Bill Maher's New Rule About Catholicism "The Cult" And The Pope

Bill Maher ended his latest episode of "Real Time" with a "new rule" about the pope. Pegged to the recently raided polygamist compound in Texas and the pontiff's visit to the US this week, it had his guests in stitches and left the audience gasping.

Watch:

Comments

[ChiMan1]

Excuse me but which religion solves their problems by planting bombs, to kill randomly, in movie theatres? We know the Pope is visiting, but take the challenge Bill let's see you DIS Islam which really needs it.

[kdogg]

Not a fan or history are we? Look for something called the Crusades. You can also look up the Spanish Inquisition.

[nunzia]

Also, looking up aiding and abetting Hitler.

[PSRinNJ2]

But this is not hundreds of years ago. The Muslims are doing this stuff right now, in the informatio­n/global-v­illage/enl­ightened age.

Most liberals seem to defend the Muslims because they share the same goal: to destroy America. Let's see how much you can talk/debat­e/pontific­ate when you're being ruled under sharia law.

[dsm]

He thinks all religion is pretty much crazy...and I agree.

[rosal]

Religions don't plant bombs, fanatics fundamentalists do. It doesn't matter if the bombs are thrown from planes, or left on the roads. The results are the same.
Don't dis a religion, dis the maniacs and their followers.

[colleen2]

"Excuse me but which religion solves their problems by planting bombs, to kill randomly, in movie theatres? "

So, movie theatres bad, women's clinics and Planned Parenthood offices good? Or have you forgotten the bombings, acid throwing, snipers, arsonists and so on of the ridicoulously named pro-life movement of which the Catholic church is a large part? I'm no fan of any fundamentalist entirely male dominated religion but the notion that Christians and/or Jews (who are apt to lob rockets into movie theatures and apartment complexes) are somehow superior is ridiculous and so easily refuted.

[LeaveArtieAlone]

WAAAAH, he picked on MY religion so let me pick on another religion…WAAAH!!! Mine cannot be bad!! WAH!

OK I will say so you don’t feel targeted: ALL religions ARE WACKY!!!!!! Am off to read Bob Greene!!!! I need SCIENCE and LOGIC!!!!!!!!!

[oldtree]

Hey Bill; it is good that the retarded religious nuts have come out to support your blog. If they are looking at it, they must at least be questioning their idiotic faith in the most perverted religion in history. You are making good progress when their arguments don't address the issues at all, congrats!

[nexus1961]

While I love seeing the Catholic Church getting it's long-deserved raking over the coals..
Please don't think the Christians are the worst.. go see the move" the Kite runner"... or
just GOOGLE "Muslim Pedophilia".. as horrifyingly awful as the pope's minions have been,
AT least it's an Acknowledged crime!!
Islam sees NOTHING WRONG at ALL in buggering the little boys.. in FACT, they do it
to "keep themselves pure" for their eventual marriages!
So.. please... I think ALL religious people are fucking nuts... but the christians at best,
rate #3 on the "crazy-as-­an-outhous­e-rat" scale of bananas.

[nunzia]

"acknowledged" is certainly overstating things.
It wasn't "acknowledged" by the church until the
victims suffered in silence 15-20 years, then came
forward, were chastised for that, were disbelieved,
and eventually after suffering through more deception,
denial and lawyering by the church, finally were heard.

The church didn't acknowledge a damned thing.

[CountryBeforeParty]

Nexus. No one is saying that Islam is better than Christianity. We're damning the entire institution of organized religion. Look what it has done!

All the violence, all the despair, all the racism and gay-bashing, the misogyny (sp?)... and I would make religion partially, not completely, responsible for the massive overpopulation in the world now.

There is nothing wrong with having faith and believing in God or something greater than ourselves. It becomes wrong when you start to let it dictate how you vote, and allow it to affect other people's rights and beliefs.

[oldtree]

What would bushwa procure to entertain the poop in the white house?
some jews tied and gagged, young boys?
collected nazi relics the US wants to return to the vatican for their museum?
henry kissinger bent over the table?

hard to imagine two more disgusting human beings, unless you want to add henry

[JLGreenlee]

A lot of people seem to take issue with Bill Maher's statements about Catholocism, saying that he should be "respectful" of people's beliefs. Why? Are religious people, by and large, respectfual of others' beliefs? Do atheists (like Bill Maher) and agnostics get treated with respect by the Catholic church or its adherents? How about this or any Church's views on Wiccans or Satanists or Unitarians or any other "non-mainstream" religion?
I do not understand why Bill Maher or anyone else needs to be respectful of any other person's superstitious beliefs. We certainly DO NOT get it in return.

[dsm]

Exactly. Religion should not have any special respect, it doesn't even deserve it. It is after all superstition.

[KOisGod]

And desire, needing a religion, invented Love.

[Kathei]

KOisGod said "And desire, needing a religion, invented Love."
Sorry, this makes no sense. Could you please make your point more directly?
Love comes before desire, so your logic is incorrect.

[kdogg]

give me a break. Love comes before desire my ass. I desire many things and love few. If you want to break it down to one person loving another it almost always starts with desire and attraction and may lead to love.

[Antidemocratic]

I suppose it would be funny to make fun of Maher's religion, or mother, if she had breast cancer or father, if he was senile, or sister if she was autistic or wife, if she was an alcoholic. It would be taboo. All liberals must have an audience of their own kind to make a point. I don't find anyone making fun of anyone as funny. Even if they are an atheist, homosexual, with a female oriented audience, a black running for president, white, male or female running for president, or red, if you live in China. If we individually, actually thought about what we say, there would not be such and issue as to who is right or wrong. Yet no one seems to castigate the one's who deliver and spew garbage.

[kdogg]

You choose religion. You do not choose your parents or if they get a horrible disease. If a religious organization allowed child abuse to occur and tried to systematically hide it, they deserve all the scorn and hate we can heap on them. Your argument is disingenuous and offensive. To try and say that making fun of someone because their mother has breast cancer or their spouse is a alcoholic is not at all the same as making a comparison between two religious organization's sexual abuse and how they are treated differently. Give me a break.

[nexus1961]

So, You're saying that being religious is as big an imposition on people as
Cancer, or dementia??
Well.... that is REALLY fucking stupid.....
why don't you just admit that inelligence-wise, you and all your
little god-fearing buddies are the cavemen dancing around the flame in
"Quest for Fire"?
I just love how critique, even observations, are "garbage" to you...
Where did we EVER get the idea that X-tians are dismissive, sanctimonious
jackoffs?????

[thirteen13]

Bill, it's not the pope it's the pimp.

[Kathei]

thirteen13 said "Bill, it's not the pope it's the pimp."
Are you saying God is a pimp for the pope or that the pope should be called a pimp?

[TheViewFromCydonia]

I'm amazed no one's mentioned the (unintentional?) irony of comparing the Catholic Church specifically to Bear, Sterns. Bare sterns, indeed.

[MPCarr]

It is to be expected that Maher would take a shot at one of his favorite targets, the Catholic Church.

My kids have thrived with their Catholic upbringing and education. They are head and shoulders above many kids their age, in terms of being well-rounded, compassionate, respectful, as well as happy and prepared for the future.

I don't think the church handled their pedophilia problems properly, and Pope Benedict will have to deal with that. But at the ground level we never had a problem, and I wouldn't trade our experiences for our friends who avoided a Catholic education.

Does Maher have a wife, or kids, or even a steady girfirend? And aren't comedians supposed to be funny? Is he a comedian?

[AmbivalentGuy]

Couldn't agree more.
See posts below.

Maher stopped being funny years ago. He's as predictable as Bill O now.

[kdogg]

You can take this as a insult to your religion or a compliment to you personally but I have found that most caring and level-headed people are that way because they where raised by caring parents. Whether or not they where part of a organized religion or not plays a small part in that.

[HappyHumanist]

My atheist nieces are also head and shoulders above the rest. And, unlike a xian "friend" of one, doesn't think xians are evil.

Religion has little to do with upbringing. Respect, decency, a healthy dose of right and wrong, reward for the good and punishment for the bad, and you get a good kid.

Catholic school, smatholic school. You raised good kids, the school had nothing to do with it.

[vet64]

Liberal Left, Religious Right, are names made up by the Neo Con Parasites. Nothing more than the Bushims of today that King Pinocchio utters to show off to the world, his grade"C" mind.
First the Europeans, than Americans have enslaved, murdered, raped and committed genocide against the Indigenous Peoples of the world, in order to rob, pillage, plunder and steal their natural resources and lands for European or American colonization.
All with the Anglican churches blessings in exchange for part of the loot. The white mans churches and religions are nothing more than a bastardized version of what the white mans Jesus lived for and preached.
It is written that Jesus preached love and understanding for his fellow man. He preached love and help for the poor, the oppressed, the sick and infirm. What I see from the church and their gold gilded cathedrals is greed, avarice and racism, which is exactly opposite of what their white mans Jesus taught.
Under the vatican, there are miles of tunnels and catacombs where the stolen loot is hid. Also accordingly, the child molesting preachers also utilized these catacombs to get to the nuns quarters, where they impregnated countless nuns. It is said that thousands upon thousands of infants are buried there. The products of these Religious Idiots and hypocrites midnight trysts with their supposedly virgin nuns.
Anyone want to call me a Liar? Anyone? How about you selfserving Repuublican Mushrooms, Neo Con Parasites, or Religious Idiots?

[Kathei]

vet64 - I wouldn't call you a liar because to be a liar you have to know the truth and then choose to speak untruthfully. You obviously don't know the truth about the Catholic Church, or the human condition, to know that we all make mistakes and that we all can choose to rise above those mistakes. It is courageous when, having made a mistake, an individual gets up, makes amends and continues to strive for the ideal. Sure the Catholic Church has instances where some members have fallen terribly, but most have continued to be exemplary individuals of compassion and love, and strive to show this to others. I am sorry that you are unable to see this. It inspires me to work harder with other spiritual people to show compassion and love to you and other individuals who share your posted opinions .

[rroy]

I never could figure out how some groups of people,the Catholic church being the most prominant one,can rationalize that abstaing from one of natures most dominant biological and instinctive actions is something "normal",even sacred!The whole idea flies in the face of reality and is in itself nutty and attrocious behavior.
If that isn't enough,they accent this perverted and unatural behavior with cerimonial acts,chants ,and ritualism. To me it looks like nothing more than mass(no pun intended) self hypnoosis.
In the long run I wouldn't give a shit,except that such self imposed lunacy results in sublimation of the participants natural instincts,and inevetable manifestation of perveted acts of sexual and social behavior.
Liike Maher,Hitc­hens,etal,­I gave up any acceptance of so called,"sp­iritualism­"many years ago and never never regretted it!

[HumeSkeptic]

I don't mind religion, as long as they keep it out of morality.

[HappyHumanist]

Hume, you always post the best and most succinct comment!

Jealous-ly yours,
HH

[HumeSkeptic]

You're too kind. :-)

[TrevorAlan]

I like Bill Mahr and the Catholic Church leadership STILL has not owned up to the monstronsity of what they've done (seeming more sorry they got caught).

But if the left wants to regain a foothold among the vast numbers of religious people starting to be disaffected by the neocons, they need to be careful to target criticism of a churchs' HIERARCHY as opposed to its MEMEBERSHIP.

Bill's got every right to say what he wants how he wants on his own cable show, but I wish he would distinguish the faults of the high leadership instead of seeming to attack the entire institution and all its believers. I know what he meant, but he said it in a way that is easy to misconstrue to the very people who need to hear his message.

[jnratliff]

rob the poor and ruin the children isn't that what the church was invented for?

[AmbivalentGuy]

Absolutely,
as with any large group there are problems.
It seems to be acceptable to bash Catholics
(not the leadership) with this. The church's non-action has made
Catholic jokes completely PC.

We get enough of this from the evangelicals' hate mongers,
even though their sex scandals are pretty bad too.

I am not a practicing Catholic anymore, I do not buy into any
formal religion any more; but I am thankful for the liberal, humanist
ideals I learned from the Jesuits.

As below, I never knew of any sex scandals in the churches I was in.

[researcher]

the truth hurts but the church does so much good around the world. religion is a double edge sword.

but someone please tell me why the evangels are the worst of the war mongers.

do they believe jesus preached war mongering.

age old question does religiion do more harm than good?

people need it or they would not support it.

the human race will move slowly very slowly from religion to spiritually.

The ways are but two: love and the want of love
Duncan Blewett

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

Truthfully, I believe that evangelicals are so violent because they refer to the Old Testament more than the New. The Old Testament is full of "eye for an eye" this, and "smite" that, etc. If you get your inspiration from this rather than the New Testament of redemption, it's bound to make you a bit nasty.

[jneems]

yawn.....We get it Bill. You don't like the Catholic Church. You're getting into "over-kill" territory on this subject, though. You're boring us. Move on.

[JoDeeVa]

You may get it and he may be..ahem, preaching to the choir with much of his audience, but the Catholic Church, the Pope and their followers don't get it. Religion-at-large doesn't get it. I'm an atheist and I consider ALL religious sects, cults. ~~Cult: a system of religious veneration or devotion directed toward a particular person or object; a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.~~I resent the fact that everything from elected officials to public policy is influenced by religion and the adherents of religious morality, as with Catholics revering the Pope with such blind adoration, they give up legal rights and vote that mandate. The hit put out by the Pope on John Kerry for his support of women's right to choose resulted in the Catholic women demographic voting for George Bush. WhoTF lets a celibate man dictate their reproductive rights as women? If that's not a cult mentality/ behavior, please illuminate me. And, just try try to get elected without that photo-op of coming out of church on a bright, sunny Sunday morning.

Religion is for those who refuse to accept reality, choosing instead some ethereal miasmic overview of the world. It is hypocritical and judgmental and has wrought more tragedy and over-kill than critics ever will. It needs to be said overandover by everyone everywhere, including Bill Maher, whom I applaud!

[LeaveArtieAlone]

Here Here!!!! I so agree!

Religion seems to have been invented so that humans could cope with death! All of these CRAZY ideas seem to come from the fear of dying and/or living!!!! So lets invent an “after life” so that we can continue to “survive” our demise and/or have hope if our lives suck now! Funny what we will do to avoid the thing we fear most...death! GEEZ Sometimes as a species we are the MOST primitive on the planet!!!!

[ChiMan1]

Gee! If only everybody could be as Smart as Bill Maher.