How God's Not Dead Sanitizes Christianity

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this program was made possible by a grant from SR Foxley and Q and by the generous support of viewers like you if you wish to join them at pledging to this channel please find a link to the profit of Zod patreon below God's not dead maybe the biggest steaming pile of ever to make it onto the big screen sure from a purely cinematic standpoint it's probably not as objectively bad as say plan 9 from outer space or God's not dead too but the sheer audacious spitefulness of this movie and the poisonous effect its had on the Christian community have made it a poster child for ugly religious propaganda and for good reason of course the most overtly horrifying thing about it is its hateful portrayal of atheists drying on cartoonish stereotypes ranging from the cripplingly egotistical professor Radisson who implausibly forces all his students to declare god is dead to the psychopathic mark shelley who taunts his aging mother and of course breaks up with his girlfriend as soon as she gets cancer this movie is unapologetic even in your face about portraying atheists as openly mean self-serving villains who have no moral compass or even basic human decency however while this is the most obviously offensive aspect of the movie and the one it clubs you over the head with most aggressively I would suggest that it has a deeper underlying message that while a bit more subtle entrenched itself more deeply into the minds of Christians and did more to sabotage their interactions with non-believers so join me as we explore how God's not dead sanitizes Christianity to understand what's worst about God's not dead I'd suggest looking back over the movie and asking yourself a really simple question and that is what do the Christians in this movie stand for seriously think about it does this movie ever even hint at Christians taking a stand on gay marriage teacher-led school prayer abortion the role of women in the Christian home do they make any demands or even suggestions about how other people should behave or push for laws enforcing Christian morality no not even once now of course you might say that that's not what this movies about and that it would be unfair to expect Christians to unpack their doctrine or their political positions in every movie they ever make but if you want a sense of just how obviously this movie avoids these positions and if you have the time and endurance then go back and watch God's not dead from start to finish taking note of everything the movie reveals about Christianity I can guarantee you'll learn practically nothing about the substance of the religion or what it stands for I don't think this is a mistake in fact I think the writers of this film went out of their way to thoroughly sanitize Christianity stripping it clean of everything that's aggressive or controversial about it until all that's left are a few vague warm and fuzzy impressions of the religion and its followers in this video we'll explore what these impressions are and eventually discuss the reasons for and ramifications of this representation of Christianity number one Christians are like lambs being led to the slaughter the very first scene of this movie gets right down to business doing a ton to set the stage in a very short period of time named Wheaton Josh Wheaton you got your pre-registration sheet yeah all core requirements are here what is your humanities elective philosophy 150 Radisson 11 Monday Wednesday Friday you might want to think about a different instructor because let's just say you're wandering into the snake pit I recommend Patel or maybe Mueller come on man it can't be that bad think Roman Colosseum lions people cheering fear of death first let's get the obvious out of the way this scene sets up the all-too-familiar trope that's the subject of every Christian parent's fear and the paint-by-numbers premise of every stupid chain email from the 90s that of the naive Christian kid headed to college for the first time where he'll be subjected to aggressive indoctrination and probably mistreatment at the hands of the dreaded atheist professor er but there are a couple of other things going on here that set up a few of the movies deeper thematic currents first is the remark about Coliseum's and lions this is presented as a playful bit of off-the-cuff exaggeration but it very effectively taps into deep-seated imagery that evangelicals instantly recognize and know how to feel about that of Christians meekly but bravely facing death as they're publicly fed to lions in ancient Rome this is drilled into their heads often since childhood bizarrely to instill in them the sense that everybody's out to get them it establishes their coveted position as victims insinuating to the world is full of institutions and people that hate them and misunderstand them but what's equally important and more relevant to the specific movie is the Christian side of the equation the Christians in this narrative are never targeted for terrorizing anybody or engaging in any subversive behavior they're just innocently minding their business trying to practice their religion in private when the world barges in and starts attacking them out of sheer pointless spite and of course the Christians having never held any fault in the whole thing to begin with face death with passive humble dignity it's hard to overemphasize how much these ideas feed into Christians view of themselves in the world the familiar story of a Christian heading off to college is both an example of and a symbol for this broader persecution narrative there's one more really bizarre detail in this exchange that tells us a ton about how Christians feel about themselves under place in the world remember how the student worker notices the cross hanging from Josh's neck and immediately thinks to warn him away from reticence class just take a moment to consider how weird this is why does this guy have this reaction to seeing a cross necklace this guy lives in king america if anything he should have thought huh a cross maybe this guy is a devout Christian like hundreds of other people I'll see you today or maybe he's just casually identifying with Christianity like thousands of people I'll see you today or maybe it's just a necklace or more likely he would have thought nothing at all because seeing an American college student wearing a cross is about as normal as seeing one wearing pants yet he reacts as if this crosses some weird cultural aberration as if it immediately makes him see Josh as something different than everybody else this exchange is absolute nonsense yet very quickly and effectively prompts Christians a feel that they're a small besieged group surrounded by people who are so non-christian that they would never wear a cross and think you're weird when you do wear one the Devils in the details when it comes to propaganda and this is a devilish detail indeed number two Christians are harmless victims of others aggression soon after Josh registers for college this movie shows us the ambush interview in which new left reporter Amy literally leaps out from behind a wall to harass Willie Robinson on his way to church this very quickly establishes a theme we'll see throughout this movie that while Christians just want to mind their own business other people keep coming at them looking for a fight first of all look at the bizarre bumper stickers on Amy's car Meat Is Murder American Humanist I love evolution what the hell I mean who the cones an isle of evolution sticker I guess maybe some people who knows but it's obvious that this is less a collection of stickers an actual liberal would have on her car than a collection of things that trigger Christians seriously it looks like a sheltered Christian school student designed this car based on what they think people in the world are like this weird assortment of stickers is just a ham-fisted signal that this woman is a general enemy of and danger to Christians as if the name the new left didn't do enough to establish that and by the way do Christians ever cover their cars with aggressively opinionated bumper stickers because for some reason we never see that in this movie again God's not dead doesn't want to show us Christians with actual opinions also look at where this encounter takes place Amy ambushes Willie at the door of his church the filmmakers are deliberately establishing that she's stepping into his territory by interrupting him on his way to his private place of worship viewers may not consciously notice this but they do deep down and all these details are calculated to insinuate that the liberal atheists are aggressive while the Christians are just trying to do their thing but what I think is most interesting about this scene is the bizarre links that goes to to establish Willie Robinson is harmless folksy and benign and to avoid ever acknowledging any political or social stand made by Christians first look at his reaction when she asked about people being offended that he preys on his show so what do you say to people who are offended by your show not just because of the hunting but because you openly pray to Jesus in every episode alright we're not trying to offend anybody all right if they don't want to watch the show then turn the channel basically she comes out swinging and he throws his hands up and says he isn't looking for a fight and of course the changing the channel thing makes it clear he's not trying to push things on others also look at the tortured dialogue meant to make really good ensure we know he's not sexist and that his wife while they put on a unified front isn't being pushed into a homemakers role and can comfortably say no to her husband if she wishes I've been barefoot and pregnant in a really long time that they kind of missed those days yeah I'm gonna start again and you go along what everything he says haha we've been married for 20 years I don't go along with everything he says but all the things that matter yeah I agree wholeheartedly hell it even makes sure to clarify that she likes to dress up in heels and it's not for him I don't wanna be the short guy at the prom this may sound nitpicky but seriously go back and watch the whole scene the amount of dialogue crammed into distance Willie Christians and this movie from the idea of marital submissiveness is just bizarre the movie just has to sanitize itself from even a hint of restrictive Christian teaching and the few times that even addresses such teachings it immediately has a liberal presented in the most exaggerated and accusatory way then let's the Christians light heartedly disavow it I'm actually surprised to see you here I thought you'd be home barefoot pregnant I've been barefoot and pregnant in a really long time and think of how petty Amy sounds when she gets on the guy's case just for praying is that really what people are most upset with the Robertsons for Willie and his family have said some super ugly things and taken some aggressive stance on homosexuals and even people of other races yet she gets on him for prayer now sure this movie was made before the Robinsons had finished their descent into utter madness so maybe the movie wasn't aware of these things but it's not an accident that God's not dead shows her attacking them for a personal ritual not for their public and more aggressive political stands of course Willie is folksy as absolute hell bringing up the all thing which is also meant to drive home that Amy is stereotyping Hammond has tried and by association the movies Christian audience with her accusations I guess when you say you you're referring to the whole group of my family which will be y'all we just changed it to y'all that'd be easier expression that way don't get everybody in there all meant to put Christians on defensive against her and did anybody notice what he said when she talked about him getting rich so y'all had made a fortune isn't that right we're doing alright and certainly by bigger tires on our trucks and four-wheelers to get out in the mud with so life is good what a deliberately euphemistic way of understanding the fact that your riches number three even other Christians are against us this next point is relatively quick because it's given a short and straightforward treatment in the movie but it's definitely worth bringing up God's not dead wants us to understand that Josh is under pressure not only from the world but from other Christians and in fact this point is important enough that the movie gives Josh a horrible shrew of a girlfriend just to establish it Josh's girlfriend as everybody knows pushes him to give up on his fight with professor Radisson even telling him we turned the books library sign the stupid paper and move Han this is a Christian telling her Christian boyfriend to publicly state that god is dead even Josh's parents and her mother it seems are against him on this the message is clear if you're a true Christian you're under attack not only from non-believers but from lukewarm or compromising Christians the level of paranoia this brings into the movie is utterly insane but many evangelicals do have a sense that something like this is the case that most liberal denominations certainly the Catholics and even some in their own pews are pseudo Christians who weren't really right with God and wouldn't stand up for him of course this little angle is vital for this movie to mention for one simple reason we live in America where most people and practically all politicians acknowledge Christianity so this is where you need to go if you want to indulge the weird belief that your dominant religion is under siege number four Christians just want the right to choose and let others choose near the climax of his confrontation with professor Radisson Josh makes a key statement that basically sums up this movie's message about the interaction between Christians and non-believers and that is well I want is for them to make their own choice that's what God what yep you heard it Christians aren't going to push you into being a Christian there's no pressure and they're not going to interfere in how you live your life they've made their choice and they just want you to have freedom to do the same this of course is the most brazenly backward thing said in this entire movie seriously if any fundamentalist Christians are watching how many of you are cool with the idea of your kids making their own choice about religion how many of them would let things slide if one of them said they were an atheist or were gay if the answer isn't none it's God close to it yet it seems that this is how the movie wants to pretend Christians act even any Christian with a slightest sense of self-awareness should know this is not the case yet they kind of want to think it's the case and this movie is here to help them do so but look as a public a theist activist I get a lot of messages from people under pressure in the conflict between Christians and non-believers or even doubters and literally all of these messages the atheists are on the defensive asking how to deal with people pressuring them to be a Christian or otherwise harassing them for their lack of belief now sure this isn't all Christians but this phenomena does exist and to pretend this isn't what a theists are mostly reacting to totally miss characterizes the situation you know what I never get messages from atheists asking me how to make their kids or anybody else be atheist maybe some atheists do this but it's extremely rare if it happens and even if it does let's get back to the idea that Christians are generally not okay with other people being atheists and in fact are off-the-charts neurotic about kids leaving the faith yet God's not dead has to scrub Christianity clean of even this trait not a single person in this movie aggressively pushes Christianity anybody who finds Jesus does so freely of their own will because they're searching and in fact this movie devotes entire characters and storylines to showing this and to projecting Christian demands for conformity unto everybody other than Christians let's look at a couple shall we first is Aisha who lives beneath the oppressive expectations of her conservative Muslim father who even makes her wear the dreaded hijab now of course this is a problem I don't mean to downplay that and Islam is absolutely being horrible but come on are we going to ignore the huge amount of pressure Christians put on their kids to follow their religion conform to their cultural expectations and yes adopt their dress codes yet this movie just dumps all these traits on Muslims while pretending Christians are just Amorphis friendly do-gooders who just want to let people choose notice this movie never shows Ayesha happily practicing Islam when Christians come up and preach it her by all appearances she just wanders over to it on her own because of course who wouldn't given the choice since it's better than and nicer than her religion and this Christianity is represented as nothing but very warm and fuzzy stuff from Franklin Graham about God setting you free for some reason she didn't take out her a job just to listen to verses from paul about women submitting to men and keeping their mouth shut in church also look at how they set up the scene of her practicing her faith exercising her personal right to explore what she believes in the most private place you can imagine a person's bedroom when someone else storms in and interferes I mean isn't it just a tiny bit ironic that this movie shows other people bursting in and telling Christians what they can and can't do in their bedroom you can't make projection more on the nose than this but this scene really summarizes God's not dead in a nutshell Christians are just trying to be themselves in peace yet other people jump in and interfere just because they're mean or spiteful or close-minded and of course after she's struck by her father and kicked out of the house because again Muslims are the ones who act his way toward their kids but Christians never do we see her comforted by pastors interesting huh Muslim dads take away your choice atheist professors take away your choice but Christians never do this they're just there to help you pick up the pieces after other people proselytize and abuse you for not following their beliefs apparently this movie doesn't wish to address the infinitely more numerous times that atheists like me are approached by kids who have been harassed by Christian parents then we have Martin whose dad is apparently a communist or atheist of some kind and is thus totally against his son trying to practice Christianity his parental interaction is handled much more quickly than ayisha's but of course the movie has to show an atheist parent putting on the same pressure Muslim parents do naturally Martin just discovers and approaches Christianity with wide-eyed curiosity under no pressure at all and Josh is there to help in the face of a demanding atheist professor leading to this absolute gem of a quote fee to me he's not dead he's alive I don't want anyone to get talked out of believing in him just because it's a professor of things they should this is a really weird thing to say but I know some Christians think this way because I've dealt with this nonsense in my personal life my kids know that they're absolutely free to explore religion at my house while they face overt and aggressive pressure from elsewhere to practice Christianity complete with threats of Hell and everything yet I end up being told I'm not giving them a chance to be Christian just because I have open conversations about belief and disbelief with them funny the exclusive place that Christians demand in the conversation and how little they feel others must do before we are taking away other people's choice number five Christians are passive and meek until they need to stand up for themselves this last point ties into an even reiterates other points I've identified but I think it deserves to be explicitly pointed out as it mischaracterizes christian assertiveness and in the end ties into the main reason that God's not dead portrays Christians the way it does if you keep from being distracted by this movie's horrible atheist caricatures long enough to pay attention to the Christians you'll notice that none of them ever aggressively come at anybody else Reverend Dave and Jude are just friendly do-gooders who when they're not set up as charming comic relief offer support and gauge other people in light-hearted ways and compassionately rushin to save a lost soul as an act of mercy Willie Robertson answers out of the blue accusations with patient folksy charm then shows up on screen at the end as a sort of benevolent Big Brother offering encouragement for Josh Aisha and Martin just passively explore Christianity on their own until others come in and harass them about it while Mena's only role aside from asking her whole atheist brother to be helpful with her mom seems to be sheepishly taking abuse offer a full atheist boyfriend Amy is only Christian long enough to turn to it for comfort after getting cancer and the Newsboys role is just to provide that comfort along with the prayer of salvation and some music [Music] but what about Josh you might ask didn't he get pretty aggressive with Professor Radisson at some points yes but we can't even begin to understand Josh's outburst without taking into account how far he was pushed by Radisson and this is one of the movie's core deceptions just watch the progression of their conflict out of the blue on the first day of class Radisson struts in like a totally arrogant told and demands that the class write something that violates Josh's faith and even then watch Josh's tone of voice even his body language as he responds to this absurd demand he's humble courteous almost pathetic looking as he initially pleads with radisson his resistance is quiet almost passive until he's pushed to the point that he has to finally say something he's not in anybody else's business he's not trying to push his beliefs on others nor does he disrupt class every time Radisson mentions the name of a secular philosopher he only speaks up because Radisson comes to him looking to bully him and interfere with his right to privately practice his own faith or he's standing up to give this right to others and this is the case with every Christian we see in this movie God's not dead never shows angry street preachers shouting to students about how their vile sinners who will burn in hell you'll never see God hates fags signs Campus Crusaders proselytizing in the dorms or protesters harassing a young woman who's trying to get an abortion it never shows Christian students endlessly disrupting class to argue with their professors over things like evolution anthropology comparative religions or any other part of the class that they personally disagree with sure it pays lip service to this last scenario but only to present its own warped version of it by depicting Josh pushed into a corner by a bullying professor before finally having to speak up now do I deny that professors are ever aggressively liberal or anti religious of course not but this movie over exaggerated s' this factor too cartoonish extent while pretending Christians are never aggressive themselves and I would say that this is the crux of what's really wrong with this movie as ugly as its portrayal of atheists is I'd suggest that it's vanilla portrayal of Christianity is nothing but a meek beseech little religion does even more to mischaracterize the situation it asks by insinuation that if Christians are just sitting there minding their own business trying to practice their faith in peace then why do a theist have to birthday and start bothering them when Christians view themselves the way this movie encourages them to view themselves then they're going to think that every objection to them is persecution if Christians do no harm then atheism or at least atheist activism comes off as mean disruptive and unnecessary but this isn't the case Christians aren't just trying to do their own thing whether or not you agree with them on abortion gay rights school prayer or any of the other major issues they take stands on you have to admit they are taking these stands often in a public and aggressive way and often using legislation to curtail the behavior of others they do go on the offensive they bring their rules and expectations into other people's worlds and demand that others change their behavior to conform and when atheists like me stand up for them we are the ones on the defensive either for ourselves or others and many I'd say most cases we are kindly Josh Wheaton of the situation but the movie tries to claim that role exclusively for Christians by pretending there is no Christian aggression it implies we a theist have no reason to stick up for the victims of that aggression which D legit amazes our activism and makes us look like useless bullies I previously acknowledge that Christians can't be expected to unpack their doctrine in their politics in every movie they ever make but those things do belong in this movie because showing other people being aggressive to you while meticulously avoiding any mention of your own aggressive behavior is just plain dishonest pet best Christianity and atheism are both throwing punches at each other more often Christianity is walking around the playground shoving LGBT students secular students students of other religions or people who just don't want to recite their prayers when atheist jump in to stop them but then as soon as a teacher walks around the corner Christianity throws its hands behind its back and pretends it was just getting beaten up that's essentially what this movie does it presents a sanitized version of Christianity wash clean of everything it stands for and everything it demands of other people by doing so it discourages Christians from thinking about who they are and how they interact with others and to instead just pretend that everybody is out to get them and that might just be the worst thing about God's not dead

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Channel: Prophet of Zod

Views: 64,567

Rating: 4.8933663 out of 5

Keywords: atheism, skepticism, christianity, gods not dead, god's not dead, persecution complex, atheist activism, secularism, secular, activism, lgbt, willie robertson, duck dynasty

Id: V2bwXxLv8jI

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Length: 25min 10sec (1510 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 15 2019

Reddit Comments

I don't think it does any such thing, it just makes christianity look really stupid because all it can do is invent strawmen to argue against, before killing them off to prove that there are no atheists in foxholes.

👍︎︎ 7 👤︎︎ u/PassiveSmoking 📅︎︎ Feb 15 2019 🗫︎ replies