When I started doing research about best anti-religion documentaries of all time, I couldn’t begin the article without finding the answer to the question: What is anti-religion?
In order to understand anti-religion, first, we must know the definition of religion. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, religion could be explained as a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith, and also as the service and worship of God or the supernatural, to name few. So, logically we could conclude that anti-religion is everything opposite. A person who is anti-religious usually means that he or she is against all religions. However, if a Jew wants to negate the validity of, for example, Muslim faith, then they could say they are anti-religious towards Islam. Another two concepts that are connected to anti-religion, which could further help us in understanding it better, are heresy and apostasy. Heresy is adherence to a religious opinion contrary to church dogma, whereas apostasy is an act of refusing to believe, follow or obey a religious faith. The main difference is that heresy is disagreeing with church rules but not denouncing from the set of beliefs, whereas apostasy is more linked to anti-religion because it renounces religion as such.
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While I was browsing the internet, I noticed many questions about whether there is a connection between atheism and anti-religion, are they the same thing and if not what are the differences? Well, let’s try to answer one by one.
Atheism is a philosophical position characterized by disbelief in the existence of God or any Gods. Atheists acknowledge scientific proofs as the basis of their beliefs. Moreover, they consider religion as a primitive way of thinking that will be omitted in the end. As a result of the complexity of atheism as a concept, there are many kinds of it. There are agnostic atheists, humanists, antitheists and many more. Some of them could be even found friendly to religion. In order to answer the last question from above and make things clearer, I would just briefly compare atheism with anti-religion. If one person is anti-religious, it doesn’t exclude that they have faith, it just means they are opposed to the practice of religion. In contrast, atheists don’t analyze if the religion is good or bad, they just don’t believe in the existence of higher power, including God.
While there are statistics which show that 84% of the people in the world are religious, there is no data on how many people are anti-religious. Nevertheless, there are many books, movies and documentaries that, by analyzing their contents, could be seen as anti-religious. Most of them are mainly connected to science, as it is based on reason, theory and experiments, while religion relies on untested beliefs. If you want to find out more about this topic and broaden your knowledge, there is no better way than to watch some of the documentaries. They are one of the best ways to learn about different issues that you are interested in but don’t really have enough time to read about. However, they are not always easy to find on the Internet. It is difficult to track the ones that you can download, but luckily most of them you can stream online. Also, on various sites you can watch them for free. Out of many we suggest Top Documentaries Films, Fandor and Documentary Addict. Of course, if you don’t find them there you can always check YouTube or Vimeo.
In order to ease this process of searching best anti-religion documentaries of all time, we made the list of 10 best anti-religion documentaries ever made. However, if you are interested in religious and atheist documentaries as well, you should definitely read our previous article of 11 Best Religious/Atheist Documentaries on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. The following list was gathered by collecting the most frequently recommended anti-religion documentaries, from the sources such as Reddit, Rational Responders and The Thinking Atheist. In addition, we checked each one of them on IMDB and ranked them according to their ratings. Just to emphasize that we took only documentaries rated from 6.9 and above, as movies above that rate are qualified among good ones. Also, we are mentioning which anti-religion documentaries could be found on Netflix. The list goes from the worst to the best rating. Let’s start with our list of best anti-religion documentaries of all time!
10. The Unbelievers
The Unbelievers is a documentary made in 2013, directed by Gus Holwerda. Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss are the main characters who by traveling around the world, speak publicly about the essential existence of science and reason. Richard Dawkins is one of the most well-known ethnologists, while also being a writer and evolutionary biologist, who wrote for many documentaries concerning religious topics, which you can find further in the list.
9. The God Who Wasn’t There
We are continuing our list of best anti-religion documentaries of all time with the documentary that is about questioning the existence of Jesus Christ, and Christian faith. It analyzes the history of early Christianity and the Bible, and through it, makes a comparison with the myths. It was directed and written by Brian Flemming, and released in 2005. It could be found on Netflix among other sites.
8. Twist of Faith
The documentary number 8 on our list of best anti-religion documentaries of all time deals with the man who has been a victim of sexual abuse as a boy by the Catholic priest. By going through traumatic remembering of the victim’s past, Dick Kirby, director of the documentary, suggestively shows affection towards anti-religion. It was released in 2004 and it had one Oscar nomination.
7. Jesus Camp
Main characters of the documentary that ranks 7th on the list of best anti-religion documentaries of all time are kids who attend Christian camp. They have just one wish: to become the next Billy Graham. Who is Billy Graham? He is the most successful Christian evangelist in the world! He served as a spiritual adviser to Richard Nixon, and many other American presidents. Moreover, he has given a prayer at every Presidential inauguration since 1948, with just one exception in 2000, because he was sick. To show how enthusiastic the kids are, to the point of delusion, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady made this amazing documentary. It was released in 2006, and now it is available on Netflix.
6. Religulous
This documentary number 6 on our list of best anti-religion documentaries of all time, examines and challenges religion as such. The combination of words ridiculous and religious in its title gives us an idea what is the main topic of this documentary. It is directed by Larry Charles and written by comedian Bill Maher, who appears in the documentary as well. Bill Maher interviews people around the globe about God and religion. In addition, he does it in a satirical way which makes this documentary even more interesting to watch. It was released in 2008, and could also be watched on Netflix.
5. Deliver us from Evil
Deliver us from Evil is a story about Father Oliver O’Grady, a Catholic priest. He was moved from parish to parish around the USA, so that his rapes of many children could stay covered up. Because it was based on true story, this documentary was criticized a lot. One of the most interesting reviews I found on Rotten Tomatoes, that explains the feeling you get while watching this documentary is following: “Deliver Us from Evil is more terrifying than any horror movie, because it’s about something that really happened.” Director and writer is Amy Berg, and this documentary which takes fifth place among best anti-religion documentaries of all time was released in 2006.
4. The God Delusion Debate
As mentioned earlier, Richard Dawkins wrote many documentaries about anti-religion. Besides them, he also writes books. The God Delusion Debate is inspired by his New York Times bestseller, which carries the same name, in which he deals with topics such as indoctrination and dangers of faith. This documentary was filmed as a real live debate and it was released in 2007. As there is no trailer, bellow you can see a little preview that lasts 10 minutes.
3. Zeitgeist: The Movie
Directed and written by Peter Joseph, Zeitgeist is among most popular anti-religion documentaries on our list of best anti-religion documentaries of all time and wider. It was filmed in 2007 and besides Zeitgeist: The Movie, there are also Zeitgeist: Addendum and Zeitgeist: Moving Forward. The documentary tries to make people think more critically and to inspire them to understand things from various points of view. T official definition of the term “zeitgeis” is – “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era”. This documentary talks about many conspiracy theories, but also Christian religion and historicity of Jesus Christ. After its release, it received tens of millions of view on YouTube, Google Video and Vimeo. Besides those sites, it could be found on Netflix as well.
2. Root of All Evil?
This one on our list of best anti-religion documentaries of all time was filmed in 2006, and it has a special focus on Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. In the documentary, people are interviewed in England, America, and Israel about their attitudes on religion. With his harsh critics, Richard Dawkins even goes further with linking faith as the “stepping stone to terrorist activity”. In the absence of trailer, underneath the text, you can see the first part of the documentary.
1. The Enemies of Reason
In the first among 10 best anti-religion documentaries of all time is again, believe it or not, the documentary of Richard Dawkins! He made The Enemies of Reason in 2007 and just by reading the title, you could sense the anti-religious affection in it. Besides himself, other stars of the documentary are Derren Brown and Deepak Chopra. Once again, instead of the trailer you can see one part one of this amazing documentary.
