Bill Maher slaughters some sacred cows

Religulous has been released as a documentary. But that, Bill Maher says, is a technicality.

Maher's new movie, a vitriolic condemnation of organised religion, is really meant to be a comedy.

"I always thought this was the funniest subject in the world," the provocative talk-show host explains from his Los Angeles office.

And the goal was to turn the subject into a piece of "big, extravagant entertainment".

So for two months, Maher and Borat director Larry Charles travelled the world, cross-examining devout believers in Christianity, Judaism and Islam (along with members of lesser-known faiths, including Cantheism, an Amsterdam-based sect centred on the use of marijuana).

"I'm crusading against magical thinking in general," Maher says.

"I honestly believe that mankind will not survive unless rationality is enshrined and magical thinking is marginalised. And, yes, I would put heaven and hell and demons and angels and praying in that category."

Maher was raised Roman Catholic and says that for a long time he continued to have a part-time dialogue with a higher power.

"I would bargain when I felt vulnerable and plead for things when I wanted something," he recalls.

"And at a certain point, I realised, 'This is ridiculous. This is nonsense'."

Religion became a running theme in Maher's stand-up comedy routines, and for years he tried to put together a deal to make a movie.

Producers weren't exactly lining up to fund such a film, and once a production company did sign on, it took a while to find a director who also wanted to approach the subject with humour.

Charles, a former staff writer for Seinfeld, came to discuss the project, "and really within 15 minutes I knew, 'Oh, this is the right guy, and this is gonna be fun'," Maher says.

With a small crew, they made unannounced visits to historic religious sites and middle-American houses of worship.

Maher was out of sight when laymen and religious officials agreed to be interviewed for a film they were told would be called A Spiritual Journey.

"They did not know who the interviewer was, and they didn't ask... We weren't going to volunteer the information," Maher says.

"And, yes, there were a lot of people who went, 'Oh, my God Satan is doing the interview? No-one told me that'."

Maher says that his primary intention is to entertain but that he hopes the film will crack open the door to conversations about religion.

"It's the last taboo," he says.

"I don't like it when anyone says, 'You can't talk about this'."

And he firmly believes organised religion does more harm than good.

"Faith", he says in the film, "makes a virtue out of not thinking".

"I just think that when people are thinking in such a flawed, irrational manner, progress cannot be made," he says.

That there will be protests, such as the one at the Religulous premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, surprises no-one, least of all Maher.

"I'd be surprised if there weren't ruffled feathers," he says.

"Look, they've had their way for the last 2000 years. They can sit still for one opposing point of view."

Maher chafes at being labelled an atheist.

"I think it mirrors the certitude of religion", he explains.

"What I'm against is certitude. They're so sure, these people, what happens when you die, which is preposterous."

What he's preaching, he says, is doubt and the belief that it deserves as much tolerance as faith.

"People have to understand: Religion, your faith: It's just an opinion. And it's no better than my opinion because you're claiming it's sacred," he says.

"It's just an opinion, and when we look at it up close, we see it's a pretty whack opinion."