Religulous Page #10

He would just talk

to the whole world.

It always seems

He picks out a prophet in private

and tells them,

"Okay, you're the prophet."

- I am.

- "You go tell the rest of the world."

So we just sort of

have to take it on faith.

We just sort of

have to believe you.

Right, yeah, it's true.

Abraham. Noah.

Lord, what shall I do?

Moses,

climb the mount alone.

Once again, the Lord had

spoken to Joseph Smith

as he had to Adam, Abraham,

Moses, Paul and others.

I am the first Christian.

And the rest are really

kind of Jewish, you're saying,

because they're following a Jew.

That's it.

In fact, they put on the plates...

they say "My boss is

a Jewish carpenter."

How ridiculous is that?

A Jewish carpenter!

- Imagine.

- Come on, Jews hire carpenters.

They don't...

you know, people say

"I found my calling in life."

And it's a good calling.

It's a nice living.

People adore you.

Everywhere you go,

they treat you like Christ,

like you're the Messiah.

You know, if I discovered

that I was Satan in person,

I would do a good job, too,

because I would be

faithful to my calling.

It's how you do

your work, isn't it?

You know, at the end of the day,

whether you're the Messiah

or you're Satan,

it's loving what you do

and giving it 100%.

I give 100%.

I wasn't born skeptical.

I was still making deals

with "God" when I was 40.

I remember I quit smoking.

There was some shitty problem

I had in my life,

and I made

a deal with God,

"Okay, if you make

this problem go away,

I will quit smoking,

and I won't go back on it

'cause I'd know I'd be going back

on a deal with God."

And you know, I gotta say,

I'm kind of glad I had "God"

in my life.

You are the head

of the First Universal Church

of Cantheism...

- Yes.

...which is really built around

- this substance here.

- No.

No? Okay, I got that wrong.

But it's built

around smoking this.

I mean, it has no dogma, right?

You're not preaching to anybody.

You're not saying

- you'll save their souls, no rituals.

- No.

How does this differ

from just getting wasted?

I mean that

in the best possible way, but...

I understand

the concept of God,

a feeling of one

with everything else.

Do you feel that

every time you smoke pot?

No.

Phew! I thought it was just me.

So why do you think

it's this family of drugs

that's so good

for opening our minds

as opposed to ludes, PCP,

or smashing up your mother's diet pills

and smoking 'em in a pipe?

I don't know.

I don't know.

So I did want

to get your thoughts

about what's going on in this city.

This is your city.

There's a lot

of controversy with...

maybe the Dutch

are so tolerant

that they're now

tolerating intolerance.

There's a lot of tension

with the Muslim community.

It's all religious fundamentalists.

They already killed

Theo Van Gogh,

who was a known

television maker.

This is the spot

where Theo Van Gogh

- was assassinated?

- This is exactly the spot.

He was a Dutch filmmaker.

He made a 10-minute film.

It was deeply offensive

to Muslims.

Oh, Allah, you say

that men are the protectors

and maintainers of women

because you have given

the one more strength than the other.

I feel at least once a week,

the strength of my husband's fist

on my face.

Lots of people think

that free speech

goes right up to this point and then

when you're talking about religion,

when you're talking

about the Prophet, all bets are off.

It goes both ways,

freedom of speech.

It goes both ways,

but the people who actually...

usually do the killing for it

wind up on the Muslim side.

Do you think that says something

about the different cultures?

I don't want to have

the image of the Muslims,

you know, if they don't like

something you say,

they kill you, because it's not.

It was a noisy crowd outside

the Danish embassy in London

as speakers condemned the cartoons

portraying the Prophet Mohammed.

I wish I could get

your music in America,

but considering how controversial

it's been here in England...

Initially, when I did the record,

a lot of people supported it,

but then,

in the current times that we're in,

people got really scared.

It just shows

the stupidity of society,

which refuses

to discuss,

debate things

in an intelligent way.

And I don't except that.

I just put my middle finger up.

One of your big gripes...

and it's a valid one...

you keep saying that...

in fact, let me read your quote.

You said, "Anyone worried

about what I'm saying

should get involved in the debate.

You are allowed to dissent.

- That is a right."

- Yeah.

But is that a right

in Islam, to dissent?

Of course it is. Why do you think

there's so many schools of thought?

- Why do you think there's...

- It wasn't a right for Salman Rushdie.

The demonstrators set off

from Hyde Park,

bringing much

of central London to a standstill.

Their hatred focused

on Salman Rushdie and his book.

The mullahs pressed home

their message in thousands of mosques...

Salman Rushdie must be killed.

See, Salman Rushdie

was there to provoke,

insult, and he did it

intentionally, right?

But should you die

for that?

No no, well, I mean,

like, that was...

you know, it's easy

for you to say

things are kind of

in black and white.

They're more complex than that.

There's emotions and passions

and philosophy involved

- and all that stuff.

- You know, all you gotta say is

it's wrong for someone

to have to suffer a death threat

- for writing a book.

- Well, hang on.

But apparently, it's more

complicated than that.

Well, it is because...

but I mean, Western...

We'll never see

eye to eye there,

but you want that

protection for yourself.

No, I think

these debates are a lot...

I'm willing to discuss 'em

in terms of facts and not fictions.

When you disagree with me,

it's a fiction.

- No no.

- You have the truth

- and I have the fiction.

- No, I don't have the truth.

But you don't see that

there's a fundamental hypocrisy

of you asking

for the right to dissent

and somebody else

getting a death threat?

No no, 'cause my dissent is

to stop the madness.

I'm here with Geert Wilders

here in The Hague,

which of course is

home to the World Court,

but also to the Dutch Parliament.

You are taking

a kind of hard line here

in the Netherlands.

Islam is, according to me,

a violent religion.

The Koran is a violent book

and Mohammed was

a violent prophet.

Do you think Islam wants

to take over the world?

- They don't even make...

- Right right.

...a secret about it.

We are infidels.

I mean, we should either become

Islamic or we should be killed.

This is what they say.

This is what they are proud of.

Okay, we're here at Habibi Ana.

- Did I say that right?

- Yeah.

You guys, really...

I mean,

gay Muslim activists,

that is a very rare job description.

You guys have balls.

How big is

the gay community...

the gay Muslim community

here in Amsterdam?

Or is this it?

I mean, I'm guessing,

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