Every Atheist Needs: An Honest Liar

We’re all familiar with James Randi. We’ve basked in the glory of his takedown of Peter Popoff and cheered when he made Uri Geller look foolish. We loved his daring escapes and perplexing magic tricks. We adore his reason and there is probably not a skeptic on Earth who hasn’t, during heated debate, referred to the Randi Foundation’s promise of a million dollars to anyone who can prove the supernatural.

Randi is a hero in no uncertain terms. A real-life, tangible hero who wants you to know when you’re being lied to. He wants you to know that deception for entertainment is okay, but that’s where it ends. The only problem with this is, Randi himself was not telling us the whole truth, either.

The film, An Honest Liar, reveals a few things about Randi that he had been hiding from his audience. Maybe you were already aware of these things, having followed news of Randi any time you could. Maybe you only heard whiffs here and there about what the truth about James Randi was. Maybe you were like me and had no idea. In any case, this film reveals the truth about our beloved magic man: he’d been keeping something from us all along.

I walked away from this documentary understanding one thing: entertainment is not the only acceptable reason for deception. Sometimes, you do it to save a life. Sometimes, you do it to stay with the love of your life. Sometimes you do it because the consequences of telling the truth are so terrifying, you couldn’t possibly.

James Randi is even more of a hero to me now that I’ve seen this film. It proves that he is not just a noble defender of the truth, or a mind-blowing escape artist. He’s not just a master of the sleight of hand. James Randi is also a romantic, a devoted partner and a man who will defend and stand up for those he loves at the cost of everything else.

This film was beautiful, entertaining and emotional and I highly recommend it to anyone, skeptic or not.

Check it out: An Honest Liar

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#documentary