It's perfectly true that there are a lot of sophisticated theologians whose intellectual approach to faith has nothing in common with that of the idiots Maher mocks. But the problem with bringing this up as a defense against Maher's sarcasm is that the idiots outnumber the theologians by a million to one. The religion that most influences the real world is not the gentle faith of the Talmudic scholar or the Vatican philosopher; it's the blind fanaticism of the suicide bomber and the closed-minded ignorance of the creationist.

To be sure, there have been times when a deeper, more thoughtful faith has influenced the world for good -- Gandhi and King are the (ahem) canonical examples. But no matter how much good this sort of faith may do, it is far outweighed by the combination of violence, tribalism, and plain old stupidity we see in the name of God every day.

When I was a kid, I used to think that the world was on a fast track to progress; that increased access to knowledge and non-local points of view would cause people to shed their poorly informed misconceptions. Now I know many well educated well traveled people who still cling to their ineffable spirituality. Granted, I don't personally know anyone of the abject fundamentalist persuasion, so perhaps there has been progress, but not so much as I expected. I'm baffled.

The thing that struck me most, as a child, was that Christian parents never had Muslim kids. Everyone talks up the "personal" nature of their beliefs, but somehow, they almost all invariably believe almost exactly the same thing as the people living next door. One can take great comfort in having one's personal conclusions affirmed by so many friends and neighbors, I suppose. It's just like the scientific method, isn't it? You form a hypothesis, and then when the independent inquiries of your family reach the same conclusion, you have a theory as strongly grounded as any scientific proposition. Well, minus the observable measurable evidence bit, but that's just a nit.

I find people's failure to recognize the overt influence of culture on their beliefs deeply disturbing. Religion is a polite word for xenophobia.

You know what's odd, though. I know a lot of folks who'd religiosity IQ isn't so high who I'd much rather spend time with than some of their nihilistic genius counterparts who lack social grace or empathy. That's the nut that's tough to crack: sans religion, how should we live? Dostoyevsky took a swipe at it (and decided religion wasn't so bad after all). Sagan was trying to work up to something. I've never yet found an insightful secular position on the subject.

Will Bill convert anyone? I hope so, but probably his movie will mostly piss a bunch of people off. That's good too. But what I'd really like to see is a really strong argument about human behavior that wasn't grounded in superstition.

I respect Mr. Mahers quite a lot, but I think he undermines his arguments by presenting such a one-sides viewpoint.

For example, he argues that religion is responsible for pretty much all the violence in the history of the world. Look at history: the greatest incidences of mass destruction of human life in the 20th century was caused by racism and/or a desire for power. Even in centuries past, religion was often (not always, but often) used as an excuse to mask the desire for money or power when a country or group wanted to engage in conflict.

Religion certainly has led to violence, no doubt about it. But the fact that an idea or belief is sometimes misused does not render that idea or belief in valid. Look at the idea of democracy: many of our current problems in the US stem from the belief that democracy is such a superior system that we must spread it everywhere. Because some people mistakenly have acted on the idea that we must democratize the world, does that make democracy a bad idea?

Let's be honest, if the moderates were the ones on the rise, this movie would have never been made. Instead our religious dialogue in this country is controlled by the "Katrina happened because there was going to be a pride parade" crowd. That isn't to say that the moderates have more to base their claims on then the literalists but do you think that Bill would still be riding this issue if they represented the majority of beleivers in this country?

Let's stop pretending he is being unfair. This needs to be said. Yesterday someone at my local paper's website posted a comment blaming the economic crisis on God punishing America for abortion. This. Needs. To. Stop. We need to stop letting these people make bullshit claims about God that can't be backed up to promote whatever issue THEY think is important. If God collapsed the economy for any reason, it would most likely be the war in Iraq. I can't prove it of course but in the recent political/religous climate in this country that doesn't really matter anymore.

at various places in the Old Testament, it is prophesied that 'a virgin shall give birth'; various Christian preachers in the first couple centuries after the time of Christ's human existence wove those Old Testament prophesies together as a way of justifying the primacy of the worship of Christ

much later, after the religious ritual of Baptism had been instituted as the formal and official way to wash away the taint of Adam and Eve's Original Sin, it was reasoned that God the Father would have wanted the female human, who would carry His Son, to be pure and unsullied by the taint of Original Sin and thus, the concept of the Immaculate Conception came about

this is standard Catholic theology, which as a result of 8 years in a Catholic elementary school, 4 years in a Catholic high school for young men and two years at a Catholic college, is part of my reasoning process

I accept this stuff even though it may sound rather fanciful to someone else but that is the thing about "faith", there are some things that simply defy all logic

I will probably attend this movie and laugh at the crazy parts of my faith; I saw "Dogma" and I groaned at the illogical parts of my faith

But as I have said, faith quite often defies all logic