''Religulous'' () is a 2008 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

written by and starring

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

Bill Maher William MaherStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', January 12, 2016, PBS; on a series that lists "Jr." and "Sr." distinctions, Bill Maher's birth name was listed simply as William Maher, while his father was William Aloysius Maher Jr., and his pa ...

and directed by

Larry Charles Larry Charles (born ) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He was a staff writer for the sitcom ''Seinfeld'' for its first five seasons. He has also directed the documentary film '' Religulous'' and the mockumentary comedy films ...

. The title of the film is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

derived from the words ''

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

'' and ''

ridiculous To be ridiculous is to be something highly incongruous or inferior, sometimes deliberately so to make people laugh or get their attention, and sometimes unintendedly so as to be considered laughable and earn or provoke ridicule and derision. It c ...

''. The documentary examines and challenges religion and

religious belief A belief is a subjective attitude that something is true or a state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some stance, take, or opinion about something. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief ...

A range of views on various

world religions World religions is a socially-constructed category used in the study of religion to demarcate religions that are deemed to have been especially large, internationally widespread, or influential in the development of human societies. It typicall ...

is explored as Bill Maher travels to numerous religious destinations including

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

, and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, interviewing believers from a variety of backgrounds and groups. These include a former member of

Jews for Jesus Jews for Jesus is an international Christian missionary organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, that is affiliated with the Messianic Jewish religious movement. The group is known for its proselytism of Jews and promotes the b ...

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, former Mormons, and Hasidic Jews. Maher travels to

Speakers' Corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech public speaking, open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park in London, England. Histor ...

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a , historic Listed building#Heritage protection, Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Parks of London, Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington P ...

, where he "preaches"

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...

beliefs. Maher also takes a tour around

Creation Museum The Creation Museum, located in Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky, Petersburg, Kentucky, United States, is a museum that promotes the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific Young Earth creationism, young Earth creationist (YEC) explanation of the or ...

and the Holy Land Experience. The film promotes the

Christ myth theory The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the fringe view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by ...

, a

fringe theory A fringe theory is an idea or a viewpoint that differs significantly from the accepted scholarship of the time within its field. Fringe theories include the models and proposals of fringe science, as well as similar ideas in other areas of schola ...

that there was no

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

Cast

All persons appearing as themselves: *

Francis Collins Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ...

* Jeremiah Cummings *Pastor John Westcott *

Dean Hamer Dean Hamer (; born May 29, 1951) is an American geneticist, author, and filmmaker. He is known for his research on the role of genetics in sexual orientation and for a series of popular books and films that have changed scientific and public un ...

Ray Suarez Rafael Suarez, Jr. (born March 5, 1957), known as Ray Suarez, is an American broadcast journalist and author. He is currently host of the PBS series "Wisdom Keepers" set to premiere on the public network in June 2025. He was a visiting professor ...

Mark Pryor Mark Lunsford Pryor (born January 10, 1963) is an American attorney, politician and lobbyist who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from Arkansas from 2003 to 2015. He previously served as Arkansas Attorney General, Attorney ...

*Father George Coyne *Father Reginald Foster * Andrew B. Newberg * Dovid Weiss * José Luis de Jesús Miranda * Ken Ham * Fatima Elatik * Propa-Gandhi *

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives. Wilders is best known for his right-wing p ...

* Yehuda Etzion

Production

Maher said he used a fake title ''A Spiritual Journey'' for the film to obtain interviews. Creationist Ken Ham of the group

Answers in Genesis Answers in Genesis (AiG) is an American fundamentalist Christian apologetics parachurch organization. It advocates young Earth creationism on the basis of its literal, historical-grammatical interpretation of the Book of Genesis and the Bib ...

, who appeared in the film, was critical of what he called Maher's "deception" to obtain the interview. The documentary was produced by Thousand Words and distributed by

Lions Gate Entertainment Starz Entertainment Corp, formerly known officially as Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation and commonly as Lions Gate and/or Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment industry, entertainment company currently headquartered in Santa Monica ...

. Originally slated for an international release date coinciding with the Christian

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

holiday 2008 (March 23), post-production delays resulting from a screenwriters guild strike pushed the release date back. The film was eventually released on October 3, 2008.

Reception

Box office

''Religulous'' had an opening weekend take of $3.5 million from an early October 1 release in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and also a limited 502-theater release, averaging $6,972 per theater. As a result, the film was ranked at #10 at the box office that weekend. Its per-screen receipts were almost three times those of a competing film to which it has been compared in the media, the politically conservative '' An American Carol'', which edged out ''Religulous'' to finish at #9 over the same weekend, but had a per theater average of only $2,325. Only the #1 movie, '' Beverly Hills Chihuahua'', at $9,020, had a higher per-screen average than ''Religulous''. For the second weekend, ''Religulous'' had a 35.5% drop in box office receipts and dropped to #13 with a gross of $2,200,000 at 568 theaters for a per screen average of $3,873. ''Religulous'' grossed over $13 million after having a production budget of $2.5 million. , it is 27th among the highest grossing documentaries in the US and was the highest grossing documentary of 2008.

Critical response

''Religulous'' received mixed to positive reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 69%, based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 6.31/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Religulous'' is funny and offensive in equal measure, and aims less to change hearts and minds than to inspire conversation." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film has a score of 56 out of 100, based on 31 critics, "mixed or average reviews".

Film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film a rating of three and a half out of four stars, and wrote: "I report faithfully that I laughed frequently. You may very well hate it, but at least you've been informed. Perhaps you could enjoy the material about other religions, and tune out when yours is being discussed. That's only human nature." Robert W. Butler of ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'' gave the film a rating of three stars, and commented: "The film is one-sided, less a measured argument than a bunch of rants and barbed observations. But it’s also very funny, which trumps everything else."

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the film a rating of A−, and wrote: "The movie is funny as...well, hell." ''

The Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a privately-held company, pr ...

'' said the movie "delivers a laugh-out-loud attack on the most sacred of cows." Christie Lemire, of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, wrote: "If you're an atheist or an agnostic, you'll be completely on board and happy to tag along with Maher as he travels the globe asking people about their faith — everywhere from Jerusalem to the Vatican to Amsterdam, where he finds not only the Cannabis Ministry but also a Muslim gay bar (with two people in it)." John Anderson of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' wrote: "much that's funny, insightful and thought-provoking. But it certainly doesn't give the religious a lot of slack." The documentary received some negative reviews, with Rick McGinnis of '' Metro'' concluding that, "Maher is preaching to the choir with an undisguised dishonesty that only the true believers will forgive."

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on ...

wrote, "If the subject of religion is as important to Maher as he claims during his end comments, then he should have followed those words with actions and made a movie that's more than a sum of inauthentic interviews, ranting attacks, and obvious observations. The choir may hum along with Maher but the rest of those watching this movie will be singing the blues." Nick Schager of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' called it an "atheistic wannabe-dissection of modern faith." In a review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Stephen Holden notes that when Maher "turns from evangelical Christianity to Judaism and Islam, its tone becomes uncertain and its rhythm choppy". Sam Greenspan argues that "Jewish people seemed to get handled with kid gloves" by Maher. In his review, Stephen Holden also wrote that "the film has the same loose, on-the-road structure" as Larry Charles' previous film '' Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'' and commented: "Much of Mr. Maher’s film is extremely funny in a similarly irreverent, offhanded way." Claudia Puig of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' wrote: "those with a taste for irreverent humor and clear-eyed analysis will find it funny, enlightening and disturbing." Kirk Honeycutt of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' characterized the film as "An often hilarious but relentlessly shallow attack on religious fundamentalism by humorist Bill Maher". Louis Peitzman of the ''

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. Parts of the paper were relaunched online in February 2016. History The ''Bay Guar ...

'' wrote that "It doesn't even matter that he goes out of his way to be offensive, as he's consistently funny enough to pull it off." Scott Indrisek wrote at '' Style.com'' that: "''Religulous'' earns many of its laughs from skillful editing, with Maher's interviews jazzed up by video clips". Ben Kenigsberg of ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...

'' gave the film a rating of three out of six stars, and wrote: "The worst scenes in ''Religulous'' are appalling for their methods; the best are appalling for their information." Harry Forbes of

Catholic News Service Catholic News Service (CNS) is an American news agency owned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that reports on the Catholic Church. The agency's domestic (United States) service shut down on 30 December 2022, but CNS ...

condemned the film, deeming it "morally offensive."

Accolades

The 3rd Annual Independent Investigative Group IIG Awards presented an award to ''Religulous'' recognizing the promotion of science and critical thinking in popular media on May 18, 2009.

DVD release

released the film on DVD February 17, 2009. Special features on the DVD include a commentary with

and director

, deleted scenes, and extended Bill Maher monologues from around the world that were either edited down or not included in the film at all.

Possible sequel

On January 4, 2015, Maher tweeted a photo of himself and director Larry Charles with the caption: "Director Larry Charles on the Hawaii trip this year...was ''"Religulous II"'' discussed??", suggesting the possibility of a sequel.

Soundtrack

References

External links

* * * * {{Bill Maher 2008 comedy films 2008 documentary films Films with atheism-related themes 2008 films 2008 in religion American documentary films American satirical films Religious comedy films Religious satire films Documentary films critical of Christianity Works critical of Scientology Films critical of religion Films shot in California Films shot in England Films shot in Florida Films shot in Israel Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York (state) Films shot in North Carolina Films shot in the Netherlands Works about the Christ myth theory Lionsgate films Films directed by Larry Charles Films with screenplays by Bill Maher Documentary films about religion 2000s English-language films 2000s American films IM Global films English-language documentary films

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