Maybe every other American movie shouldn't be based on a comic book. Other countries will think Americans live in an infantile fantasy land where reality is whatever we say it is and every problem can be solved with violence.
Bill MaherRead
What I have against religion is that they start you when you are so defenseless. I mean, I was three when they started pumping this bullshit into my head. I believed in Santa Claus and the Fairy Godmother, of course I believed in a virgin birth, and a guy lived in a whale, and a woman came from a rib. But then something happened that made me doubt all of it: I graduated sixth grade!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the indoctrination of children by religion at a young age, suggesting that critical thinking develops as one matures.
In this quote, Bill Maher expresses his discontent with how religions often begin teaching beliefs to children while they are still impressionable and unable to critically assess these ideas. He humorously contrasts fantastic childhood beliefs, such as Santa Claus, with religious doctrines, suggesting that as he grew and educated himself, he began to question the validity of these teachings, highlighting the importance of education and critical thinking in shaping one's beliefs.
Themes
ReligionIndoctrinationEducationCritical ThinkingBeliefs
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about educational reform, one could use this quote to argue for critical thinking in religious education.
More from Bill Maher
All quotes →If conservatives get to call universal healthcare 'socialized medicine,' I get to call private, for-profit healthcare 'soulless, vampire bastards making money off human pain.'
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If we go back to the beginning, we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests. If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them.
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When I hear from people that religion doesn't hurt anything, I say really? Well besides wars, the crusades, the inquisitions, 9-11, ethnic cleansing, the suppression of women, the suppression of homosexuals, fatwas, honor killings, suicide bombings, arranged marriages to minors, human sacrifice, burning witches, and systematic sex with children, I have a few little quibbles. And I forgot blowing up girl schools in Afghanistan.
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When it comes to religion, we're not two sides of the same coin, and you don't get to put your unreason up on the same shelf with my reason. Your stuff has to go over there, on the shelf with Zeus and Thor and the Kraken, with the stuff that is not evidence-based, stuff that religious people never change their mind about, no matter what happens.
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I do think the patriotic thing to do is to critique my country. How else do you make a country better but by pointing out its flaws?
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