Bill Maher on Hypocritical Christians

I enjoyed that thoroughly.

Like Abby Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace says “I’ve almost come to the conclusion that this Mr. Hitler isn’t a Christian.”

I think the disconnect comes from the fact that non-theists tend to be of two different camps when dealing with Christianists – those that use the Bible to demonstrate the contradictions and get people to give up on it all together, and those who use it to say, essentially, “Why aren’t you more like Rob Bell (and his ilk)?” It’s all pretty ridiculous, obviously, but I think most people aren’t willing to give up god altogether, so I’d rather hit ’em with the second tactic and have them be deluded but decent. That sounds like what Maher is doing, at least in this case.

Thanks for posting the video!

It’s in that book you hold up when you scream at gay people.

I absolutely positively love that line.

There’s interpreting and then there’s ignoring.

This is exactly what I’ve been thinking, though I usually think of it the other way around, when people pretend the Bible is so wonderful and pretend that the bad things aren’t there or are less bad than they appear to be. (With more moderate or progressive believers, I think it goes the other way, with people being nicer than the book tells them to be.)

I was really surprised that Maher used the word “Christian” as synonymous with “good.” That seems to go against most of his usually anti-religious rhetoric. Since when are Jesus and the Bible the epitome of moral behavior, especially in his eyes?

I’ve actually seen him say some nice things about the New Testament, and specifically Jesus, before. I think I have a more negative view of the New Testament compared to Maher, because of the parts about Hell and using charity work as an excuse to proselytize. Still, it’s a good thing to point out that the person they’re claiming to emulate (Jesus) is very different from the picture believers have of him.

I love the video, and thanks again for posting it!

-Ani Sharmin

The bible can be used to support anything. You just have to quote the appropiate verses and ignore the rest.

Although I agree with what he says, Maher is really the last one in the world who should be criticizing others for their hypocrisy, considering his decidely anti-science stance on health issues.

True. We shouldn’t (and don’t!) treat him like an infallible prophet. We should criticize him when he’s a moron (vaccines) and if you care to, applaud him when he makes a point you agree with.

Maher’s comparing Christians to their own standard is brilliant. I appreciate the fact that he showed a little respect for Jesus’ teaching, while also clearly showing that he think’s it’s absurd. If you really want to hit Christians where it hurts, you have to use their language. Something he did very well here.

As far as the Gandhi reference, he admired the character “Jesus” but stated that he could never be a Christian because of Christians.

What Anna said.

Bill isn’t usually stupid, but for 2000 years, christians have done murder, torture, terror and so forth. Doing evil practically defines christianity. You could google Siege of Magdeburg or Siege of Beziers or the Mountain Meadows Massacre

The definition of Christianity is “following the teachings of Christ.” Not “following the teachings of the Old Testament” which is where the vast majority of all this “sinners will burn in the hellfire” type stuff comes from. And last I checked, Jesus wasn’t on-board with the Crusades or any other “religious” persecution perpetrated by people who were using a widespread organized Church as a method of control. Does Jesus strike you as the type of guy who would have said “Oh, Holocaust? Yeah, that’s cool, so long as you’re torturing and murdering the non-Christians.”

And then we get into all of the books of the  Bible that aren’t actually IN the Bible because the various councils deemed them non-canonical. Some of them have radically different messages than what’s in there now.