Why Bill Maher's Movie "Religulous" is so Important Right Now

Comedian Bill Maher, veteran host of news oriented talk shows like Politically Incorrect and his current TV show Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO has never been one to shy away from controversy. As ribald observer of American culture and more, he's not timid nor self serving to avoid offending people. Indeed the vehicle which brought him mainstream notoriety Politically Incorrect was hit with waves of complaints after an on-air controversy which saw Maher agree with a guest that the 911 terrorists were not cowardly. He fanned the flames further by saying, "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

A firestorm of complaints erupted and even White House press secretary Ari Fleischer chastised Maher. He apologized for the remark, and clarified his meaning, saying he was condemning U.S. policy, not soldiers who carry it out. Nevertheless, within 9 months ABC canceled Politically Incorrect, claiming it was only because of declining ratings. Maher maintains it stemmed directly from 911 terrorist controversy and that advertisers started to bail out towards the end of the show's run.

Now with this new documentary, in collaboration with Larry Charles of Borat fame, Maher is questioning the world's religions and their influence on politics, people and just about everything else. Religulous sees Maher traveling the world talking to Christians, Jews, Muslims and other faithful. His investigative journey has him interviewing those who claim to have the answers to the universe, and in many cases believe they were handed those answers from the mouth of God.