Every time I start to sort of like Bill Maher again, he says something so completely silly that I'm deprived of the ability to pay attention to him for at least another year.

Maher recently told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, "When you look at beliefs in such things as, do you go to heaven, is there a devil, we [Americans] have more in common with Turkey and Iran and Syria than we do with European nations and Canada and nations that, yes, I would consider more enlightened than us." Maher also expressed his belief that Christians suffer a neurological disorder, a disorder that is apparently accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to change the channel whenever a pasty political picador makes unfounded blanket statements.

It's important to give the logic involved in Maher's opinion further examination to show that Bill has, unfortunately, excluded his view from his own equation.

Under Maher's view, any religion and follower of same are to be lumped together as theological siblings. If you're a believer in God, you have a great deal in common with people who you may assume you have nothing in common with. Even murderers – so long as they too believe in a "god" – are just like you. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. may assume they have nothing in common with those who worship a god who tells them to kill people – flawed and mistaken thinking that, thankfully, Bill Maher corrects.

Instead of trying to prove Maher incorrect, which would require writing a book-length response, let's for a moment take his comments at face value. If there is no difference from believer to believer, then, on the flip-side, we must also assume that nonbelievers can be lumped together with other nonbelievers, even those with whom the nonbeliever would deny commonality.

So, Bill Maher can say Christians have more in common with certain terrorist nations (because, after all, both believe in "God") than with "enlightened" places like Canada and parts of Europe. In other words, a God worshipper in Utah is no different than a God worshipper in Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hideout. Maher's list of those who the American Christian shares a common bond with includes terrorist states and rogue nations, but nonbelievers only share a common thread with the "enlightened" Canada and selected areas of Europe?

To put Maher's "Belief in God makes you do crazy things, and not having religion means you're more enlightened" theory into test mode, let's equalize the playing field and find nations that do or have very little tolerance for religion. After all, Canada and Europe still have plenty of believers. So, let's find somewhere with no religion, or, at least someplace where its practice is forbidden, since religion seems to be the problem here.

China is officially an atheist state, so they must never do anything crazy since "God" isn't telling them to. Well ... tell that to the student protesters at Tiananmen Square. These folks were "enlightened" to death. Earlier in the 20th century, Mao murdered (excuse me ... "land reformed") millions – and all without God's prodding.

Cambodia was another fine example of nonreligious nirvana. Pol Pot murdered millions of people, "enlightening" them to an early grave. When Lenin took over Russia, God didn't tell him to forbid religion, burn the churches and kill the priests – "enlightenment" did.

You have to wonder why Maher would continue to live within the confines of an indoctrinated, zealous nation where he's surrounded by such simpleton, moronic boobs and hick, wacko "believers." Could it be that he has faith in his ability to better make a buck in America? Faith in better medical care? Faith in a better economy?

Or, is Maher simply prototypical, at least in this instance, of the Hollywood left, prattling on about all the dopes he's surrounded by in United States, but ultimately realizing he has two choices: Making a ton of money in America performing on television and stage ... or, moving to an "enlightened" country and earning 95 yuan a week performing a government-censored comedy show at the "Beijing Chuckle-Hut."

As for me, all things being equal, I much prefer to live in a nation where the majority of the citizens have the neurological disorder known as "belief in God." Faith in the existence of a supreme being, at the very least, eliminates any chance of people believing that they are God, which is often where the path to "enlightenment" leads, and the real trouble begins.