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great.
i wish everyone on earth could see this.

I think faith and community are important, as is moral guidance. But can't we update these ancient religious texts? Keep the original versions for cultural tradition, but have a new version that is LESS metaphor, written in modern english, and updated with current scientific knowledge — and very importantly, that all men/women are created equal and shall not be discriminated against. Belief that we are separate from AND better than others is the worst poison in the world. Whether it's christianity, atheism, nationalism, etc. I am you. You are me. Whatever separates us in mind is what breeds the fear of others within us. This is the only enemy to world peace. No one has to die. Just change your mind.

Atheism & empathy aren't mutually exclusive, empathy has evolutionary benefits for social animals like us. With some individuals in a (godless) chimpanzee troupe helping other sick or injured individuals until they are well enough to hunt & gather or defend the group again, the groups chances of survival increase. I reckon that empathy also stems from the ability of abstract thinkers to identify with the suffering or happiness of others, which doesnt need belief in a "invisible man in the sky". In fact, that is why atheists have better moral values than people who are god-fearing, fundamentalists who act kindly because of consequences from their deity. If you need some comic relief after the dismay you might get from this, you might find it in Doug Stanhopes "Why atheists have better moral values than christians". Btw, I found the Hell House terrorism particularly disturbing. I made up my mind theres no god at age 9, but the idea of a possible Hell scared the hell out of me ,pardon the pun :-P

No, it's not. The problem is religion, faith, and god. Stop making excuses. You can see the problems being reflected in those who believe in any religion. Cut the shit.

lol@ the virus part. If God killed his son, he is a horrid murder, and if he killed HIMSELF, that is suicide…

So, he is either a Martyr, or a child abuser.

If God is real, he is not, to me, someone whom I would give respect to. His morals are less than those I expect of myself.

I would not do as he says, just because I fear pain in eternity. It's bullying.

If this is who god is.. he is a bastard, child abuser, – he encourages rape, and discrimination amongst the sexes. He is a hypocrit, and not of love.

If there IS a God real and worthy of anyone's love or adoration, then he/she must be of love. Clearly this is not a God of love.

If you fear what he can do to you – he is no more useful to you than a demon. He uses fear to control – the only thing that breeds is more fear – and as it stands right now – the faith he draws, is causing wars on our planet.

I am not suggesting ALL faith is bad, but anything that breeds fear and evil is not worth humanities efforts.

And don't say he loves you, and that is why he sent you his 'son'. If he is the master of the Universe, he could have relieved you of sin without the big song and dance. Only someone full of pride would do such a thing.

He is nothing but a disease.

YES!!! VERY WELL SAID!! Religion breeds IGNORANCE….and Ignorance, along with fear go hand in hand…"Here believe this…just because I SAID SO!" Religion is simply put…a form of MIND CONTROL…

My only problem with this video (and religulous for the same reason) is that it looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a very narrow and inaccurate lens.

Palestinians are NOT all muslims, they are an indigenous population comprised of muslims and christians. This video makes it seem like the "muslims" are the oppressors since they will not let jews enter the al-Aqsa complex… but this ignores the fact that Israel illegally annexed East Jerusalem decades ago, and the Al-Aqsa complex is one of the few areas that the muslims still have relative control over. Palestinians in Jerusalem are a mixture of muslims and christians living in part of a declared "Jewish State". Israel has consistently marginalized this indigenous population and denied them their rights, confiscated and demolished their houses, built walls and checkpoints which destroy their economy…. all with the aim of creating a jewish-majority state to guarantee the survival of Israel's Theocracy.

The palestinians DO often commit atrociously violent acts and kill civilians, but the Israeli army commits equally atrocious and unjustifiable acts that the US media will never report…. if peaceful protests made the news more often, westerners might be more familiar with the Israeli army's treatment of noncombatants. During the last war in Gaza at least 1400 palestinians were killed (half civilians), and 13 Israelis were killed (3 civilians).

Why do Dawkins and Maher choose to perpetuate stereotypes and delusions by painting this conflict as if the "religions" have been fighting on this land forever? Why not point out how jews, muslims, and christians lived on the land in relative peace in the 1800's before foreigners (British, French, and Zionists in Europe) began negotiating about who would colonize palestine??

This conflict is not just about religious bigotry. It is about colonization, and the replacement of one ethnic group with another. Just like in the case of the genocide of the native americans, 'religion' was a justification for conquest, NOT the true cause.

Religious conversion is a sign of assimilation and subjugation and to refuse an alien religion is to refuse to be reduced to a "conquered" status. The individual would rather die than disown his ethnic identity and heritage.

Israel has existed for 60 years, which means there are now many jewish israelis who were born there, and many palestinians who have never been to palestine because they were born in refugee camps. While religion makes people around the world choose sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, this remains at heart an ethnic conflict first — a remnant of the colonial era, and religion is just a conveniently simple way for us to try to understand such a complex historical conflict.

Too much ignorance in the comments.

People, religion is definitely NOT the problem, in itself. Because, wouldnt you agree, the Nazis were as bad as the Christians if not worse?
The problem is blind faith, and for that matter, not ALL religions instigate blind faith.
Look at Buddhism, for example, there is a RELIGION that actually encourages people to question and rationalize.
Furthermore, a lot of people believe what scientists tell them, they take it at face value in the same way religious people take religious leaders. Watch the documentaries about marihuana for example.

It's accepting a statement without questioning it or doubting it, without thinking it through, that causes the ignorance.

Tyler, ms and pastafarienne raise very good points. KUDOS.

I like his comment that we are all atheists concerning nearly all the God's that mankind has believed in over the centuries, but some of us just go one step further.

What I find interesting about the comments here is that none of the religious will admit that he makes some valid points. None will admit that the film offers, at least, reasonable cause for thought on the subject.

And they all make general statements about how they believe, but none address the specific arguments he makes.

The real danger, as I see it, is how religion can program the mind to suspend disbelief and/or accept two opposing views as fact. i.e., a Christian seems to have no trouble believing in "an eye for an eye" AND "though shalt not kill". They see no problem (in America) with adamantly supporting the death penalty because the Bible says 'an eye for an eye"..and yet their savior said "you have heard it said an eye for an eye, but I tell you do not resist evil…turn the other cheek"

This duality of mind allows them to worship the Prince of Peace while supporting wars and torture… to proclaim the love of God while claiming that "God hates fags"..this is the launch pad of dangerous stuff

Richard Dawkins has the courage to say things as they are. I am with him completely. The things he is saying is what goes through my mind every single moment. I wish more people see things this way. Because i know that the world would be a better place without so called religion! Like the lovely Indian thinker (if i could call him that) UG Krishnamurty put it ‘ The world should be saved from the saviours of mankind’.

I think Chris Rock summed it up best in ‘Dogma’. To summarize – it’s okay to have a good idea. You can change an idea. But when you turn it into belief, that’s when you have a problem.

And THAT is the problem with organized religion. It requires in most cases, blind belief. I questioned a pastor about inconsistencies in the bible as a kid (back when my grandmother, bless her heart, tried to force me into Sunday school :-P). I was reading it like a typical book. Problem is, it came across like a badly written hodge-podge-story that made no sense. If I wrote a paper like that, my prof would tear me apart! Things like if there’s only one god, how come it says here (forget which part) that Jehovah stood amongst the council of the gods? If god condemns incest, and Adam and Eve were the only people, and then came their sons and daughters….what ‘wife’ did Cain take with him when he was banished? The only girls around were his sisters!

These were simple questions that simply defied basic logic. His response to my questions was that I wasn’t to read the bible from front to back like any book. Huh? And to top it off, I shouldn’t be trying to interpret it at all according to him. That is what priests, pastors etc. were for. I wasn’t smart enough to understand the word of god. Ironically, he lost me on ‘believing’ right there.

Belief means we don’t question and do things mindlessly….ideas are how we evolve.

I think that untill the world (all societies) is sufficiently evolved we can still benefit from the formal teaching of moral values (Religion). Even in the midst of a Christian society such as Germany in the 30′s we can see how thin the line is between good and evil. Even more so in a country like Rawanda where nearly half the country roamed about killing the other half. History, ancient and modern, is so full of examples of how on any sunny day things can suddenly (relatively speaking) turn into a nightmare. It seems the line between civilization and chaos is always so thin that without some kind of agreed upon code (Religion) that we can invoke in times of trouble we might be worse off than without it. Then again, maybe not. Maybe it will take the whole world under one code (Religion?) to prevent that kind of evil.