Bill Maher Compares Democratic Candidate Marianne Williamson’s Philosophies To Scientology On ‘Real Time’

Democratic Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson has been stopping by all of the television heavy hitters lately, first battling it out with Anderson Cooper on CNN, and now a rough interchange with the host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher who returns to the air after a brief hiatus.

Maher was excited to have Williamson as his guest, bragging about the get early in the show when he revealed that “the candidate everyone wants to get” as a guest was waiting backstage. Their 1:1 discussion, however, got off to a rocky start when Maher proceeded to question the author’s concept of spiritual psychotherapy, which Williamson had essentially described as the basis for her 35-year career in lecturing and writing.

“That sounds,” Maher said, “like Scientology.” Williamson was taken aback: “How can you even say that?” Maher was caught off guard but stuck to his guns. “It just sounds like it, I’m not saying it is. I’m just suspicious when something is based on one book. That always worries me.”

The book that Maher and Williamson were referring to was the 1976 title Course of Miracles by Helen Schucman that Williamson has cited on numerous occasions as the cornerstone of her career and even philosophy as a political candidate. Williamson schooled Maher on the topic of spirituality in an effort to defend her views and received applause from the studio audience for ripping on Maher’s atheism as the host chuckled.

“It is a book that is based on universal spiritual themes. It is not a religion. It does not claim any kind of monopoly on truth. It has no dogma, it has no doctrine. It talks about love and forgiveness and I think that so many of the people who are students of the Course of Miracles come from all religions and even no religions — people like you.”

Maher’s comparison of Williamson’s philosophies to Scientology was not the first. Earlier in the day, the author defended herself against an unrelated Scientology juxtaposition with a clarification tweet. In the post, Williamson implied that these comparisons are misrepresentations sparked by disdain from opponents who weren’t happy to see her success during the recent debates. “The machinery of mischaracterization is in high gear now,” she wrote. “Gee, did I upset someone?”

After the dust settled, Maher noted that Williamson is currently the most searched-for Democratic candidate on Google, congratulating her for such a feat while also praising her for focusing on the root of key issues instead of beating around the bush during the debates. The candidate segued into an explanation of the focus of her campaign and its slogan: “Turning love into political force.”

“Out current political establishment is what I call ‘Yada yada yada’ politics is based in 20th Century thinking,” Williamson said. “This is now the 21st Century. And the 21st Century mindset we have a far more whole-person, holistic understanding of things. We understand there’s effect but there’s also cause.There’s external symptoms but there are also how people feel, how people think. There’s underlying forces and dynamics in people’s lives that must be changed if we are to transform one life.”

Williamson also spoke briefly about the Trump administration and how she considers it “a moral problem.”

You can check out the clip above and catch new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher on Fridays at 10PM EST on HBO Now.

Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor

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