Religion certainly plays a vital role in the life of the world community. It is not only a mechanism for connecting each person with spirituality but also carries a whole background of beliefs and values that integrate the individual into the community and differentiate 894o5-0pfrom others. However, the influence of religion goes beyond individuals or even communities: it has often been used in history to justify bloodshed and other crimes (Inglehart, 2020). At the same time, despite its negative aspects, religion cannot be removed from the lives of representatives of global society, even if it is a non-believing part of it (Kendall, 2016). The thesis of this work is that religion is an obligatory phenomenon in every person’s life, but its influence at various levels is only sometimes positive and constructive.
The burning questions of many atheists are brought together and presented in far from a decent manner in Bill Maher’s film Religulous. At the very beginning, the author states the starting thesis that religion is harmful to the development of society (Charles, 2008). At the same time, Maher does not convince religious people of the absence of God; he only illustrates some of his ideas with examples. From the point of view of symbolic interactionism, his words and language are provocative, and in many things, he does not seek to use a genuinely scientific approach, and even more so ethics, which is one of the author’s arguments regarding the unscientific nature of religion (Charles, 2008). In fact, Maher appeals to the emotions against which critical thinking should be born. To do this, the author uses the technique of most documentaries, which are based on a director’s or any investigation, consist of a series of interviews, and for greater impressiveness, are provided with statistical references (Charles, 2008). However, even here, Maher, at a certain point, departs from this method of narration and from claims to the scientific documentary nature of the picture.
From the point of view of functionalism, religions are just the most controversial since their role in world history is diverse. On the one hand, they gave faith to every person, rallied society, and thus, formed a platform for mutual assistance. On the other hand, they were often the rationale for wars – and Maher makes this argument one of the central ones in the film. Although far from all the terrible tragedies of our time were marked with the seal of the churches, functionally, religion performed the role of a great divine mission covering terrorism. Maher focuses on this contrast and logically concludes that if religion can lead to war, as history has often proven, then it would be better to abandon it as a vestige (Charles, 2008). People had similar thoughts as early as the Renaissance, but religions then experienced various attacks after a far-from-calm Middle Ages (Oberman & Trinkaus, 2022). As a result, from the point of view of the conflict, the author does not take into account the positive side of religion, which cannot be considered with such a provocation, and whose influence is purely individual.
Maher’s documentary is a bold and atypical civic stance that asks many important questions. However, the conclusions of this picture are monotonous, although it is evident that such a goal was pursued to find a response from even the most church-minded people. Even though it is believed that progress and religion are incompatible concepts, it is at least possible to speak of dynamics. Maher is probably somewhat right in speaking of the absurdity and archaism of specific components of theism. However, the existence of religions today, after a long century of criticism, is also explained by the positive side of the influence on society; otherwise, the whole world would have long been mired in war, sins, and cruelty.
References
Charles, L. (Director). (2008). Religulous [Film]. Thousand Words.
Inglehart, R. F. (2020). Giving up on God: the global decline of religion. Foreign Affairs, 99, 110.
Kendall, D. (2016). Sociology in our times (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Oberman, H. A., & Trinkaus, C. E. (Eds.). (2022). The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Religion: Papers from the University of Michigan conference [1972]. Brill.