One of the films i was most looking forward to at this year’s Hot Docs is now behind me, finally  making the last screening of The Unbelievers at the Isabel Bader Theater.

This one was everything I hoped it would be, giving brilliant scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss a forum to spread the need for more science and much less religion.

It’s amazing that here we are in the 21st century and people are still unable to question religion without being vilified. Religion will tell us this is right, this is wrong, working on threats and promises to make sure people do what they want, and don’t you ever dare question one of the many gods that are worshipped in various religions around the world – it is enough for you to know that god works in mysterious ways, and it’s all about faith.

Through a blur of plane wings, hotel rooms and exotic locales, Dawkins and Krauss share conversations and meetings with people from all over, urging people to apply reason, logic and science using humour, biting remarks, and occasionally a snide comment.

And people protest this! Extremists, never calm, almost always angry seem to take issue with everything science stands for. And lets be clear, those are extremists, I know the same mentality doesn’t apply to everyone in those religions, but it is a stark image of how far some people can stick their heads in the sand.

A friend of mine commented that he liked the film until they started beating him over the head with their message at the Rally for Reason, asking why should they be behaving like rock stars?

My response is, why shouldn’t scientists be treated like rock stars, or better? We’re a society that praises the entertainment industry (I’m very guilty of that), that celebrates sport stars, our own selfishness and destructiveness and quite often the lowest common denominator is catered to. Why aren’t we celebrating these people?

And in the case of the Rally for Reason, that was kind of the point, to stir up the people.

Science is always moving forward, learning new things, always giving us a new way to look at the universe we live in… religious beliefs have remained stagnant for thousands of years, but even they don’t follow all of their rhetoric and dogma anymore, they pick and choose those they wish, and disregard others.

Dawkins, Krauss and others seem to be a chorus of voices wandering the desert of ignorance, hoping a seed of rationality will take root.

Holwerda has made one of my favorite films of this year’s festival and all it’s really asking us is not to disregard any of the beliefs you hold but not to be afraid to ask questions about them, to seek the truth of them, and keep an open mind about the world and the universe around us.