Bill Maher and Comedy Against Christians

Orginally published on Friday, September 24, 2004 at 10:12 AM
by Todd Rhoades

What’s up with Bill Maher?  It seems he’s particularly allergic to Christians, especially smart ones (if there is such a thing).  Jay Ambrose of the Scripps Howard News Service had an interesting article on comedian Bill Maher.  Jay writes, Forgive him, for Bill Maher could not have known what he was doing the other night on his HBO show, “Real Time,” when he said that half the nation thinks “more Jesus” and “more guns” were the answer to everything that ails America...He didn’t stop with the “more Jesus” line, which was clearly meant to convey what superstitious boobs many believers are, but went on to mock prayer as moronic. When others with him did not then break out into spasms of laughter, he explained that people, including President Bush, prayed as if seeking gifts from Santa Claus. 

He continues...

The only thing wrong with all of this - even as a joke - is everything. But let's grant a few points. There are charlatans among those who preach the faith, just as there are charlatans everywhere. There are puzzling understandings of Christianity among the faithful. Yet, even if Christianity is viewed as only a cultural phenomenon, its richness, accomplishments, depth and reach have been extraordinary.

From it has grown some of the greatest art in the history of humankind - the paintings of Michelangelo, the marvelous gothic cathedrals, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, the poetry of John Donne. Some of the greatest thinkers ever to have lived have been Christian thinkers, and their influence reaches to this very day. Important institutions have arisen from the faith. Without monks copying the words of the ancients, much of ancient thought would be lost to us. Absolutely profound has been the influence of Christianity on the ethical propositions we hold dear. Even many of the moral arguments people use against the church come from the church. Maher himself is undoubtedly influenced by Christian ethics, whether he recognizes it or not. The accusation that Christians do not always abide by their ethics will win their concurrence; many recognize a sinfulness for which they must repent.

More important than what it has been culturally, Christianity has been a means by which people for 2,000 years believe they have experienced forgiveness and redemption, and have found meaningfulness in a context larger than the here and now.

Among the more than 80 percent of Americans who count themselves as Christians, of course, there are many differences: Some are regular churchgoers, others aren't; some take their Scripture by and large literally, others more figuratively; some are conservative politically, others liberal. But the vast majority of those in all these groupings have a theological understanding that goes well beyond the flip phrase "more Jesus" and a far deeper view of prayer.

I won't go into the issues of guns or Iraq. Rather, what I want to emphasize is that those who express contempt for a huge section of our population and their dearest convictions - especially when doing so based on a stereotype instead of knowledge or reflection - have themselves earned contempt.

Here's a link to the full article in the Courier & Press


What do you think?

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