Back to the Pulpit

This was never meant to be a predominantly Religious/Christian/Evangelical blog, but lately those seem to be the topics that are getting my attention. My bandwidth, my opinions, my viewpoints, my interests - Read on if you are of a like mind...

I was reading James Lileks' The Bleat (as I do just about every week day) and towards the end I came across his excerpts from a Canadian Television interview with Bill Maher. You have to read it to believe it, but the part that jumped out for me was his calling Americans who believe in God stupid, or at best psychotic. Here's the the exchange:

CBC: I think there's been a couple of studies done about Canadians and this evangelical movement never got hold in Canada. We were just never, never, religion plays a very very small part –

Maher: To me, to me it's a real dividing line between people of intelligence and – not that there haven't been some intelligent people who are religious. I mean, T.S. Elliott was a great poet and he became a very devout Catholic… But I always call religion a neurological disorder. I really do believe that. I mean it's not criticizing. I'm just saying if you took religion out of it and somebody went to a psychiatrist and said you know I believe in you know this crazy, illogical thing, the shrink would say, well you have a neurological disorder. And you need to really get therapy or take a pill.

Lileks adds:

I love that – T. S. Elliott was intelligent because he was a great poet, you see. (Dr. Pound; calling Dr. Pound) The old hoary fallacy: achievement in art necessarily confers some sort of moral wisdom. Here you have Maher in all his fatuous glory – religion is a mental illness, but “I mean it’s not criticizing.” He’s just saying, is all. National Health Service passing out pills that suppressed your transcendental desires: Utopia!

Americans are dumb because Americans believe in God. Canadians are smart because Canadians believe in Canada. Bill Maher believes in Bill Maher. Print this out and put in your wallet for future reference.

Mrs. Hamilton't Pamphlets and I have had this conversation many times. We are both educated (Masters Degree in Finance, thank you very much) and consider ourselves intelligent and yet we both believe in God. This psuedo-intellictual attitude that religion is the "opiate of the masses" is incredibly annoying. I can only assume that the "Party of the Left" with its deep ties to communism from the 50's, 60's and 70's just can't live with a belief system that has concrete morals and values. Being Christian sometimes means you have to make choices that are not comfortable, that are not the "easy way out", that have less than pleasant consequences.

My guess is that those who don't believe are afraid of being judged. They object to steadfast rules of conduct that may interfere with their "feel good" life style. They really don't like the idea that if they are judged, they some how just won't measure up. Well, guess what? None of us do. We're HUMAN! Christians simply believe that we've been given a guidebook (the Bible) and that we should strive to live by it and ask forgiveness from God when we inevitably fall short.

The Bill Maher's of the world and their ilk need to get over their fears and actually take a serious look at what they ridicule. Think of it this way (this is one of Mrs. Hamilton's Pamphlets favorite thought provokers): If the non-believers are correct and there is no God and nothing after death, then by living a religious life you have been a good person and lived a life to be proud of. However, what if the Believers are right? And they say we lack intelligence?

Comments

[skeptix]

"Think of it this way (this is one of Mrs. Hamilton's Pamphlets favorite thought provokers): If the non-believers are correct and there is no God and nothing after death, then by living a religious life you have been a good person and lived a life to be proud of. However, what if the Believers are right? And they say we lack intelligence?"

This is a completely fallacious argument. You mean you can fake out God?
The idea that religion gives us morality, I believe, is also false. In my opinion, religion was defined by our moral principles, not the other way around.

I will say, however, that I don't see religion as a mental disorder. I see it for what it is...faith. Unproven...and who needs to prove it? It's pure arrogance for Maher to make that statement. By his logic, anyone who does not agree with him on any particular issue has some mental disorder. And it's not just our nation. He, in essence, is referring to the majority of the world's population as idiots when he says that.

[Alexander]

skeptix -
Thanks for your comment. Really made me think. However, I think either I was unclear or you mis-interpreted my comment.
"If the non-believers are correct and there is no God and nothing after death, then by living a religious life you have been a good person and lived a life to be proud of. However, what if the Believers are right? And they say we lack intelligence?"
You said:
This is a completely fallacious argument. You mean you can fake out God?"
My response:
If a person believes that there is no God, whom would you be "faking out"? My point is that even if the non-believers are right (and I don't believe they are) by living a good and moral life (as defined by the Bible/Christian teachings) then you can be rightly proud of the way you conducted yourself in your life. Again, if there is no God, you lived an honorable life. No more, no less, no "faking" anyone or any diety.
Further, on your comment:
"The idea that religion gives us morality, I believe, is also false. In my opinion, religion was defined by our moral principles, not the other way around."
My response:
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but it is my belief that our moral foundation came from God through the Prophets (old testament) and Jesus (new testament). They fit us as though we invented them because God invented us as well as the moral guidlines he desires us to follow. That's what I belive, anyhow.
Great comments. Really thought provoking. Thanks!