christ'', which has been extensively debunked by Egyptologists.<ref>[http://hnn.us/articles/6641.html The Leading Religion Writer in Canada ... Does He Know What He's Talking About?]</ref> The claims about Mithras and Krishna are similarly based on misinformation; for example, neither Mithras nor Krishna were virgin births, nor was Mithras resurrected.<ref>''Shattering the Christ Myth: Did Jesus Not Exist?'' by James Patrick Holding</ref> Likewise, the documentary's claim that [[original sin]] is not in the [[Bible]] is incorrect.<ref>[https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-biblical-evidence-for-original-sin What Is the Biblical Evidence for Original Sin?]</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0815241/ ''Religulous'' on IMDb]
*{{wpa|Religulous|''Religulous''}}
*[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/religulous/ ''Religulous'' on Rotten Tomatoes]
*[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Religulous ''Religulous''] on [[TV Tropes]]

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Atheism]]
[[category:films]]

Categories: Atheism, films