It’s Holy Week once again. What can this former believer say about it? Well, not much. So I’ll just share excerpts from Bill Maher’s documentary Religulous.
Maher, to an actor playing Jesus in a religious theme park:
“Does it ever bother you that the story of a man who was born of a virgin, was resurrected--your bio--was something that was going around the
(Scenes from old films about the life of Jesus scroll at the lower left corner of the screen while the word “MATCH” flashes repeatedly.)
“There’s the Persian god Mithra, 600 years before Christ. Born Dec. 25th, performed miracles. Resurrected on the third day, known as the Lamb, the Truth, and the Life, the Savior and the Messiah…”
(“MATCH,” “MATCH,” "MATCH” …)
That’s very interesting. And scary, if you think about the implications (Did those stories really influence Jesus’? How much fiction was inserted into historical persons’ histories, if they did exist?). Hmm. Some say that
In a subsequent scene, a theme park visitor mentions the unoriginality of Anakin Skywalker resulting from (mother Shmi’s) virgin pregnancy, implying that it was inspired by Jesus’ story. Maher responds, “Jesus’ story wasn’t original.”
Cut to scenes from another old movie about Christ, accompanied by the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian” and the following text:
“Written in 1280 BC, the Egyptian Book of the Dead describes a god, Horus…
Horus is the son of the god Osiris…
…born to a virgin mother.
He was baptized in a river by Anup the Baptizer…
…who was later beheaded.
Like Jesus, Horus was tempted while alone in the desert…
Healed the sick… the blind… cast out demons… and walked on water…
He raised Asar from the dead.
‘Asar’ translates to ‘Lazarus’
Oh yeah, he also had 12 disciples.
Yes, Horus was crucified first…
And after 3 days, two women announced…
Horus, the savior of humanity…
…had been resurrected.”
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