Religulous is a documentary directed by Larry Charles and starring American political comedian Bill Maher, host of Real Time With Bill Maher on HBO. According to Maher, the title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words "religion" and "ridiculous," implying the satirical nature of the documentary that is meant to mock the concept of religion and the problems it brings about.

Overview

Known for his stance against religion, Bill Maher's views on the various world religions are explored as he travels to numerous religious destinations, such as Jerusalem, the Vatican, and Salt Lake City, interviewing believers from a variety of backgrounds and groups, including Jews for Jesus, Christians, Muslims, polygamists, Satanists, Hasidic scholars and even Rael of the Raelian Movement. In the trailer and documentary Maher also interviews research neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, MD, (author of Why We Believe What We Believe) who brain-scans people at the University of Pennsylvania as they pray, meditate and speak in tongues. Maher admitted his production team had to avoid certain subjects to obtain interviews for the film: "We never, ever, used my name. We never told anybody it was me who was going to do the interviews. We even had a fake title for the film. We called it 'A Spiritual Journey.' It didn't work everywhere. We went to Salt Lake City, but no one would let us film there at all." The documentary was produced by Thousand Words and is being distributed by Lionsgate. Originally slated for an international release date coinciding with the Christian Easter holiday 2008, post-production delays resulting from a screenwriters guild strike pushed the release date back to July 11, 2008. Release has now been pushed back to October 3, 2008.