I just caught Bill Maher on Tavis Smiley tonight.
I remember when used to like Maher... when he didn't seem to have any particular political loyalty, and didn't feel a need to ridicule Christians.
Bill reminds me of myself when I was 12 years old.
I decided that Christianity was too weird, with the whole 'myth' of a guy that I couldn't see or touch. I knew how everyone else had clearly been duped into buying into that whole religion thing.
To me, there was little difference between Santa Claus and religion. Only I understood that there was no such thing as Jesus, and it hadn't occurred to anyone else who was Christian. It was clear to me that Christians felt a need to believe in something to comfort themselves from the idea of being mortal.
Not too ironically, I ended up joining a Christian Youth group. Not because I was religious, but because I was joining all kinds of groups in high school looking for a place that I could belong. The Chess club was fun, but I wasn't good enough to mount a challenge to the Grand Masters of chess. I was in musical theater, but I wasn't that musical. I was pretty shy. But in the youth group, I kinda fit in. Except for, you know, believing in Christ and stuff.
The Christians I met were good people. Most of them didn't do drugs. That suited me because I didn't either. They believed in the helping others, and they were, as a group, sensitive people. There was a lot of love to go around.
When I think about it now, I find it ironic that I felt so superior to them. Because in some ways, I was jealous of them for having the one thing that I didn't: blind faith in something greater.
When I first joined the youth group, I found myself occasionally trying to point out the holes in Christianity. I thought that if I merely pointed out what didn't fit, the smarter people would give in to the simplicity of logic and I'd 'convert' them.
What I discovered was that there were a lot of smart people who had blind faith... and that 'converting' people into my lack of belief was not a worthy goal.
At some point, it occurred to me: what was I trying to win?
If I succeeded in turning those people into agnostics like me, then what did I gain? Okay... so someone would think like me. But what if I'm the guy who is wrong, and they were right all along?
Moreover, what would they gain?
I realized that a lot of people dedicated their lives to doing good deeds through their religion. That they help people out, avoid anger and confrontation, and sacrifice material gain because of their faith.
What did they gain if I somehow managed to take that away? If I managed to talk them out of their religion?
It seemed like I was just trying to selfishly prove myself right.
When I watched Bill Maher on Tavis Smiley, he reminded me of that 12-year-old version of me.
Maher ridiculed the concept of Faith as a lack of critical thinking: believing in something that you have no knowledge of.
But then he contradicted himself with his own act of faith:
Maher said that he "had a feeling that Obama's" belief system was closer to Bill's.
Obviously, he has no rational basis for this.
Obama has said constantly and repeatedly that his religion and belief in Christ is important to him.
Yet, Maher calls Obama a 'rational thinker.'
Thus the disconnect. The rules are always different with Obama. When other people profess a belief in a higher power, they are delusional for believing in a myth. When Obama does it, we 'all understand' that he 'doesn't really mean it', and we forgive him for lying to get elected.
But that wasn't all.
Bill Maher defended the idea of taking over the banking system and nationalizing it.
He said that Obama should just call it something besides socialism, and take over the banks anyway in a few years.
I just watched him say that, and I still can't believe it.
When it came to more socialism, Maher said:
"I think the model we need to look for is Vladimir Putin"
He argued that Putin took money back from those who had reaped untold profits: "We need that money, so someone needs to go and do a Putin."
Finally, he said that Obama is the first president with a real sense of humor since Kennedy:
"This is the first president who has genuine wit, and its very real"
Again, I used to like Bill Maher. That was sometime before he spent his nights at the Playboy mansion while trying to suggest that he knows how to take care of the little guy. It was before he got into the mode that its okay to take money if you need it.
I don't know exactly when Bill Maher lost his soul. I just relish the irony that he's angry at people who think his needs saving.
By the way, I'm still agnostic. I still have trouble with a belief in God, and Christ, and the bible. But I'm not as bitter as I used to be, and I've met a lot of very smart people who believe in God.
I know that one of us is wrong. I just don't have the evidence to prove that believers are the ones who are incorrect, and that I'm right.
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