Aceniantor said - Um... Obama is not a Muslim. The United Stupid of America never cease to amaze me.

Amen, brother, about the "stupid" - that was a freaking JOKE, man. (I chuckled - it was a quite Maherish comment in a piece about Maher.)

Rodian - ah, but these days children often DO have different religions from their parents. It's a joke (humor alert again) among agnostic/atheist parents that their kids will probably grow up to be priests. And as for the priests' kids, well... And you have a good point about religion masking xenophobia.

In fact, before going on with responses to other people, I'd like to state my position:- With or without religion, people act like people. We have the capacity (and frequently act on it) to be generous, loving, thoughtful, sensible, etc., and we have the capacity (and frequently act on it) to be the nastiest creatures on earth. Religion comes from (a) a need to explain things (what's the noise in the sky? Must be a god, let's call him Thor, rumbling around in a giant cart), and (b) a response to the innate human need to worship and follow, all same dogs, which comes from being a social creature. Dunno whether it's better or worse to transfer that need from some alpha human to an invisible space god...tho I guess indulging in both simultaneously is the worst.

So, demerit, I agree - the Muslim sects, as with all 'religious' conflicts, are really over standard human (standard living-being) matters of vying for land and power (survival).

Gary-Jil - I'd argue that it's dispensing with religion that is thinking outside the box. Just because we don't understand everything doesn't justify some kind of, well, spacegod explanation. And what we DO understand today would, if our neo-cortexes caught up with our reptilian and mammalian brains, dispense with any religious theories we've come up with so far. Just the immensity of the universe kinda blows up the possibility of a god with a personal interest in your tiny and temporary doings. And, furthermore - being intolerant towards idiocy seems to me to be a healthy thing.

Terry - actually some people do choose their own religion. That has only recently become possible, of course, with multi-culturalism and broadening of our horizons. The phenomenon of people shopping around, trying out various things and then going for what they like - or the notorious smorgasboard type, with a bit of this and a bit of that - is quite well-known. Of course, there is a question of whether they *believe* in quite the same way as someone born and bred into something...

Steam Hammers (are you a rock band?) - you have a point. Maher doesn't make fun of people who are already a beleaguered minority, like Native Americans or marginal blacks practicing Voodoo. Fair enough. He makes fun of stupid oppressive majorities who use their religion to, um, hammer us. (Not that the Voodoo people and sweatlodgers wouldn't be exactly the same if they happened to be the majority...but they ain't, so they get a pass. I see David L. points out the, um, point here.) And right that apparently non-religious belief systems are irrational and 'religious' in nature, sure. Pol Pot or talking snake - people are really good at investing themselves in nonsense.

Noodleboy - not undergarments of the finest silk, but SACRED UNDERWEAR.

Vasumurti - speaking of neo-cortexes, one of our human attributes is to be able to logically argue any damned crazy thing.

Tom in Central Ill - Yeah, faith defies all logic. That's because (see above) it arises from deeper, more primitive parts of our brains than the recently developed logic department. (Doesn't make it right.)

Tyger - yeah, gotta agree. If crudely - there's lots of intelligent people (actually, all) who have some irrational stupid stuff going on. Not as easy as dividing people up into intelligent on one side and rednecks on the other side. I, sigh, know some lovely rednecks - I just smile and nod when they "witness" at me.

Serai1 - You hit on a very important and disturbing point. Religion seemed to be fading there for a while as science was taught in schools and generally accepted by people (tho there were always, and still are, some scientific people who do faith on the side). Physics, chemistry, biology - so much was finally making sense and, furthermore, could be applied in a practical way. But, oops, physics has gone into realms where the educated layperson no longer can follow, and this results in people saying that, well, Schroedinger's Cat is just as weird as the talking snake, so that somehow makes them equal (fair and balanced, fair and balanced). Doesn't. It's just that we live in the Middle Kingdom, so to speak, evolved to deal with things here, and in a relatively brief now. When ye olde, or rather newish, neo-cortex goes wandering off to investigate the micro or macro levels, the talk about it sounds like gibberish. But regardless of what it sounds like, it comes out of scientific study, not religious dreams. A very basic and essential difference.

Jamiso - that's why there's no dinosaurs around ... no room for THEM on the ark.

Truetoblue - agree. ("Stop making sense!")

Enough - need more coffee. (or a trank...)

So I may be repeating what other LWs have said.

But not being 'intellectual' is one thing, but being incoherent is something else. And for someone trained and experienced as a journalist to be totally flummoxed by journalists' question is surprising. And likeable? Only if you like mean-spirited people who get off snarky lines and smirk about them.

Maybe with a high-powered rifle from an airplane.

Alternatively, how to you re-launch her? Maybe with a cannon.