Review of The Invention of Lying (2009) by Bobs — 04 Nov 2009

Fabulous. Funny. Well done. Yes, it might have been executed in a better cinematic way, but who cares. The story, the plot, the acting, and most importantly the message was outstanding. In a nice delicate way it explained how religion -- while it might do very nice things to make people happy and lead nice lives -- is based on fables and stories.

As people take those stories and make them absolute truths, they inhibit their ability to have original thought and sometimes do bad things. They can even use the religion as the excuse or rationale to do things that aren't good for others.

They claim they can do things because god talks to them. That's why religious extremists can inspire so many illiterate and hopeless people and turn them into terrorists. That's why religions can get people to hate people - like gays, people of other religions, or non-believers.

That's why religions can get people not to use birth control even thought population expansion is really bad for the planet. That's why Popes jailed Galileo in the 17th century for having scientific thought that contradicted church teachings.

And that's why the religious right today can get all upset about movies like this -- because they see it as blasphemy that challenges their thinking rather than just seeing it as a someone with original thought questioning beliefs that have gotten out of hand.