Saturday, October 02, 2010

Richard Tillman on Real Time with Bill Maher

Bill Maher interviewed Richard Tillman (brother of Pat Tillman - the NFL player who left to join the Army) on last week's Real Time.  Richard discusses The Tillman Story, a new documentary about his brother and the circumstances surrounding his death.

Now, I believe that a lot of skeptics agree that Bill Maher is... let's call it inconsistent... when it comes to his rational beliefs about science and the like.  He's an atheist, and in Religulous he repeatedly brings up some of the problems and fallacies of religion.  He takes the reasonable position of saying that you CAN'T know about the existence of god -- and most atheists acknowledge this position as well.  I don't believe in god, but I also know that I can't prove or disprove his existence; I just see little reason to hold the belief the such a being exists.

Contrast Bill's reasonable stance on the existence of god with his beliefs regarding germ theory and vaccination, and you'll understand why I have mixed feelings about the guy.  He tends to jump to conspiracy theories all to readily, but nevertheless I appreciate the fact that he shines a light on other aspects of our society that I also find troubling.
But I digress.  The part of the interview that most intrigued me was when Bill and Richard discuss Pat Tillman's funeral (interview embedded below -- start at about the 5:20 mark). Essentially, a couple politicians attended the funeral and made comments that were wholly inconsistent with Pat Tillman and his family's beliefs -- primarily regarding religion.  Richard really hits the nail on the head when he says:

No I just, I found it offensive, you know, it’s like I don’t go into a church and say, "This is bullshit."  So don't come to my brother's service and tell me that he's with God.  He's simply not with fucking God.

I couldn't agree more.



Note:  For whatever reason, Blogger's margins make it such that part of widescreen Youtube videos like this one is cut off when it's embedded like this.

No comments: