Last night I watched this documentary . Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandria Pelosi. She visited some of the same places that Bill Maher did in Religulous notably, The Holy Land Amusement Park. She also had clips from the founder of the Creation Museum. In my opinion, she is very respectful of the people she interviews. She may show surprise by some of their answers, but not in a mocking tone. She was looking for an answer to “Who are the Evangelicals?” There isn’t one answer. She finds suburban mega church goers, a rural couple with a large homeschooling family (12 children), Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University Students, throwing in a bit of Haggard and Osten.
What Would Jesus Buy? Is very different. Different doesn’t necessarily mean bad. I actually really enjoyed this off beat documentary. It isn’t so much about religious views, but our culture of over buying and over consuming. Rev. Billy is not your typical pastor, but I respected how consistent he was throughout this documentary. When he needed a sweater, he went to a small town store. He wanted to know where it was made. He is over the top in his delivery to get people to notice, but I thought he was genuine. This says a lot, I am skeptical.
Religulous was outstanding–for the open minded. It is more in your face with a message that all religion has crazy ideas and crazy followers. A few of the people interviewed reacted strongly to Maher’s questions. I enjoyed the dialogue with those who agreed, yeah there are some crazy ideas. A man outside of the Vatican agreed, it doesn’t make sense. The actor who portrayed Jesus at the Holy Land Amusement Park answered questions in a respectful manner. This film has the same director as Borat. It is purposefully in your face–although I found it to be thought provoking at the same time.
Response to A Documentary or Three
I saw Friends of God (as well as Jesus Camp) a few years ago and watched Religulous last year. I’m sure many people were/will be offended by Bill Maher. I don’t think he minds. I have a filter for Maher, so I enjoy hearing what he has to say without agreeing with all of it. I think he is right that Christians are largely ignorant of religious history outside of the Bible. I think Biblicism is very high in the US, but biblical history/literacy is extremely low. Knowledge of religions outside of the Christian tradition is even more lacking. When the Bible is put in it’s historic and literary context, glib theology doesn’t stand up.
I forgot about Jesus Camp. That one was the saddest one to me, because it is children who are born into that culture. They haven’t truly made that choice yet.