Chomsky speaks in unassuming tones that shift attention to his content. He's like the fool on the hill but not so he can shout from the mountain. If his ideas ever gain traction, it will be the traction of a snowball dropped gently, gaining mass and velocity by what the populous adds to it as it passes by them, not by some 'manufactured' media event. Ahem...Sarah Palin.

That's foolish.Leaders have used "religion" to prop up actions that are purely about money & power (wars, genocide, slavery) and simple-minded fools have followed them.Religious texts speak loudly about justice and love. There are religious people all over the world who never hurt anyone.Saying that all religous texts are "evil" is as ignorant as saying that all atheists are "evil."

Oh please. Let's not be simple-minded. The reasons behind the conquest of the New World and slavery were purely economic. Same with the Crusades. Witch trials were about consolidating power. All of these things you can blame moreso on the existence of government than on the existence of religion. Shall we chuck all gov't because sometimes it gets misused by murderous assholes? Maybe we should all be more vigilant about justice and human rights, period.

Excuse me, I meant all religions. All religions, in their original and true right, are evil and tyrannical. Christians are deluded, Muslims are deluded, Hindu's are deluded, Bom Boms for Africa are deluded. You all believe your texts to be delivered down by the "Almighty", whether it be through writings or memories. So, all of your religions when held true to their texts are evil.

Says a christianPick the top 20 mass murder wars & genocides in the history of humanity, & virtually ALL of them were commited by people who call themselves Christians.Including the greatest genocide and crime against humanity world has ever seen with the annihilation of close to 100 million native americans in North/Central AmericaFrom the atrocities of the largest & most brutal slavery system ever seen, to the world wars, to the holocaust, to the horrors of european church inquisitions

More like Pavlovian dogs.

Maehr's audience members are like monkeys.

I take issue with your use of the word "rationale" under the assumption that it would stand up to critical thought. If not, then I would agree that some use it as a rationale.Also, your initial sentence decidedly won you my respect until further notice.

I disagree with your terminology because, in my opinion, a compelling rationale has to be presentable to others. Nothing can be compelling when spread only through word of mouth and when only believed by others who have relatively similar views of reality. If the rationale is unable to, even 50% of the time, compel someone with an opposing view of reality, then I should say that it is, by definition, not compelling.

dont get me wrong, im a fan of bill, but i think he asked questions he knew noam would agree with to make himself sound smarter haha

@mrcarlos He bashes all religions. He focuses so much on Christianity because, for some illogical/irrational reason, you can't be elected as a major politician or in fact the president in the US unless you affirm your belief in Christ. If there was a atheist or agnostic running for president they automatically rule out most of the votes from the southern states which makes them unelectable.

Ok, I disagree but I understand where you're coming from and appreciate your concerns.I disagree in that I think the belief is grounded in a compelling rationale for the existence of Something outside of time and space...

Religion is not the opiate of the masses. It's the placebo of the masses. Any good it may have caused is based on baseless belief, which leads the human race down a dangerous road concerning how our mentalities evolve generation after generation.If, however, it causes even one death or even one person to suffer for no reason other than" we/I believe", I see a problem.So, personally, I don't think the good outweighs the bad, no.

And it has done much good. I think the good outweighs the bad.What do you think?

Judaism and Islam have caused just as much death and misery.

Why? What's wrong with Judaism and Islam? They both have done great things for the world...

I would love to see more objections to Judaism and Islam on this show. Bill Maher focuses too much on Christianity, although it is politically easier to do so.

Chomsky refuses to play on the inflammatory points Bill wants to emphasize. Im a bit dissapointed by Bill in this one. This could have been a much better interview. I know if I got a chance to actually chat with Chomsky I wouldn't bandy about with semantics.

I haven't seen Chomsky on the show since this episode, possibly because he didn't present delusions, but facts. Bill pretends now to be disappointed by Obama, but wouldn't be if he were willing to have Chomsky and others like Howard Zinn and Jeremy Scahill on his show, instead of the usual mediocrities.

Most of the old folks who are railing about "Socialism" are on Medicare, which conservatives said was a socialist program when LBJ introduced it. And what is Social Security but a socialist program - equal free money for everybody in a certain group? Hypocrisy. Truth is, they just hate Obama and the Left irrationally, and they can't admit it, so they have to make up a rational-sounding reason for it. History is full of this BS.