O’Reilly and Maher talk Religion

Yes i saw that video. it was entertaining. two thumbs up for o’reilly taking on maher on live tv and he remained composed. are you a literalist heber ?

I had a fb friend who is an atheist like maher and regularly puts postings that are anti-religion in nature. he posted “if money is the root of all evil then why do churches collect offerings etc…”. i called him up on it and said “it is the love of money that is at the root of all evil…”. to make a long story short he said he was just joking. at that point it didn’t matter. i had seen enough of his anti-religious posts that his last post was the last straw and i dropped him as a fb friend. life goes on. nice to not see fb posts where i feel i have to defend my beliefs

It might have been a good discussion, but I can’t stand listening to either of them – so I’ll have to take your word for it. :shh:

I watched Maher in Religulous years ago. I was not impressed. I’m just not a fan of his snarky tone and mockery. I get his points, but he makes them in such a nasty way it makes me feel a little icky afterward. Bill O’Riley … yeah, don’t really listen to him at all either.

Mormons tend, as a whole, to be more literal with the scriptures. The common understanding of our founding narratives really begs for literal interpretation. We promote things like literal priesthood authority that has to be transmitted in a chain by tangible means (hands on head), just to name one thing.

I don’t think it has to be that way. But we’d have a loooooooooong way to go as a whole church to get to a more metaphorical and symbolic view of the scriptures.

I watched Maher in Religulous years ago. I was not impressed. I’m just not a fan of his snarky tone and mockery. I get his points, but he makes them in such a nasty way it makes me feel a little icky afterward. Bill O’Riley … yeah, don’t really listen to him at all either.

Mormons tend, as a whole, to be more literal with the scriptures. The common understanding of our founding narratives really begs for literal interpretation. We promote things like literal priesthood authority that has to be transmitted in a chain by tangible means (hands on head), just to name one thing.

I don’t think it has to be that way. But we’d have a loooooooooong way to go as a whole church to get to a more metaphorical and symbolic view of the scriptures.

I don’t disagree with Maher, but I reject his approach. HIs position is that we don’t know and we should admit that. In Religulous, he has a refreshing dialog with a non-literalist priest outside the Vatican. That was the highlight. The rest of it was pretty trashy. He is a good thinker, and can be funny when not on this subject — but he crossed the line some time ago.

In Religulous, he has a refreshing dialog with a non-literalist priest outside the Vatican. That was the highlight.

Oh yeah! That’s right. It was a while ago since I watched the movie. I remember really liking that priest.

Ya. This one was the only video I saw of Maher. That definitely was the high light the movie. I remember meeting my great great aunt once, at 108 and LDS her whole life, she was very articulate and sounded just like that priest. It really rocked my perception of things( especially being old) and history but in a good way.

What did the priest say? I’ve never seen the video.

Here is roughly it from what I have extracted from various sources. The video can be found here.

Maher: I know what you’re thinking. I’m standing in front of a green screen at a studio in Burbank, California, and they digitalized the Vatican in behind me. No no, that’s really the Vatican. I ought to know. I just got thrown out of it. See, I wanted to interview the Pope, but I was willing to settle for a cardinal or a monsignor… or the Flying Nun… really anybody… but apparently I’ve been on the Catholic shit list for quite a while. But that’s their loss, ’cause now I’m gonna say what I really think… which is mainly: Does that look anything like anything Jesus Christ had in mind?

Turning to To Father Regninald Foster

Maher: When you look at a building like that, a giant palace, does it seem at odds with the message of the founder?

Foster: Well, certainly.

Maher: Well, thank you. – I mean, that’s obvious.

Foster: It really is obvious, isn’t it?

Maher: But does it bother you?

Foster: Well, I mean… well, yes it does. I wouldn’t… if I were the boss…I wouldn’t be living there. I mean Jesus would be probably out in some barracks here in a suburb of Rome, got it?

Maher: Do you ever get so fed up you want to take the collar and go

Foster: Well, I don’t wear a collar anyway.

Maher: “That’s it, Captain. Take my badge and my collar. “

Foster: I read about 10 books recently… the rationality of religion, and everyone’s saying it’s stupid.

Maher: You know what’s gonna happen to them.

Foster: No, what’s gonna happen?

Maher: They’re gonna be roasting in hell.

Foster: Come on, roasting. That’s the old Catholic thing.

Maher: That’s what they taught me.

Foster: Yeah, I know, that hell business.

Maher: Well, come on, the standard doctrine that I was taught as a kid…

Foster: Yeah, that’s all gone. That’s all finished.

Maher: But that’s not fair.

Foster: Yeah, pfft!

Maher: The date of Jesus’s birth really wasn’t established until 349 A.D.

Foster Oh, yeah, because he might’ve been born on July 3rd. These are all nice stories, you know.

Maher: And that doesn’t bother you, either?

Foster: That bothers me too. I mean, when everybody’s, “Ooh, we have to have midnight mass because Jesus was born on midnight on 25th of… This is all nonsense.

Maher: You’re a maverick, aren’t you?

Foster: I’m not a maverick.

Maher: You’re Father Maverick. You do things your own way. When you add up all the saints and all the angels, and archangels and super-duper angels, there’s God, the Father, God the Son, the Holy Ghost, Mother Mary… it does start to look like it’s not quite the monotheistic religion that it’s..

Foster: Oh, I understand. Like we have mini-gods.

Maher: Yeah, well, it does seem like that, if people pray to a…

Foster: Well, yeah, but some people just don’t understand this. You probably are… you don’t follow things, but they had a survey here in Italy, and they said, “In a crisis what kind of saints do you pray to?” Got it? You know who’s the sixth on the list? Jesus Christ.

Maher: The sixth?

Foster: He’s the sixth man that the Italians call upon when they have problems. Isn’t that neat?

Maher: That’s very interesting.

Foster: Talk about Cafeteria Catholics. Pfft!

Maher: So how do you convince people of what’s the true faith?

Foster” You don’t, forget it. You just have to live and die with their stupid ideas.

Thank you wayfarer!

Maher didn’t seem quite so clever and smug in those clips, having met his match on the opposite side of the spectrum.

Maher feeds off of shock of his comments, a troll-style of sorts although his over exaggerations are to try to make his point. It sounds interesting how he really backed off with this priest.

Foster: Come on, roasting. That’s the old Catholic thing.

Maher: That’s what they taught me.

Foster: Yeah, I know, that hell business.

Maher: Well, come on, the standard doctrine that I was taught as a kid…

Foster: Yeah, that’s all gone. That’s all finished.

That’s great!! …admitting the move away from literalism.