God's Not Dead

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God's Not Dead is a series of crappy fundamentalist Christian propaganda films released by Pinnacle Peak Pictures, with a recurring character, Reverend Dave Hill, played by the studio's founder, David A.R. White. The films drudge out well-known urban legends and stereotypical Christian persecution myths. All of the films suffer from poor scripts, bad acting, and questionable premises.

God's Not Dead (2014)

“”It's bad and I'm sorry

—Anonymous Christian pastor

The first movie was made by a director no one's ever heard of named Harold Cronk. It's effectively a movie-length version of the atheist professor myth, and follows the story of a designated WASP hero, a freshman at the fictional Hadleigh University, Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), who takes a philosophy class in which he is challenged by atheist professor Jeffrey Radisson (Kevin Sorbo).

The film currently boasts a rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes and has been criticized by secular and religious reviewers alike. It does have an absolutely bitchin' theme song, though.

Plot

“”You know, it's economical not to have a storyline, 'cause then you can just film people saying things.

—Crow T. Robot, Mystery Science Theater: 3000 (Werewolf)

The movie follows Josh in his quest to prove God's existence to his classmates after Professor Radisson threatens him with a failing grade unless he either proves that God exists or admits to the contrary. A few sub-plots include: a Muslim dad, Misrab, getting pissed at his daughter, Ayisha, for converting to Christianity; Radisson's relationship with his Christian girlfriend, whom he constantly belittles for her belief in Jesus; Radisson's girlfriend's brother, Mark (Dean Cain), refusing to visit his mother, who has dementia; the brother being in a boss/employee relationship with a woman who loves to hate on Duck Dynasty (considering the role the Robertson family played in making this film, that's just being petty); and a lovable Chinese exchange student being led to Christ by Josh. After some preliminary debates, Josh trounces Radisson in a final debate by asserting that there had to be a first cause, and then prods Radisson until he yells that he really does believe in God, but he hates him because his prayers as a child, to save his dying mother from cancer, didn't work. After this debate, Radisson tries to go to a Newsboys concert to apologize to his girlfriend, but is hit by a car and converts to Christianity as he lies dying. Then everybody has a big Christian alt rock party as Raddison goes to Heaven.

Why this would never happen

The entire premise of the movie is reliant on Josh being persecuted for his religious beliefs by his professor. The problem is that most colleges have policies against the faculty discriminating on religious grounds. All Josh would have to do is complain to the administration and Radisson would be disciplined. Not that he would have to, because no self-respecting expert in philosophy would force his class to accept a view without question, as that would defeat the entire point of studying philosophy in the first place. He also wouldn't let the student take up the bulk of the time, unless he was exceptionally lazy (not generally something associated with rabid persecution).

Portrayal of atheists

“”Are you a Christian? Well, you're the persecuted hero who can do no wrong! Liberal blogger? You're a bitch and you'll get cancer! Atheist? You just hate God, verbally abuse your girlfriend and you will fucking die! Muslim? Your father will beat the shit out of you when he finds out you're reading scripture! Dean Cain? Bastard!

—Brad Jones, The Cinema Snob

The movie portrays atheists as militant assholes who hate God, Christians, and everyone else. Mark is portrayed as an inconsiderate asshole who dumps his girlfriend as soon as she gets cancer (and we thought that was Newt Gingrich's specialty!). When he finally visits his mother, he insults her for being a demented old fundamentalist. She responds by saying "Your financial success was given to you by Satan." (And all this time we thought Christians felt wealth was a sign of God's favor!) Radisson is portrayed as what most fundamentalists think atheists are: God-haters, who really do believe in God. It is worth mentioning at this point that believing in and hating God is not atheism: it's misotheism. Radisson only uses weak arguments such as the Argument from authority by citing Stephen Hawking.

The "Inspiration"

The movie claims to be inspired by the "real-life court cases" of the Christian legal group "Alliance Defending Freedom". The credits of the movie include a list of several of the ADF's cases. Few of the ADF's cases are clear-cut, and none of them involve a professor violating a student's religious belief. Instead, there's a case of the ADF getting sexual harassment charges against a librarian dropped by threatening counter-action, and a fair number of cases involving students getting in trouble for discriminating against non-Christian students in their Christian clubs.

Due to the cost of making these being so low that it's nearly impossible to make a loss regardless of how bad it's received, they're probably gonna keep churning these out until Armageddon, and maybe even AFTER.^{[citation NOT needed]}

Critical reception

The film's 14% Tomatometer rating (as of 23 April 2018) means it is 14 percentage points better than such classic films as Jaws: The Revenge, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Highlander 2: The Quickening, A Thousand Words, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio, and Adam Sandler parody Western The Ridiculous 6, although perhaps featuring fewer sharks, swordfights, or Native American caricatures. Rotten Tomatoes does list some positive reviews: The Hollywood Reporter praised its production and cast, and gave it credit for discussing the ideas of atheists Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins, concluding "The film has entertaining moments, but these are clearly secondary to its proselytizing intentions." Along with 18 negative reviews, RT also lists praise from jackiekcooper.com and parental information site Screen It, which awarded 5.5/10 and admired its makers' earnestness.

God's Not Dead 2 (2016)

Released on 1 April 2016, sources confirmed that it, unfortunately, was not an April Fool's Joke.^{Do You Believe That?} The film has grossed a telling amount of $23 million worldwide. To no one's surprise, it has a much coveted 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot

In this film, Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) is an AP History teacher who mentions Jesus to Erica Goldberg Brooke Thawley (Hayley Orrantia), a student in class. She is then sued by Leland Palmer Pete Kane (Ray Wise), who now works for the ACLU despite — or, in this universe, because of — basically being a figure of pure evil. A cast of people you might dimly remember from old TV is bulked out by Robin Givens (Head of the Class) as an evil school administrator and Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives) as a nice lawyer. All your favorite characters from the first film pop up again, now even more extremist. Real-life Christian apologist J. Warner Wallace appears as a witness in the trial, plugging his book, Cold-Case Christianity, along with Lee Strobel, who plugs his The Case for Christ. Mike Huckabee also makes a cameo. Some subplots of the film include a former college blogger getting convinced by anecdotal evidence that prayers can be answered, and Martin Yip, a college student getting disowned by his father for being a Christian. In the end, Grace wins the lawsuit after Tom Endler (Jesse Metcalfe), her defense attorney, portrays Grace as a hostile witness. A sequel is set up at the end with Pastor Dave arrested when he won't turn over copies of his sermons under a subpoena (for no apparent reason). Overall, the plot bombs.

Portrayal of atheists

You would think that they would have made atheists seem less evil in the second movie than the first. However, it seems like they have yet to learn the difference between atheism and misotheism. In this film, atheists are portrayed as mean, selfish, and militant douchebags who believe God is Dead™ and that Christians are evil. Pete is portrayed as an evil lawyer who is such an atheist that he believes that the loss of a single lawsuit will somehow result in secularism ending. Martin's father is also portrayed as cruel, selfish, and just a complete asshole. It is important to point out that most atheists do not behave this way, and that any people that do are not representative of the entire atheist population, contrary to what this movie tries to prove.^{[citation NOT needed]} Grace's lawyer, however, is an exception, as he's an atheist but nice and ordinary (being her defender may be the reason, even though that's literally his job).

Legal errors

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the film entirely botches US law. First of all, the plot wouldn't happen at all. At most, if Grace did something inappropriate, she would be fired (as the film shows). They wouldn't then sue her. If anything, if what the film shows is true, she would probably sue them for wrongful termination and violations of her constitutional rights. These cases involve the school, not just the individual teacher. So if Grace had been, say, preaching to her students, the school might be sued. However, it would be in federal court. This is portrayed as in state court, with a jury. When suing a government (the public school, here, which represents one), however, there is no jury. During the trial, there's mention of a "not guilty" verdict and "indictment", which come from criminal law, while this is a civil case. Further, the historical existence of Jesus (or lack thereof) would be irrelevant. The "experts" called by the defense are not that, so the plaintiffs could have them disqualified, as neither is a historian. Lastly, the ACLU would likely defend Grace if she were sued (somehow) for simply mentioning Jesus. However, it isn't clear what Grace is even being sued for. Nor is a person's teacher's certificate something they could revoke for this. So to put it simply: they got every detail wrong.

Critical reception

Critics noted that the film was slightly more competent than the original, with Ray Wise in particular giving an entertaining performance, and generally more of an idea about basic things like structure, despite thumping its audience with a leaden and implausible one-note message no more advanced than the original. Variety concluded that it operates at the level of your average middle-school play – except with far greater levels of upside-down logic and bald-faced intolerance for anyone not enraptured by the New Testament. And yes, the Newsboys are back with more terrible Christian rock.

Rotten Tomatoes listed 3/36 good reviews, including one from bastion of liberalism Huffington Post, although Bitdefender claims that the website of San Diego Film Critics Society member Diana Saenger is too virus-ridden to allow me to read her 5/5 judgment.

God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018)

The third installment in the franchise. The drama follows the story of a congregation displaced when their church burns down and the challenges they face rebuilding. The film was released by PureFlix Entertainment on 30 March 2018 to generally unfavorable reviews.

The film includes cameos from Dana Loesch (a spokesperson for the NRA, and formerly a presenter on TheBlaze and journalist for Breitbart), and Jeanine Pirro (a Fox News TV personalilty, Republican politician, and former judge). We're sure this film's political message will be, *ahem*, "Fair and Balanced."

The total worldwide box offices revenue for the film was $7,354,761. U.S DVD sales were estimated to be $2,671,837. Pureflix Entertainment is a distributor of the film, so the film is available through Pureflix, an online streaming service.

Plot

Reverend Dave is the pastor of a local church that happens to sit on the property of a university. The church gets torched, killing an assistant pastor, causing Dave to lose his temper and question his faith. The church's presence on campus is deemed to be too divisive and the university uses eminent domain (incorrectly) to seize the church property. Dave will have none of this, and seeks legal help from his brother, a social justice lawyer and atheist. Eventually, things climax in an ugly confrontation between groups for and against the church shouting at each other. Ultimately, Dave drops his lawsuit for reconciliation, and a new off-campus church is built.

The film features several subplots involving young people struggling with their faith, or lack thereof. The man who tossed the brick that broke the gas line that burned down the church blames Christianity for breaking up his relationship and mistreating his mother, and ultimately prays for forgiveness when he discovers he is responsible for the assistant pastor's death. Pastor Dave commits the sin of becoming an asshole, but draws inspiration from his girlfriend's simple faith.

Critical reception

Critics noted that the film is generally less hostile, defensive, and political than the first two films, which are overwhelmingly considered to be outright political propaganda. Sheila O'Malley noted that the film features a lot of people "grappling" with their faith and has a lot of good moments, even though it does not significantly challenge Christians to become better people. Star David A.R. White explained that this less antagonistic mood was because the filmmakers thought God was winning after the election of Donald Trump. Hosannah!

However, the general elements from the first two films are still prominently featured: a persecution complex, divisiveness, and the hostility of secular society. There are speeches where voice-of-the-author characters pontificate: "All of these universities go on and on and on about tolerance and inclusivity..." The cameos from right-wing campaigners and pundits Dana Loesch and Judge Jeanine Pirro likewise stack the deck. The film also differs from its predecessors in that it has abandoned efforts to prove God's existence using facts and logic.

The film's awfulness is tempered a bit by the presence of John Corbett, known for his roles on the American television series Sex and the City and Northern Exposure, and the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Most reviewers note that despite having the blatant propaganda from the first films toned down, the film still suffers from poor scripting, weak acting, and a flimsy premise.

God's Not Dead: We the People (2021)

“”God’s Not Dead: We the People is not merely the worst in an already-misbegotten series, but so utterly deplorable that its status as a three-night-only Fathom Event in theaters at least assures that significantly fewer people will see it... Where is the entertainment value in a film like this? God’s Not Dead: We the People is made for those who waste their precious hours of the day on cable news (Fox News) intake.

—Steve Pulaski, Influx Magazine

Released on 4 October 2021, the fourth installment involves the McKinnons, Mike and Rebecca (Antonio Sabato Jr. and Francesca Battistelli, respectively), wanting to homeschool their children, while standing up to the government with the help of Reverend Dave, and Representative Daryl Smith (Isaiah Washington). Rather than continuing the more intimate nature of A Light in Darkness, We the People goes back to the franchise's roots, and takes the story all the way to Washington, D.C..

Plot

The homeschooling couple is facing issues as a social worker inspects the home teaching about creationism and Noah's Ark. The Muslim daughter from the first film, Ayisha, returns and is involved in a car accident, while her father, Misrab, is starting to have regrets about disowning her. There's a big generic speech in the end where Dave stands up triumphantly, and all is abruptly concluded in the end credits.

Critical reception

We The People was generally ignored by most people and critics, and its domestic gross was only $1.170 million (mainly because of its status as a 3-night limited engagement), which was around seven times less than its predecessor, over twenty times less than the second film, and around fifty times less than the first film.

Did we say critics ignored it? Well, only two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were placed, with one positive and one negative, so technically, it's the highest rated movie in the franchise by default (although you need more than 2 reviews to get a Rotten Tomatoes critics' score, so its rating is still blank).

Educational charity Common Sense Media gave it 2/5 stars, calling it "heavy-handed propaganda" and "divisive fare". Even Christian website Religion Unplugged (RU) hated it, seeing it as backsliding after the improved third film in the franchise had tried to avoid simplistic us-vs-them arguments: "You can't misrepresent what people believe and expect them to listen to you or engage with you in conversation." RU criticised acting and production values and noted that the writers made no attempt to give the antagonists realistic motivation or any kind of sensible reason for their actions beyond being mustache-twirling villains, complaining that terrible movies like the GNDs left half of America unrepresented by anyone competent.

God's Not Dead: In God We Trust (2024)

This section requires updating.

Currently set for a limited run in September 2024. The redundantly-titled fifth installment in the saga involves Reverend Dave having to run for Congress against more secularists, and trying to answer the question "Is God dead in American politics?" Dean Cain, Isaiah Washington, Ray Wise, Cory Oliver, and Brad Heller are billed to co-star. Harold Cronk, who directed the first two films in the franchise, was slated to return to the director's chair but this is no longer the case. At least we'll get a new banger from the Newsboys!

See also

• Unplanned, a 2019 anti-abortion screed by the same writers
• Saving Christmas, an even crappier film in the genre, produced by Kirk Cameron in 2014

External links

• God's Not Dead (2014) movie script
• God's Not Dead 2 (2016) movie script
• God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018) movie script
• Why are Christian movies so painfully bad?