Saving Faith

By Bill Maher

A new poll found that Americans who describe themselves as "religious" has dropped from 73% to 60% over the past seven years. And in that same time, those who say they’re "atheist" has risen from 1% to 5%.  And polls show more and more high school kids don’t believe in God -- which makes you wonder what they shout out during sex with their teacher. Not only are some kids getting more comfortable with the idea that God is an ancient myth concocted to control the masses with promises of a blissful afterlife, they're beginning to start atheist clubs in their schools. Or at least trying.

A group called the Secular Student Alliance is starting to get requests from teens who want to start atheist clubs at their high schools. These are kids who happen to believe that life can be lived fully and ethically through reason, and that studying is much more effective than prayer for, say, preparing for an American History final.

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Birther Control

By Bill Maher

Chris Matthews dressed down RNC Chair Reince Priebus last week for Romney's playing the race card with the birther joke, and the party doing it with the false welfare ads, constantly bringing up that he's a "European-style socialist," etc. At first, Priebus didn't have much of a response at all, because he knows it's true. By the end, he just seemed contemptuous of Matthews, but had no legitimate defense.

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Guest List: September 7, 2012

The Interview:

Our top-of-show guest is former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. She recently appeared on "Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien," arguing that this election is about capitalism vs. collectivism.

Twitter: @ChristineOD

The Panel:

Steve Schmidt is a GOP strategist and former senior advisor to John McCain's presidential campaign. On Tuesday, he went on MSNBC to comment on some of the fresh faces in the Democratic Party.

Jim VandeHei is the Executive Editor and co-founder of POLITICO. In a recent article, he commented on the "media filter" that politicians must pass through in order to get their message out to voters. 

Twitter: @JimVandeHei

Katrina vanden Heuvel is the author of The Change I Believe In and the Editor and Publisher of The Nation. Earlier this week, she blogged about the importance of grassroots organizing in a democracy.

Twitter: @KatrinaNation

David Simon will join mid-show. He is the Executive Producer and Writer for HBO's 'The Wire' and 'Treme.' He recently sounded off on Mitt Romney’s tax comments on his blog, The Audacity of Despair.

Behind the Screens: August 31, 2012

By Miles Leicher

Check out what went on behind the scenes of the latest Real Time:

New Rule: Iffy Pop

New Rule: Six Feet Blunder

New Rules: August 31, 2012

New Rule: [slide of costumed protestor] If you take your demands to the Republican National Convention dressed as a vagina...don't expect to leave satisfied. Or even recognized. Go to the Democrats. They won't solve your problems either, but at least you'll get lip service.

New Rule: [slide of Queen Elizabeth wearing "hoodie"] While it's nice to see a picture of someone in the Royal Family who is not naked...the Queen of England still should not wear a hoodie. It's unsettling. It's undignified. And if she goes out for Skittles, this jacka** will shoot her! [slide of George Zimmerman]

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Overtime: August 31, 2012

Bill and his roundtable guests - Dinesh D'Souza, Walter Kirn, Jason Alexander, Ron Christie and Soledad O'Brien - answer fan questions from this week's show.