God's Not Dead 2

It must greatly frustrate the religious right when they are routinely (and unfairly) portrayed in major films as fanatical, sanctimonious, comical, backwoods hicks. Well, "God's Not Dead 2" is clearly their revenge. In this movie, ACLU lawyers are all sneering, oily, evil Simon Legrees. School board characters are all smug, administrative wonks who readily conspire to persecute the sweet, perky teacher. The faces of anti-religion protesters are contorted into manic, rabid, drooling hatred. And mainstream media are all resolutely against God.

There are only black hats and white hats in this film. (Or should I say halos and horns.) No quarter is given to the many nuances or complexities of this issue. Which is a shame. It's a serious subject and deserves better. But the producer and director had no interest in any of that.

Clearly, this film is unapologetically one-sided. Conservative Christians feel embattled and marginalized in an increasingly secular world in which they are repeatedly losing watershed court cases. They haven't had much to cheer about recently and this film hits back at that "unfair", "Godless" world. Consequently, Evangelicals will absolutely love this film. All others will likely never see it unless they're dragged to the theatre and handcuffed to their seat.

As a Christian, I quite enjoyed the discussion of historical Jesus from the researchers/authors who played themselves in the film. What's more, GND2 is cinematically well crafted. But it take's more than just dreamily uttering the name of "Jesus" to make a good film. GND2 quickly deteriorates into a two hour sermon from the pulpit.

Oh, and BTW, it should come as no surprise that Pat Boone still can't act... and neither can Robin Givens.

Before I start I'd just like to say that despite being a rabid anti-theist I have met Christians who are decent people. I've also met a lot of vile atheists . I should also point out that as a traveller abroad I am treated like a king in Indo-Aryan lands in general and Islamic Indo-Aryan lands in particular with the hospitality of both the Kashmiris and the Kurds something that will linger in my memory forever . What I'm trying to say is that if someone is a thoroughly good person this has nothing to do with a belief in a creator while someone who is a bad person and has no belief the two things are completely unconnected. That said if someone crashes an airliner into a crowded building on purpose a belief system involving an afterlife might very well be the prime motive. Regardless the vast majority of believers are not violent terrorists . I feel the need to point this out because GND 2 doesn't feel the need to be objective. Nor does feel the need to be factual in anyway

!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!!

Teacher Grace Wesley answers a question in class about and because the American constitution separates church and state she finds herself in bother. Actually separation of church and state is one of the very few things the film gets right because America was the first country to do this and is based on the philosophy of Thomas Paine. What is unlikely if not entirely impossible is Grace finding herself in a court of law facing trial . Did witch trials not die out over two hundred years ago ? Yes apart from the McCarthy trials which were directed against suspected communists but the film makes clear it's not communists or any other type of atheist being prosecuted here

The chief villain is the prosecuting attorney who is called Kane which indicates he's of Irish descent but might this not be Europeanised from the name "Cain" ? I think you know what's being implied here and it's not helped by Kane's main motive apart from deicide is making money. I know the film needs a motive for bringing a protagonist to court but couldn't it have been more sensible without appearing racist in anyway?

This is what becomes somewhat unpalatable. The first film has an antagonist trying to effectively "Kill God". In the sequel the antagonist is trying to effectively "Kill Jesus". I don't have to point out that for the last two thousand years the cult of Christianity has pointed the finger very firmly at a certain race who they feel is responsible for this mythical act against a mythical figure. Millions were murdered because of it and many millions more persecuted because of it. Unlike Biblical myth this is established historical fact

What the main argument of the film rests on is "Was Jesus Christ a real person ?" Christian apologist Lee Strobel playing himself is called to the witness stand and states amongst others "Gerd Ludemann ... an atheist has written many historical accounts proving there was a Jesus" Yes Ludemann is an atheist but he became an atheist after realising so called Biblical facts involving Jesus meant he could no longer believe in the concept of Christianity. His harassment by the established Protestant churches in Germany probably didn't help in his faith either. The second witness is Jim Warner Wallace another real life Christian apologist plays himself and his testimony is taken as Gospel (Geddit ?)because he used to be an atheist but became a Christian because his experience of cold case homicide cases led him to believe there was a real life person called Jesus Let me get this straight ? If there was a person called Jesus Christ living in Bronze Age Palestine that means there is a God ? And if the claim is made by atheists that makes it even more overwhelming as a fact ? Strange how Professor Richard Dawkins often talks of Jesus Christ as though he was a real life person but he still remains the world's most prominent anti-theist . That's because even if he did exist Jesus Christ could be anything from a charlatan who had set up his own fan club that got out of hand to someone suffering from acute psychotic delusion. Being the Son of God is the least likely scenario . Oh and since we're supposed to take the word of atheists who used to believe in God quite strongly why not quote Josef Stalin who trained to be an Orthodox priest ?

As you can imagine this movie has a happy ending as Kane/Cain stumbles out of court with his understudies bitter recriminations echoing that "At least you proved the existence of Jesus". One can imagine the defendants at the Nuremberg war crimes trial wishing this guy had prosecuted them

Just watched the movie, I agree with the sentiment that it was just as bad as the first one, which I also thought sucked but seriously, all these one star ratings because it offends you? Because obviously there's no other reason to rate this movie a 1 star. The acting was mediocre, the plot was predictable the complete lack of something resembling action was disappointing, however there was NOTHING in this movie that would justify it gaining such hate from you guys.

Sure it was a giant sermon wrapped up in a court room drama. Sure its agenda was extremely obvious and sure the actors weren't all A++ flawless but stop overreacting.

For those wondering if it's worse than the first one.... wonder no more, it certainly is.

This film is set in an alternate reality, in which the United States is run by smug, douche bag atheists. In this world, Christians are persecuted against in all aspects or life, Christians are all classy, attractive, happy, and non judgmental individuals.

Melissa Joan Hart is a teacher, she dares to mentioned Jesus in class, the establishment is outraged, she must be taken down. What follows is a ridiculous court farce, in this court, no one knows what the constitution is, and all those smug atheists have a serious bee in their bonnet.

I won't spoil the ending.... but needless to say, it is something more akin to a fantasy novel.

God's Not Dead 2 is a sequel to the first, which wasn't well-received by critics for its preachy tone and others calling it unrealistic. This one is certainly a disappointment-at least, it was for me. The film starts off pretty entertaining at first, but then gets more boring as it goes on. Several of the courtroom discussion scenes didn't grasp my attention like I wanted them to. I have been riveted by movies where people just talk and that's it (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 12 Angry Men, Witness for the Prosecution) and this movie still lost my attention. Even the second time I watched it, I was prepared for the scenes, but again, I lost interest in the discussions. Therefore, the film fails to deliver its message effectively to the audience because it ends up boring the audience, which weakens the impact of the audience. Now, this film is certainly thoughtful in terms of its themes, and I understand how the themes could provoke some discussion after watching the film, but otherwise, God's Not Dead 2 isn't really worth your time.