Root of All Evil?

Let's put the facts right: I am an antitheist. I consider somehow important to state that at the beginning of my review. The reason behind it, to put it simple, is that if everybody would let his/her belief dictate his/her actions, the world would be even a worse place. Alright, most people are like that anyway. Although, still, it's silly to follow any belief when humans -generally- can use common sense, and can acquire a great deal of knowledge if desired. I suppose belief and knowledge are contradictory terms. I'll try to simplify further: If it's OK to belief in god, it's also OK for me to belief that, instead of a brain, you have a worm in your head sitting at the controls. Or that anybody but me deserves the worst. For example. For A LOT of people, these beliefs are actual realities, no matter how absurd. Also, a faith is not needed for doing good deeds.

As for the movie itself, there's not much to say about it, since it's self-explanatory. I wish Dawkins would have taken more time to explain why no form of belief whatsoever is appropriate, since there're many people who think that it's OK to worship as long as it's "harmless".

I'd also like to say that science is, in many instances, as dangerous as religion. Let's not forget that many scientists BELIEVE that certain theories are actual truths, and that the creation of weapons, vivisection, environmental destruction and other forms of abhorrent acts are thought of or directly perpetrated by so-called scientists. Science always sold itself for the right price, and will also have an absurd excuse to justify the damage it causes. This is another point shared with religion.

And so, even though it's outrageous to be wasting physical and brain resources (if it can be called that) believing that there're imaginary beings with divine powers floating around when that time could be used for learning practical knowledge to help save the Earth from human destruction, let's keep in mind that people of science are actually part of the problem too.

Alas, the best one can do is get away from any religious or scientific dogma and simply live by taking common sense and reason as a guide for your actions.

It's about time that somebody made a documentary like this. All religions are the same - foolish superstition -. Do these people actually believe that their holy books and myths were written by divine supernatural pan-dimensional beings? There were written by Human Beings not unlike themselves. There is no longer any purpose for these superstitions. They have no redeeming qualities - unless fear, shame, lies, intolerance and hatred are your ideas of good qualities -. God is dead... it's about time. Try having faith in Humankind instead because that's the only way things get done. Vapid religions succeed in creating hate, praise Mankind instead

Roots of Evil by Richard Dawkins is documentary about how Dawkins tries to prove to people that God is a delusion. In order to prove this, Dawkins visits sites and interviews people with either strong opposing views to debate with them, or people who he believes will strongly agree with him to prove his point that Religion and God is a complete delusion, and that people should really start questioning themselves, and become like he is, a man of Science. As an intellectual man, he does ask some important questions that encourage thinking, but I believe Dawkins is too harshly criticizing religions and is pushing his views on tense circumstances, forcing the cold hard truth on people who have already chosen their faith and belief and that he should just leave people to believe what they want.

I personally found this movie hard to enjoy. While he an intellectual man, he can't seem to be able to accept the fact that not everyone believes in the same thing that he does. I believe that Religion is a very vulnerable and tense subject, therefore is very important not to push things too far. This is what I think Dawkins does by saying going to the Lourdes and after receiving statistics, concludes that all the 66 alleged miracles are meaningless and the conditions would have cleared up naturally. Next, he goes on to say that the "fact" that Mary's body ascended into heaven is an assumption, and that even the pop would have said it was revealed to him by God or that it was actually by word of mouth that this tradition came about and it is wrong. As he moves on to the issue of creationism and evolution. He says that we only have creationism because our world needed a supreme being such as a God to deal with the mystery surrounding us, but now that Science has explained that the Sun is one of billions of stars, he said it is time to abandon the belief of the God. As he debates with many other people, not only are his points not as strong as theirs, but he also doesn't let them freely speak. In fact, the movie even cuts of one man while he is speaking because he probably has a very strong point that Dawkins couldn't rebut.

While Dawkins was definitely proud of his belief and knows it is true, this movie was hard to enjoy as he continued harshly forcing his beliefs on people who clearly did not agree with him.

This documentary provides a great view at religion and its contradictory evilness. As we live in a world that's threatened by religious fanatics and almost all major conflicts are based on religion, shouldn't it be time we start questioning religion? Dawkins does question religion and everything else. And he continually stresses that as opposed to faith, science tries to discover the world and congratulates everyone who makes theories obsolete.

There's a common word used against people like Dawkins - arrogance. But isn't arrogant the one who says he knows everything? Dawkins says he knows nothing but what the facts reveal him.

Fear the one who offers all knowledge for he is lying.

This documentary follows scientist Richard Dawkins around the globe to find religion's varied impacts, with a special focus on America and Britain. Dawkins pulls no punches and is quick to shut down anyone in his path. Religion is not given a moment's notice to put up a shield.

For those who are already opposed to religion, this is for you. Like Bill Maher's "Religulous", this documentary follows a known anti-theist around challenging the beliefs of the faithful. It's not at all fair or balanced, which you might want in a documentary. We already know that Dawkins is against everyone he meets and is eager to make them out to look foolish. Not to say he doesn't make good points -- he does -- but religion isn't given a fair shake.

Ted Haggard is particularly lambasted. Haggard brings much of this on himself, insinuating Dawkins' arrogance while he himself comes off as high and mighty. Haggard then proceeds to kick Dawkins off his property, adding to his image as a jerk. However, in Haggard's defense, Dawkins was being arrogant (as usual) and I don't think he was given a chance to explain himself outside of a confrontational setting.

For those of you who've read "The God Delusion", this material will not be new. Dawkins covers similar ground here... the book merely expands on the points he makes. If you haven't read the book, and liked this film, I'd suggest reading it to get a fuller picture. If you didn't like the movie, you may not like the book... it's hard to consider Dawkins unbiased. Either way, I suggest going through the movie (and book) with a strong sense of skepticism.

If you can pick up a copy of this, do it. I think "Religulous" is the better of the two films, but there's certainly plenty of material here to mull over. And together, they make a great pair. Dawkins is a giant in the world of atheism, and his ideas are worth understanding, whether or not he happens to be right.