As much as I believe that in its current state, religion is the cause of many of the worst problems in the world, and as much as I personally believe that A LOT (not ALL) of religion needs to go away for the sake of humanity, I couldn't make it through more than half of this movie.
In my opinion, that guy is really no better than the people he is trying to make look bad. He thinks (among other things) that a lot of problems stem from the fact the religion has infiltrated the government, and that religious people are trying to, in a way (this statement is insanely broad and in the simplest of terms possible because I'm lazy right now, please don't try and pick it apart bit by bit), force their beliefs on others (i.e no gay marriage). Yet its okay for him to go around making fun of people to their faces, and telling THEM not to act a certain way or believe certain things because of HIS beliefs? I don't think it is. In most of those interviews, he honestly came off as looking like way more of an ass than the people he was interviewing. He would insult them while they were in the middle of trying to have an intelligent discussion until they gave up. I agree with a lot of his points, but he has no tact, and is being as oppressive as he accuses them of being.
Like I said, I don't personally like religion. I was raised Jewish but quite frankly I don't identify with it, and as such I generally choose not to practice it (except for the generally good virtues that I am about to bring up). I think religion is bad because of the problems it tends to cause. That being said, if somebody is able to find comfort in religion, I think thats wonderful, and I am happy that they were able to find something in their lives that made them feel that way, honestly. And there are plenty of religious virtues that I think are great ideals to live by regardless of religious belief, specifically the stuff that says that above all else, you should be a good person. I see no harm in that. Its when people start trying to force people to act a certain way because of THEIR beliefs that it becomes a problem. Once you start doing that, in my opinion you are no longer being a good person. Whether you wont let a homosexual couple get married or you make an actual effort to get people to stop doing something (practicing a religion) because you feel differently. In my book, all the people that do anything like that fall into the same category. People just need to learn to live and let live.
I also think that when it comes to public education, scientific fact should be taught as just that, and as far as I am concerned, religion has no place in public schooling. I think education is far to important to be messed around with. Religious schools have every right to teach what they want to teach, but they shouldn't complain when public schools teach science.
That is all.
