Religulous - BEHIND THE SCENES

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"Religulous"
BEHIND THE SCENES
by Tim Nasson
September 14, 2008

Watch "Religulous" Trailer

Bill Maher - IN HIS OWN WORDS

"Since starting on Politically Incorrect in 1993, it has been my pleasure over the last decade and a half to make organized religion one of my favorite targets. I often explained to people, “I don’t need to make fun of religion, it makes fun of itself.” And, then I go ahead and make fun of it too, just for laughs.With religious fanatics like George Bush and Osama bin Laden now taking over the world, it seemed to me in recent years that this issue -- this cause of debunking the man behind the curtain -- needed to have a larger, more insistent and focused forum than late night television. I wanted to make a documentary, and I wanted it to be funny. In fact, since there is nothing more ridiculous than the ancient mythological stories that live on as today’s religions, this movie would try to be a real knee slapper. Unless, of course, you’re religious, then you might not like it.Who could I get to direct me on such an epic quest? In reality, there was only one man, and his name is Larry Charles. I hope that together we fulfilled that quest. Which really isn’t that hard, considering that comedically speaking, the topic of religion is pretty much hitting the side of a barn. As a comedian, religion has always interested me -- it was the single easiest subject to make jokes about. I think that tells us something: comedians look for things that don’t make sense, that are illogical. Even as a young comedian, routines I did that got the biggest laughs and got me invited back on the Tonight Show were the religious ones -- like the one about being half Catholic and half Jewish and bringing a lawyer into confession: “Bless me father for I have sinned -- and I think you know Mr. Cohen...” Politics is a rich area, but even politicians, although they promise some ridiculous stuff, don’t approach the level of, for example, the Mormon practice of promising couples a planet to rule over in the after life if they have a really good marriage on earth. They give you a planet -- kinda like when someone gives you a certificate that says a star has been named after you -- except here, they really give you the star!Join me in the final battle between intelligence and stupidity that will decide the future of humanity. Coming soon to a house of false idols near you" - Bill Maher

Larry Charles - IN HIS OWN WORDS

"OK. An old God, a very buff old God that lives in space decides to create the first man from earth dust, then makes a woman from that man’s rib. They get to live forever if they don’t eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, but the woman is tricked into eating a piece by a talking snake and all future humanity is cursed. Or, how bout this one? This same space God who lives in the sky and has power over everything decides he wants a son, so he impregnates a woman but she remains a virgin. And, the child can walk on water and raise the dead. But his father, the sky God, sends him on a suicide mission to save humanity. After he dies, he rises from the dead and flies into space to be with his father (who is also him.)Greek myths? The latest installment of the “Lord of the Rings”? Disney’s new animated movie? No! These are the foundations of Western religion. The tenuous shaky belief systems that our entire civilization rests upon.What do you believe, why do you believe it, and why do you need to believe it? Can we be good without God? Is religion a calling or a mental illness? Were Jesus, Moses and Mohammed prophets and visionaries, or crackpot nut cases who today would be put away? Is religion an obsessive-compulsive disorder?Comedian, acerbic commentator, raconteur, skeptic, seeker Bill Maher and I set off in search of answers to these questions in a raunchy, rude, irreverent, outrageous, and shocking nonfiction film about the greatest fiction ever told. From the Western Wall to the Vatican, from self-professed messiahs to self professed Pariahs, we will not only expose the hypocrisy and corruption in organized religion but the absurdly hilarious logic that holds it together.We will talk to clergy, extremists, scholars, politicians, ex-cons, the man on the street and even the man upstairs (that's right, we interview God.) The funny will be scary, the scary wildly funny. The crazy will seem sane and the sane absolutely and undeniably crazy. All lines are blurred. All bets are off. We will get inside, on top of, behind, and in front of religion" - Larry Charles

LOCATIONS WHERE THE FILMING OF “RELIGULOUS” TOOK PLACE AND KEY INTERVIEWS COMPLETED AT EACH

ISRAEL (December 2006)

Jerusalem locations:

Al-Aqsa Mosque, Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock (Dr. Muhammad Hourani, PhD, Coordinator, Center for Peace and Reconciliation)

Chapel of the Ascension (Jesus’ Footprint)

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, Jesus’ Tomb (Rabbi David Rosen, Father Dr. Kamal Farah, David R. Parsons)

Via Dolorosa, Birthplace of the Virgin Mary, Muslim Quarter (Rabbi David Rosen, Father Dr. Kamal Farah, David R. Parsons)

Institute for Science and Halacha (Rabbi Shmuel Strauss; Rabbi Levi Halperin, Director of the Institute)

Jaffa Gate (Temple Marchers/Temple Mount Faithful)

Modin (Temple Marchers/Temple Mount Faithful)

Mount of Olives

Old City

Temple Mount, a/k/a Noble Sanctuary (Radical Jewish Activist Yehuda Etzion)

The Temple Faithful Center (Temple Marchers/Temple Mount Faithful)

Western Wall Plaza and Tunnel

Other locations in Israel:

Megiddo – Jezreel Valley

Sodom and Gomorrah – Dead Sea

Qumran Caves (Dead Sea Scrolls) – Dead Sea

ENGLAND (December 2006 – January 2007)

Cerne Abbas (Giant of Cerne) – Dorset, England

Avebury -- Wiltshire, England (Stonehenge)

London:

Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park

Oxford Circus (Ben Jones, street preacher)

London subway/tube station (Aki Nawaz, a/k/a Propa-Gandhi, Rapper)

THE NETHERLANDS (January 2007)

Amsterdam:

Habibi Ana (Muslim Gay Bar/Jimmy Turkmani)

Red Light District

Sensi Coffee Shop / Seed Shop (Ferre van Beveren, Cannabis Ministry)

Taibah Mosque (Mohamed Junas Gaffar)

Greenhouse Coffee Shop

Zeeburg District (Fatima Elatik, Dutch Politician)

Other locations in the Netherlands:

The Hague/Parliament (Geert Wilders, Dutch Parliament Member)

ITALY (January 2007)

Rome:

Vatican (Father Reginald Foster, Senior Vatican Scholar and Principal Latinist for the Pope)

USA (January 2007)

Calvary Assembly Exchange Ministries – Winter Park, FL (Pastor John Westcott)

Carnegie Institution Auditorium - Washington, DC (Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health)

American University biology lab, Washington, DC (Dr. Dean Hamer, author, The God Gene)

Ezra Conference Center - Raleigh, NC (Jeremiah Cummings, Founder and Pastor, Amazing Life World Outreach)

St. Raphael’s Parish Center, Raleigh, NC (Father George V. Coyne, S.J., PhD, Director Emeritus, Vatican Observatory)

Grand Central Station - New York, NY (Dr. Andrew Newberg, MD, author, Why We Believe What We Believe)

Growing in Grace Ministry - Miami, FL (Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda)

Holy Land Experience - Orlando, FL (Employee portraying Jesus; Tourists; Holy Land Employees and Performers)

Jackie Gleason Theatre – Miami, FL (Bill Maher stand-up performance on stage)

Ritz Carlton Hotel – Coconut Grove, FL (Dr. Brian Weiss, author, Many Lives, Many Masters)

Jefferson Memorial – Washington, DC (Ray Suarez, journalist, author, The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America)

Neturei Karta HQ - Monsey, NY (Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, Anti-Zionist)

Our Lady of Mercy Church - Park Ridge, NJ (Bill Maher’s Sister Kathy Maher and Mother Julie Maher, at the Maher’s childhood Church)

Senate Office Building - Washington, DC (Senator Mark Pryor, Democrat, Arkansas)

US Capitol Building – Washington, DC

Truckers Chapel/Truck Stop Ministries - Raleigh, NC (Reverend Joe Copeland and congregants)

USA (February 2007)

Creation Museum, Petersburg, KY (Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis, U.S.A.)

Liturgical Apostolate Center - Boston, MA (Steve Burg, Ex-Jew for Jesus)

Mormon Tabernacle – Salt Lake City, UT

McCune Mansion - Salt Lake City, UT (Ted Bachman and Bill Gardiner, Ex-Mormons)

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