I watched Bill Maher’s documentary, Religulous, last week. I had a bit of a problem with the film: it made far too much sense.
As Maher goes about the world examining the better known world religions, he concludes that all of them have violent tendencies – and a promise that as long as followers do whatever it takes (live in polygamy, strap on a suicide bomb, “save” others, etc.), they will have a better existence in the next life. At the end of the film, he suggests that maybe we’d be a more peaceable people if each of us weren’t intent on proving that our particular religion is the one, right way.
A few years ago, I was briefly involved in a theological conversation with a group of college professors about the necessity of religion. The main reason religion exists, one of them suggested, is to make people behave. I disagreed but wondered how true that concept was. So in the days following my viewing of Religulous, I decided to take a few days off from my religion and see whether anything changed. It did, but not in the way the professor predicted. It wasn’t that I suddenly felt free to misbehave or do bad things, but I did feel my days driven by more of an urgency to live the day to the fullest. If this is the only life I get (removing the after-life concept from my thinking), then I wanted to enjoy today as much as possible, while there was still time. I felt more of a sense to give hands-on, direct-contact help rather than just write a check. I decided that sitting on the deck watching the breeze blow through the trees was a worthy occupation. I took the time to buy small gifts for my daughters that were facing new challenges in their work lives. I went for coffee with a friend.
The other thing I had to drop were my superstitions. Sure, I have them. They go something like, “If I pray hard enough, my mother won’t die,” or “It must be a sign from God that I didn’t get that job.” I set them aside, and my life improved. Suddenly, the fact that it was raining didn’t mean it would be a bad day, and God wasn’t trying to tell me something through signs that I needed to vigilantly watch for and interpret. No, now I could just spend my time living in the moment, enjoying the good times as they come.
In Religulous, Maher says that 19% of the population now professes to have no religion at all. Many will find that sad, but I have to wonder if that’s an indication that we’re on the cusp of a new Age of Enlightenment. Perhaps those old rituals and superstitions need to go. Perhaps it is time to be free.
Okay, so it’s true. I watch tv. Doesn’t everyone? Two of my particular guilty pleasures are HBO’s Big Love and FX’s Damages. 
