There is no arguing with faith. Not that that stopped the political humorist and one of America’s sharpest social critics, Bill Maher in his hilarious and thought-provoking new documentary, Religulous. They say that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Maher comes on like honey, but the provocateur is an unrepentant vinegar man.

In Religulous, directed by Larry Charles who also helmed Borat, Maher visits the Vatican, the Holy Land, Europe and crisscrosses America to talk with people about their religious faith. He sits down with a man who thinks he is Jesus Christ reincarnated, a minister who preaches that God wants all Christians to be rich, a U.S. senator, an “ex-gay” who runs a program to get homosexuals back onto the straight and narrow, a Jesus impersonator at an evangelical theme park, a Muslim rapper, a Jewish inventor who makes a living designing gadgets to get around Sabbath restrictions, the creator of a Creationism museum and even his own mother. Maher doesn’t see a whole lot of difference between those sitting opposite him. All, he is quick to point out, are disciples of fairy tales.

Maher says he understands why people in destitute situations cling to religion. For him, the dissonance appears when otherwise rational people shut down access to entire centers of their intellect when it comes to religion. Do otherwise bright people really believe in talking snakes and a man who lived inside of a fish, he wonders? Faith, he says, makes a virtue out of not thinking. Maher is not a fan of certainty in any guise. He loathes atheists too, because, like Christians, they have a certainty he finds untenable. He prefers a state of doubt, of mystery, of skeptical distance.

Religulous has no real narrative progression — just a series of interviews intercut with funny stock footage, Biblical cartoons, inner titles snarkily undercutting the conversation at hand and Maher doing what amounts to sidesplitting stand-up comedy. Maher confronts those who dispute evolution, the prosperity gospel, biblical inconsistencies, the wrathful God of the Old Testament, our so-called “Christian nation” and homophobia. He rails against a millennia of violence done in the name of God — violence all too common again today.

Maher is a child of Western Civilization, so it is natural that he dwells primarily on Christianity. In our culture, it has the most to answer for. When he turns his knives on Scientology, Mormonism, Judaism and even Islam (Eastern faiths get a pass), the film’s tone falters somewhat. Some may complain that Maher doesn’t differentiate enough between religions. Or that he lumps them all into one mass grave. And so he does. For him, no matter how religion decorates itself, it’s always the same thing.

Maher steers clear of questioning any learned theologians. While he does interview a sympathetic priest/astronomer and Dr. Francis Collins, a Christian and former head of the Human Genome Project, Maher mostly sticks to easy targets. Does he take cheap shots? You better believe it. More than can be listed here. But you’d be surprised at how many of them double you over in laughter.

Maher doesn’t really pretend to play fair. He’s scathing and he’s contemptuous, but he’s also mischievously curious. His is a thorny honesty. He never engages in Michael Moore-style gotcha tactics, but that doesn’t mean he resists getting in the last, smart-alecky word. Maher knows his stuff, repeatedly leaving his adversaries speechless either at his probing questions or his grasp of that which they thought they alone knew so well.

Maher’s interviewees don’t know what to do with their interviewer’s sarcasm. His good-humored language is laced with cyanide. He smiles broadly while sliding the knife into place. Beneath Maher’s jovial exterior, is acidic combativeness and ravenous belligerence. And the whole time, in spite of or perhaps because of it, you can’t take your eyes off him.

Some friends have claimed that Maher exploits Christianity by focusing only on its extreme fringe representatives. I don’t buy it. Most of Maher’s subjects wouldn’t even ripple the waters of modern, evangelical Christianity. What may appear fringe to some (creationists who believe that humans co-existed with dinosaurs 6,000 years ago, masses speaking in tongues, etc.) are fortunately or unfortunately fairly accurate representatives of their larger communities.

Is religion a force for good in the world? You wouldn’t know it by watching Religulous. Maher isn’t interested in those areas of life in which religion plays a powerful role for righteousness, social justice and the betterment of humankind. One gets the impression he would believe in their methods while being baffled by their motives. And for him, motives are what it’s all about.

There is no confusion as to Maher’s hypothesis. He sees religion as mass delusion, a “neurological disorder” that is detrimental to the state of human affairs and will eventually lead to the destruction of humankind. For Maher, it’s not a hypothetical argument. He views the biblical “end times” as nothing more than self-fulfilling prophecy. It used to be only God had the power to destroy the planet. Now we humans can too. Maher doesn’t believe God will bring about the end of the world through stampeding armies and colossal mushroom clouds — he thinks we’ll do it and attribute it to God. Religulous is a comedy that ends as a horror film.

Religulous is very, very funny. It is sure to offend some viewers. Elate others. The film includes humor that many will consider blasphemous. But perspective matters here. Is the film an accurate and comprehensive look at religion? No. Religulous doesn’t pretend to be a serious cultural or scientific examination of faith. The film, rather, is a sarcastic assessment of those who practice it. Religulous isn’t an attack on God so much as on the deluded things human beings say and do in His name.

Maher isn’t going to make many converts out of this. Religulous is made mostly for the choir. But that makes it no less brilliant and incendiary. This film certainly doesn’t end the debate. And that is what makes it invaluable. Anything that sparks discussion and promotes sincere dialogue is a good thing.

© Copyright 2008 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.