History Film / Religulous

* SadlyMythtaken: The stories of Mithra, Horus, Bacchus and many more are not really like what Bill Maher thinks, having very little in common with the {{Jesus}} narrative. [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20585_6-famous-documentaries-that-were-shockingly-full-crap.html This Cracked article]] has the details.

%%* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Mithras and [[EgyptianMythology Horus]]

* HypocriticalHumor: When filming in the Dome of the Rock, Bill asks his guide if Islam discriminates against women. The guide denies this and then points that [[SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX women have their own corner in which they can pray]].

* JustForFun/SurprisinglySimilarStories: Invoked by Bill to point out the similarities between the stories of {{Jesus}} and other deities like Mithra, Bacchus, Horus and many more. There's a slight problem in that the stories of Mithra, Horus, Bacchus and many more are [[SadlyMythtaken not really like what Bill Maher thinks]]. [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20585_6-famous-documentaries-that-were-shockingly-full-crap.html This Cracked article]] has the details.

[[quoteright:333:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Religulous2008_4617.jpg]]

A {{documentary}} film by [[RealTimeWithBillMaher Bill Maher]] released in 2008.

* HeteronormativeCrusader: John Westcott from Exchange Ministries (an organization that tries to [[CureYourGays "cure" gays]]), is interviewed in the film.

* DocumentaryOfLies: As well as using selective editing, [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20585_6-famous-documentaries-that-were-shockingly-full-crap.html this article]] points out that many of Maher's claims about Jesus' paralels with other mythological figures (in particular Horus) are flat out wrong.

See also ''Film/JesusCamp'' for a similar religious documentary produced around the same timeframe. For those who have Amazon Prime, ''Religulous'' is free on Amazon Instant Video. It's also on Netflix.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Even the guys in the trucker church that Bill interviewed laughed when, after they had put their hands on his shoulders in a circle and prayed for him, he pretended his wallet was missing.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Everything said abut Mithras and [[EgyptianMythology Horus]].
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: The basic thesis.
** Although, Bill does accept the idea of people in desperate situations (such as prison) turning to God as being "the only thing that keeps them going."

* ChewbaccaDefense: The interview with Ken Ham and a few other examples.
* ChurchMilitant: Bill isn't too fond of these types.

** A better example:

** This exchange, to a certain extent:

--->'''Senator:''' You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the senate, though. ''*chuckles*'' (Bill frowns, the Senator [[CrowningMomentofFunny gets]] [[OhCrap quiet]].)

* TheFundamentalist: A few.

* PoesLaw: Bill disguises himself and starts preaching the ''actual'' tenets of Scientology at the Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park. Naturally, most people laugh at him and call him crazy, unaware that those were Scientologists' real beliefs.
** It's even funnier because that park was used by nutjobs to preach outlandish beliefs, and ''even then'', the real beliefs of Scientology looked crazier by comparison.
* {{Portmantitle}}

** He even shows one priest actually saying that the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel eschatology]] is nonsense and that there is no such thing as Hell.
*** Not impossible-there are priests who've lost their faith, or disagree with some of the Catholic doctrines.

* ReligionOfEvil: The film attempts to portray Islam above all as this.

* JustForFun/SurprisinglySimilarStories: Invoked by Bill to point out the similarities between the stories of {{Jesus}} and other deities like Mithra, Bacchus, Horus and many more. Of course, there's a slight problem in that the stories of Mithra, Horus, Bacchus and many more are [[SadlyMythtaken not really like what Bill Maher thinks]]. [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20585_6-famous-documentaries-that-were-shockingly-full-crap.html This Cracked article]] has the details.

* AGodAmI: Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, who claims to be the resurrected Jesus Christ, is interviewed in the film.

* BookEnds: The film opens with Bill standing on Megido, Israel, noting that, according to Christian beliefs, at that spot Jesus will return and end the world; the closing scene has Bill in the same place making a reflection on the dangers of believing something that looks forward to the end of the world, and how [[SelfFulfillingProphecy irrationality could provoke our own Armageddon]].

--->'''Bill:''' Jonah living inside of the whale... and their answer, unfailingly, is: "the Bible doesn't say whale, it says big fish." Oh yeah, big fish... [[SarcasmMode now THAT makes sense]]! I'm sorry, I was obsessing on that was a whale! It's a big fish. Of course you can live for three days in a big fish. A tuna. A tuna. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment They do it all the time in Japan.]] They have tuna spas. [[OverlyLongGag You go for three days, they pamper you, oils... you come out of that tuna, feeling... fantastic.]]

* DocumentaryOfLies: As well as using selective editing, [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20585_6-famous-documentaries-that-were-shockingly-full-crap.html this article]] points out that many of Maher's claims about Jesus' paralells with other mythological figures (in particular Horus) are flat out wrong.

* HypocriticalHumor: When filming in the Dome of the Rock, Bill asks his guide if Islam discriminates against women, the guide denies this and then points that [[SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX women have their own corner in which they can pray]].

** Bill did this to Francis Collins, the Christian scientist who headed the Human Genome Project. [[http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/10/the-case-against-religulous-th.html Bill Maher deliberately misled Collins into accepting an interview]] on the premise that it would be about his book, ''The Language of God'' (which deals with science and faith). Instead, Bill Maher confronted Collins with questions on topics unrelated to his book--topics he admitted that he's not an expert on (such as the historicity of the Gospels). Maher then used select clips to make Collins appear dumbstruck before these "tough questions."

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Invoked by Bill at the end of the film with the demand that the audience "grow up or die."

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Father George Coyne, [=PhD=], who works at the Vatican's Observatory, is directly presented as this. He [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ACyiSPAmE points out]] that the Bible was written 2-4 thousand years before what we know as science was ever developed, so any suggestions that the Bible is a scientific text is dubious at best. To hammer the point home, Bill interlaces this segment with segments of Ken Ham, leader of "Answers in Genesis," a religious group that claims that the Bible is meant to be taken literally and is an accurate history of the Earth.

** Also ex-gay Pastor Westcott, when Bill acciedntally implied some FoeYay between them, both of them almost couldn't stop laughing.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint:

** Bill Maher quotes JohnAdams as saying "This best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." In reality, Adams meant [[http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/10/the-case-against-religulous-ta.html the complete opposite]], as the context (from a letter to ThomasJefferson back in 1817) shows.

* DocumentaryOfLies: as well as using selective editing, [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20585_6-famous-documentaries-that-were-shockingly-full-crap.html this article]] points out that many of Maher's claims about Jesus' paralells with other mythological figures (in particular Horus) are flat out wrong

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Father George Coyne, [=PhD=], who works at the Vatican's Observatory, is directly presented as this. He [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ACyiSPAmE points out]] that the Bible was written 2-4 thousand years before what we know as Science was ever developed, so any suggestions that the Bible is a scientific text is dubious at best. To hammer the point home, Bill interlaces this segment with segments of Ken Ham, leader of "Answers in Genesis," a religious group that claims that the Bible is meant to be taken literally and is an accurate history of the Earth.

* JustForFun/SurprisinglySimilarStories: Invoked by Bill to point out the similarities between the stories of {{Jesus}} and other deities like Mithra, Bacchus, Horus and many more. Of course, there's a slight problem in that the stories of Mithra, Horus, Bacchus and many more are [[SadlyMythtaken not really like what Bill Maher thinks]].

* LoopholeAbuse: Bill visits a workshop in Israel that's dedicated to making inventions, specifically for orthodox Jews, that allow them to perform certain tasks on the Sabbath without breaking Talmudic Law.

* BookEnds: The film opens with Bill standing on Megido, Israel, noting that, according to Christian beliefs, at that spot Jesus will return and end the world; the closing scene has Bill in the same place making a reflection on the dangers of believing something that looks forward to the end of the world, and how irrationality could provoke our own Armageddon.

* SurprisinglySimilarStories: Invoked by Bill to point out the similarities between the stories of {{Jesus}} and other deities like Mithra, Bacchus, Horus and many more. Of course, there's a slight problem in that the stories of Mithra, Horus, Bacchus and many more are [[SadlyMythtaken not really like what Bill Maher thinks]].

* RefugeInAudacity: Bill certainly has a lot of nerve to confront devoted believers, some of them understandably are seen fuming during the interviews, in one instance he is actually ordered to leave the area in front of the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. He was also thrown out of the Vatican before he could even really get started filming much of anything there. It's hard to say how much of this is genuine, though, given the amount of selective editing.

See also ''Film/JesusCamp'' for a similar religious documentary produced around the same timeframe. For those who have Amazon Prime, ''Religulous'' is free on Amazon Instant Video.

** The same thing happened with Film/Expelled, released that same year, but from the opposite direction (i.e. creationists tricking evolutionary scientists into interviews that were later manipulatively edited).

* HoYay: [[{{Irony}} At the end of the aforementioned interview with John Westcott]]. Serves as a {{Crowning Moment of Funny}} also.

* PoesLaw: Bill disguises himself and starts preaching the ''actual'' tenets of Scientology at the Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park. Naturally, most people laugh at him and call him crazy, unaware that those were Scientologists' real beliefs.
** It's even funnier because that park was used by nutjobs to preach outlandish beliefs, and ''even then'', the real beliefs of Scientology looked crazier by comparison.

* RefugeInAudacity: Bill certainly has a lot of nerve to confront devoted believers, some of them understandably are seen fuming during the interviews, in one instance he is actually thrown out of a Mormon temple. He was also thrown out of the Vatican before he could even really get started filming much of anything there. It's hard to say how much of this is genuine, though, given the amount of selective editing.

* StealthInsult: Bill makes this several times in his interviews, the one that takes the cake is the aforementioned interview with Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda.

--->'''Senator:''' You don't have to have an IQ test to be elected to the senate, though. ''*chuckles*'' (Bill frowns, the Senator [[CrowningMomentofFunny gets]] [[OhCrap quiet]].)