Bill Maher – Madison Catholic Herald Archive (2001-2025)

Just last month, my media ministry Word on Fire marked a milestone: 10,000,000 views on our YouTube channel.

This achievement fills me with gratitude both to God and to the many people who watched one or more of the videos I’ve produced. It also provides the occasion for me to reflect a bit on both the pitfalls and advantages of evangelizing through the new media.

An experiment

When we commenced our outreach through YouTube seven years ago, we did so in the manner of an experiment. YouTube had just come into being at that time, and it largely featured crude, homemade videos of cats jumping off the roof and babies gurgling for their mother’s camcorder.

I thought we should try to invade this space with the Gospel, and so I resolved to make short video commentaries on movies, music, current affairs, cultural happenings, etc.

I don’t know what possesses me to watch Real Time With Bill Maher, for Maher is, without a doubt, the most annoying anti-religionist on the scene today.

Though his show is purportedly about politics, it almost invariably includes some attack on religion, especially Christianity. Even during a recent interview with former President Jimmy Carter, whom Maher very much admires, the host managed to get in a sharp attack on Carter’s faith.

Recently, his program included a brief conversation with Ralph Reed, the articulate gentleman who used to run the Christian Coalition and who is now a lobbyist and activist on behalf of faith-related causes.

For the first three or four minutes, Reed and Maher discussed the social science concerning children raised in stable versus unstable families. Reed was scoring points in favor of the traditional understanding of marriage.