Bill makes a mistake common in both theists and anti-theists; he fails, more often than not, to separate the individual religious experience from the larger influence of religion itself.

Will.i.am talks about the good religion did to him and Bill refuses to knowledge this. This is a common mistake. You can still argue that religion is a net negative to humankind while recognizing that on an individual level it can do a lot of good to people. My best friend in High School had the same experience. She came from a broken welfare home. She had all the odds to become a teenage single mother like her own. I have no problem recognizing that it was her church that kept her on track, gave her a center, a constant positive in her life. I believe (and I don’t doubt Bill does as well) that you don’t actually need the religious aspect for this to work, but you MUST acknowledge that it is perfectly natural for people to consider their faith a central part of themselves if the physical manifestation of that faith (the church) is what’s kept them grounded their entire life.

Likewise religious people often refuse to acknowledge that they cannot attribute their positive experiences to religion and then ignore the negative aspects (extremism) as not really about religion.

Bill was very clumsily trying to make the point that if you encourage non-critical thinking, if you extoll faith as the ultimate virtue, this will spill over into other aspects of your life, to the point where rationality is considered bad. The real problem, as Sullivan pointed out, is that he takes this to an absurd degree, and pretends like religious people usually apply no rationality to their lives, instead of segregating their religious views from their reality-based ones. I agree that most religious people MUST be doing what Andrew says, because if not they would not be functional human beings. I agree with Bill about the danger of putting faith-based thinking above rational thinking in real world problems, but I think he does no favors to that cause by stuffing all religious people in the same boat.

if u believe in noahs ark, talking snakes, adam and eve, etc. how can anyone take u seriously on any other matter? i dont care if you can separate religious thinking and other matters. the point that you believe in the junk proves you are not a rational thinking person.

There is so much tangible evidence that God exists, simply look at the natural world. Our earth is very unique on so many different levels, i think the challenge is on the evolutionists to prove the life we see came from nothing. When you put something, anything in water it breaks down. The Bible itself claims to be inspired from God, which clearly explains why in Isaiah chapter 40 it calls the earth a circle, some translations use sphere, but Isaiah(undisputed) was written seven, yes seven hundred years before Christ. When did science finally agree that the earth was indeed a circle if you don’t know it was the 12th century, only 1900 years later.
 I could go on, but really if one believes there is no God, i pity you.

The world has been allowed to become so corrupt in order for God to see who wants His way of rule and who doesn’t, personally there are waaaaay to many acts of violence, indecency, immorality and just plain disgusting filth that the bible condemns but society calls freedom, look at what the world has become in all this so called freedom.And the problem with religion is not the bible, it’s the hippocrates who claim to follow it, they not only misinterpret it, but they also misrepresent it, which i am sure they will pay for.

God is a God of love but only to those who truly want to reflect the qualities of a godly person.Those who don’t, let them be warned.(Maude said it best) 

If man can live in a world where you don’t have to lock your doors, all people work together for the common good, and life is respected, we will get along much better.Why not follow the laws of God. We already follow laws from society, but if a supremely intelligent being, someone who not only knows how gravity works but invented gravity, wants to give me advice on how to live, then let’s get to it.
You know that Einstein guy, Albert, he was a deeply religious man, i think he and bill maher would have been boring to watch because simply put bill maher is a big mouth with some media pull, but Albert was highly intelligent, in fact he would have seen right thru bill maher and probably would have chosen not to waste his time on such a friutless endeavor, which is a little the way i’m feeling, but remember folks Einstein did the smart thing, he believed in GOD.  If you want to get closer to GOD, start asking all the hard questions, why are we here, is there really a God, ask loudly to yourself privately(in your room, out in the woods, just somewhere private) and God will show you, start asking then wait for the knock at the door or a stranger stopping you on the street, but no worries have trust God is there, he hears you and his kingdom is coming very soon.