But, as this strident, though often entertaining, rant unfolds, Maher shows that he already knows the answer. His answer, anyway: Religion is a dangerous sham "selling an invisible product" and is a danger to our continued existence on Earth. And Maher and director Larry Charles ("Borat") spend the next 101 minutes determined to convince you they're right.

Maher begins at Megiddo, Israel, the spot that Christians believe will be the site of the end of the world - Armageddon. The problem with believing in the end of the world, Maher says, is that when the Bible was written, only God could pull it off.

Now, between nuclear weapons and rampant pollution, human beings can destroy the world themselves. "And if there's anything I hate more than prophecy," Maher quips, "it's self-fulfilling prophecy."

From that opening, Maher thengoes on a world tour of religious sites, from Jerusalem to Kentucky's Creation Museum - which tries to show the scientific argument behind the Biblical story of creation and includes animatronic dinosaurs and humans frolicking together. Maher finds much to mock as he interviews an evangelical minister, an ex-gay activist and the guy who plays Jesus at the Holy Land Experience, an Orlando theme park where the crucifixion is re-enacted daily.

Maher plays the bad boy often, getting his camera crew ejected from the Vatican and property owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, and portraying one of the regular loonies at London's Hyde Park as he describes the tenets of Scientology. But he finds some sympathetic ears, including people with such seemingly oxymoronic titles as "Vatican scientist" and "gay Muslim activist."

Maher doesn't listen to his interview subjects, opting instead to drop wisecracks to make them squirm uncomfortably in front of the cameras.There's plenty to laugh about throughout "Religulous," which proves Maher's point that all religions have beliefs that sound - when described in his archly sarcastic tone - to be a little goofy.

But the laughs are shut off in the final reel, when he unloads on the violence done in the name of religion (complete with images of 9/11, suicide bombings and George W. Bush's invocations of God) and urges humanity to "grow up or die."

In the end, Maher suffers from the same rigidity of thought - the certitude that he's right and those who disagree are wrong - that he dislikes in people of faith. That makes "Religulous" a dispiriting experience, even if you agree with him.

Sean P. Means can be reached at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments about this review to livingeditor@ sltrib.com.