Real Time with Bill Maher: Christianity Under Attack? - June 5, 2015 (HBO) 

"You can look this sh*t up, you know!" I find myself often wanting to say that when conservatives talk.

The Bill O'Reilly Quote had two things in it that he, Fox News, and basically most Conservatives claim to hate. Playing the Victim, and Race Baiting.

Is it us? We of the internet? Are Christians afraid of a few assholes online calling out their bullshit between watching Netflix and porn? Maybe they should pray for God to give them some more faith because right now their faith seems pretty shaky.

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is a problem though. We need more people in the media like Bill Maher who are unafraid to criticize religion. All of the legitimate critiques are relegated to the internet and the relative fringe. Either network TV will die or the internet will finally reach the pinnacle of mainstream ubiquity and critics of religion other than Bill will finally have a voice. Hopefully.

As a Christian that abhors conservatives who think this way and think they own Christianity, I love this piece.

Being a former fundamentalist, believe me when I tell you that this "Christian persecution" thing is all about these idiots trying to fulfill prophecy to bring on the end of the world. And no...I'm not joking.

I'm a Christian and couldn't agree more with Bill. I can live with the fact that he thinks my beliefs are BS, I can't live with the crap the republicans try to jam down our throats

Face down, ass up. lol

300,000 churches in the entire USA??? Sounds pretty low. I live in a pretty small town and there is a church on every goddamn corner.

Bill is absolutely on point here -- even more relevant one year later.

“The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer

It's about time someone called out the conservative right on their persecution rhetoric by the " liberal media". The bit would be even funnier if it weren't so painfully true. Preach Bill.

For some reason, in today's world, simply disagreeing with someone's religion is considered persecution. This is probably because most of them have never been the subject of actual persecution.

This is one of my favorite monologues of yours Bill, I definitely salute you and the late great Christopher Hitchens for all your tireless work.

Those guys are complaining more than Jesus did when he was stabbed onto a cross.

"I gave him a million dollars, he treats me like I _lent_ him a million dollars!"

Hahahaha... i love how the oppressors are trying to flip the switch. Silly conservatives.

I do love this clip. I often come back to it when I hear or see someone falsely claim that their religion is under attack. What they MEAN to say, is that Christianity no longer receives the deferential treatment it once did. That's their idea of persecution...A level playing field. Although, I shouldn't get too cocky... We could have a very scary fundamentalist Supreme Court for a long long time.

The way Bill and his writers format the “new rules” portion of his show is truly genius. So well written

In the US we have this document called The Constitution which serves as the basis of our society. In that document there is part that says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Meaning no theocracy and no forbidding people to practice religion. That means if you want to live in America you should respect however people choose to conduct their spiritual business if they choose to do so at all even if you don't follow the same belief. At the same time no religion has the right to impose it's beliefs on our social institutions like our school systems for example. After all you wouldn't want someone else's religion imposed on you, so don't feel entitled to impose yours.

Brian Griffin and South Park are your only allies in media? Then Bill Maher should make a cartoon show already.

I freakin' love this show. The world wouldn't be the same without Bill.

Bill is the sharpest he's been in weeks!

Yes thanks for the heavy lifting, Bill, stay strong.

What he doesn't realize that people say they are Christian, but their lifestyle doesn't reflect Christianity. Action speaks louder than words.

Republican logic : "I love Jesus and Ayn Rand!" 😑

The pastor at my church said this stuff all the time and I'm just itching to get up and leave

"Football players have prayer circles after the games and only half of them can claim brain damage!" Yes!!!

It makes sense to visit this again after over a year had passed. Suffice to say, the people claiming Christianity is being attacked suffer the same problem as many Trump supporters. You can show them a world that has been vastly improved, but they will looked at a chipped nail, and claim that they're suffering. The simple logic of if the good things aren't happening to us, they're not happening at all, and the world is shit. A lot of progress has happened, but because it's not solely for the white, Christian man, then they will ignore it. This is why Christians claim they're under attack, because the world has left them behind, for favour of a less secular vision, that acknowledges facts over fiction, and it's more ground to everyone else, but they only see the ground as lost.

"You can looks this shit up, you know" Come on, we all know that it's never about how it IS...it's about how it LOOKS...

'First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win.'

wasn't their a family guy episode where Maher demeaned Brian It's nice to know their such good pals now

70% and falling fast :D

Preach, Bill! I wish there were more down to earth super stars with a platform to get this message out!!

I'm Catholic, but this man has a point. No one should be trashing him, for he is not trashing the religion in this video.

Bill Maher isn't perfect, but if the world was ending, and I got to pick a short list of people to survive it with me, he would be high up on that list, thats for damn sure

So happy someone finally brought this up. Every time i hear Christians say that i'm always waiting from somebody to challenge it, and they never do. there is allot i disagree with that Bill Maher says, but in all credit...Bill Maher = BALLS

Over 400,000 churches in the United States, and not ONE of them pays ANY taxes.

When I watch this man I ALWAYS ask myself how I can agree so much with an atheist on almost every issue except God

It's amazing how little is know to us all. We even go as far as to use foul language because of disagreement. The truth is, no one can prove God's existence and at the same time no one can prove God's non-existence. Faith can't prove God, and science can't disapprove God. This is the dilemma humans have had for ages and I think always will. Since the advent of modern science, it has become clear that morality has nothing to do with God's existence or absence because atheists can be as moral as believers in God. If the issue is that morals are a deep and thoughtful human construct, arguing about God and name calling becomes utterly useless. We should all focus on things that matter like making education more accessible for all, providing adequate healthcare, reducing poverty, etc. These endless arguments about something that neither side can prove are only distractions.

Bill is absolutely correct. Growing up in a far-right, Christian household and attending multiple Christian schools, I was always told by my superiors that I would be persecuted as a Christian and that all the non-believers in the world were out to destroy Christians. Now that I'm a rational, thinking adult who has discarded religion for good I feel 100X more demonized for my beliefs. Not only the bible-thumping Christians in my life, but most of the people that I thought to be moderate, average believers, seem to be quite uncomfortable with my total lack of faith. Atheists get way more shit than any religious group. The ignorant, self righteous masses will believe anything that Fox News conjures up for them.

Bill O'Reilly also said that an SS platoon was massacred while surrendering to a US Army platoon at Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge during Word War Two. He later apologized for getting it wrong, after being corrected by someone more knowledgeable.

This is one of the reasons why I love Bill. He doesn't beat around the bush and he says it like it is. Plus I am Jewish and even I see a whole lot of persecution complexes in Christians (like when I was visiting my hometown they were holding the first pride parade they ever had, and a busload of people from the local mega church showed up and were waving signs like "REPENT!" Or "confess your sins and you shall be saved.") They're some of the most dogmatic and most pissy people you'll ever meet.

T.R.U.T.H Thanx, Bill, for being one of our few voices in the storm!

Face Down, Ass Up is my favorite hymn.

To the conservative demagogues, anyone insisting on separation of church and state (as in, no 10 Commandment monuments on state buildings or grounds, please) is by definition "attacking" Christianity.

- Some don't know the difference between an attack on christianity and the attack on christian extremism, because, well... -

If by "under attack", you mean "having to accept that they're no longer a monopoly on human morality or righteousness and coming to terms that society is more tolerant of the people their stupid book tells them to hate for no real reason", then you could say they're under attack. After all, their bigotry and prejudices have led to them driving many an innocent to breaking point, all because they are unable to deal with their inferiority complexes, so it only makes sense for people to finally be trying to stamp out what really is fucking up society.

Bill is the epitome of the voice of reason

*borrowed time* with Bill "like one falling from very high for a long duration having forgotten about the solidarity of the coming reunion with face and ground bill displays a boldness not of courage but that of fleeting wisdom as is always found in any who build certainty up out of ignorance clothed in imagination "

Matthew 5:10. This man needs our prayers more than anything else.

This is one of my favorite bits this year.

I figured the Republican defense of Christianity had to do with that newfangled techno-gizmo called the Internet, where people can actually learn things. As Maher once said of Christians, "Because knowing things is seen as an affront to the All-Knowing."

I liked this segment. I was going to say that Bill is the one person you could say was doing it so I was cracking up when he mentioned it himself

He did an awesome job here. The “logic” of this narrative is that people are passing laws like marriage protections for gay people and the Christian’s say “well by forcing me to allow gay people to get married you’re keeping me from imposing my beliefs on everyone else”. But the whole point of freedom of religion is that you can believe what you want and practice your beliefs but that applies to people who don’t believe what you believe as well. In other words, it’s not right for religious conservatives to force other people to follow their beliefs and subsequent actions too.

Great segment! Bill nails it, again...

Everybody should just respect other peoples beliefs, unless if their beliefs are hurting you, then why should you care?

weird every time he said one of those dumb quotes I sneezed and my cat stared at me like Cat: Da fauq?

Bill Maher is brilliant. As a liberal Christian, I can appreciate his smart, provocative monologues. God has given humanity free will, with which it can choose to believe the truth (Jesus Christ) or something else. Bill Maher is awesome!

An Atheist condemning Religion, what else is new

This guy is great

Ironically Christmas on December was a move as a war on paganism.

Attending weekly church doesn't make you a christian anymore than standing in a cornfield makes you a farmer. I've never met a TRUE christian (defined by them) but i can tell you every forgiving, accepting & honest "sinner" I've had the pleasure to know, tattoos & all 😁

Christians put to death in Nazi germany? Not because they were christians. Over 90% of Nazi germany was christian, the belts of the soldiers had an inscription: "Gott mit uns" which translates to: God with us". That point is so stupid.

"You can look this shit up, you know"😂😂😂😂😂😂

...face down ass up. laughed so hard I dropped my phone

To Christians "prosecution" means "not getting your way"

Bill reminds me of George Carlin.

I am a believer in Jesus Christ and I actually agree with Bill Maher on this . Christians in the USA complain about every little thing and we sometimes confuse persecution with simple disagreement. Christians are supposed to endure hardships without whining. These politicians are always misrepresenting true christianity .

If you take criminality out of religion, you destroy religion.

To me, all the fighting between religious people and non-religious people in this country has become a "Goliath vs. Goliath" battle, where neither side is the underdog any more (even if neither side wants to admit it). So I get tired of hearing from either side about it!

Yet another AMAZING NEW RULE! The reason the USA is screwed up is because of guns and RELIGION.

I love that part of each one of us that is God, but I am terrified by his fan clubs...

Bill Maher is one of the few, honest 'beacons of truth' we have left! LOVE him!

Legend has it Bill Maher is still asking “who?”

Jefferson was a deist.

But dear Christianity is a sort of backwards oppressive force.

A million dollars is one expensive punchline. Bill Maher goes all the way. Every minute of his act is rich. Worth every cent.

Or maybe Mr Santorum was referring to the treatment of Christians in the Middle East, and it was taken out of context?

tl;dr - Right-wing pundits need to stop reading Tumblr.

shit bill is killing me😂

outstanding even for your high quality material this is even better

Thank you for that Bill. You are truly a voice in the wilderness.

'70% of the nation is Christian.' Even if this statistic were accurate what you have is a statistic that states '70% of *_polled_* citizens *identify* as Christian _at the time of this poll_.' I was never polled. I've never met anyone who was polled. I highly doubt Bill was polled. Additionally, many and I mean *many* people identify as Christian and most certainly are *not* *Christian*. This is _easily_ found in daily life, even in Church; and, most assuredly: politics. If you're stating that this is a ruse to get the Christian vote only to defend that people 'currently in politics' are Christians then you must concede that it is possible their 'Christianity' was a veil worn for votes as well; rather than defend _their_ purported belief as authentic with your fingers in your ears going 'LA LA LA!' He, himself, quoted artists as giving credit to Jesus to celebrate their success of debauchery. Hypocrisy at its finest; subtract x amount of these people from the '70%' statistic. Where's the attack coming from, that calls Christianity, as he quoted, oppressive? How about 100% of the recently grown lbgt community? Ellen was pictured, she clearly is not Christian, is not pro Christian and in fact (anyone anti-Christian) would prefer Christianity not exist as it only serves to inform them that their lifestyle is not acceptable in the eyes of 'a God' that they don't believe exists. To touch on the quote that anti-Christianity is rapidly growing; it is seemingly accurate. It was once, easily, more than 70% (of course the population was lower but the intelligence was slightly higher; most people would likely require a dictionary to fully understand a speech by JFK) and, as analogous to climate change (if you accept _those_ statistics), deterioration can take place at rapid rates. This guy may have this huge platform to insultingly attack ideals which he then says isn't taking place (except by him, who does so on a large scale); saying that the only excuse is head trauma (an insulting joke at the expense of suffering, no less), but it's nice that there is a forum for people to voice their opinions beneath his babel.

My savior JESUS CHRIST would not be a Democrat or a Republican remember he hates hypocrisy and they are both guilty just at varying degrees!!

the last 2 minutes was some of the best...

Knocks it out of the park as always.

When you've been used to privilege equality seems like persecution.

Great video, but what they mean by Christianity under attack is their form of white wing Christianity. No, I don't have a lisp.

We soooo need a show like this in Australia

I love this piece. Bill Maher finally pick on the liberal media and Colbert,Jon. 😂 😂 😂.

total genius; thanks bill..

*******I AM OPENLY SECULAR! LIKE IF YOU ARE OPENLY SECULAR!********

Not a fan, but Maher makes a great point at the end by listing all the prominent people and sources in the US that are Christian, or at least, not anti-Christian.

I love this. He's so accurate. This is why I love him.

Denies Christianity is being attacked. Attacks Christianity.

Prove god exists? Cannot be done! therefore its illogical, irrational and unintelligent to believe in God.

Thank you Bill for not going overboard on any graphic dirty words/phrases, so I was able to share on my FB. I absolutely agree with you on this and appreciate the statistics & the names. I think the far, far, far right are the only ones laying open the wounds for any kicking around of Christianity by being so darn judgmental on how everyone should live. I don't believe in any creator, but I can respect my family and friends as none of them point at me and scream "blasphemer". (which would be cool as I need a good laugh every now and then)

Watching this 3yrs later everything he mocked, christianity and white persecution is real thing now. Scary. I wonder what his opinion is now about the very thing he thought ridiculous.