# God's Not Dead (current movie) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700 "2014-03-27T18:10:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/21 "2014-03-27T23:30:01Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > A philosophy professor demands that all his students write “God is dead” on a piece of paper, and renounce any faith they may have, and a devout Christian student is willing to risk his grave Awesome typo. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/22 "2014-03-27T23:35:51Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Awesome typo. Oops, sorry! :o ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/23 "2014-03-27T23:43:02Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > A few more scattered points. > > 1. The title and the central premise of the movie make it pretty clear that the screenwriters don’t know what “God is dead” means in philosophical terms. In fairness, many atheists don’t get it either. When Nietzsche said “God is dead,” he didn’t mean that Jehovah WAS alive but has keeled over, nor was he saying something as simple as “God doesn’t exist.” He was issuing a much greater challenge than that, and in many ways, it’s a greater challenge for secular progressives than for traditional believers. > > Nietzsche’s point was, “Here in the Western world, all our customs, all our traditions and all our notions of morality are based on Christianity, a creed that fewer and fewer people (hardly ANY in academia or the ruling classes) believe in. The WHOLE basis for our moral code has collapsed, but here we are carrying on as if nothing has changed! EVERYTHING has changed, you fools!” > > For Nietzsche, “God is Dead” is not something to say blithely. It may be an exhilirating realization for some, but it should also be a TERRIFYING realization. I don’t find it that shocking, myself - the rituals and practices of any religion last far longer than the lives of its original and important prophets, because going through comfortable and familiar motions is both comfortable and familiar. Now, if somebody could argue “SCIENCE IS DEAD” and explain that Newtonian mechanics and atomic theory and evolution had all collapsed as a basis… that would be pretty mind-blowing to me. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/24 "2014-03-27T23:46:16Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > A philosophy professor demands that all his students write “God is dead” on a piece of paper, and renounce any faith they may have, and a devout Christian student is willing to risk his grave > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Awesome typo. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Oops, sorry! :o That’s the action version, with Chuck Norris… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/25 "2014-03-28T00:06:41Z")
Dean Cain is not a Christian, just a theist: > **[Interview with Dean Cain](https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/2010/11/interview-with-dean-cain.aspx)** > > The actor talks to about his latest film, fatherhood, his penchant for good deeds, and what it's like to be Superman. Kevin Sorbo is a Christian: > **[Kevin Sorbo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Sorbo)** > > Kevin David Sorbo (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor. He had starring roles in two television series: as Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and as Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda. Sorbo is also known for acting in Christian films such as God's Not Dead and Let There Be Light. > Sorbo was born in Mound, Minnesota, on September 24, 1958. He is of Norwegian descent. He was raised in a Lutheran family. Sorbo attended Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he double majo... Both have somewhat conservative political beliefs: > **[Dean Cain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Cain)** > > Dean George Cain (né Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Cain was the host of Ripley's Believe It or Not! and appeared in the sports drama series Hit the Floor. > Dean George Tanaka was born on July 31, 1966, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, to Roger Tanaka, a U.S. serviceman, and actress Sharon Thomas. Through his biological father, Cain is of partly Japanese descent, with ... ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/26 "2014-03-28T01:55:40Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Wait, they got Dean Cain _ **and** _ Kevin Sorbo for this? > > In a discussion over whether God is dead, you call Superman and Hercules? 😃 I watched the trailer, and as much as it ought to make me want to point and laugh, it really is just sad. Especially since I’ve enjoyed Sorbo and Cain (and even the dumb kid from Good Luck Charlie) in other venues. Regardless of their personal beliefs, I have to think this is mostly just desperation for work. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/27 "2014-03-28T02:14:12Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I don’t find it that shocking, myself - the rituals and practices of any religion last far longer than the lives of its original and important prophets, because going through comfortable and familiar motions is both comfortable and familiar. Nietzsche actually said something very similar about the “shadows” of religions: “After Buddha was dead, people showed his shadow for centuries afterwards in a cave–an immense frightful shadow. God is dead, but as the human race is constituted, there will perhaps be caves for millenniums yet, in which people will show his shadow. And we have still to overcome his shadow!” (_Die fröhliche Wissenschaft_, section 108) ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/28 "2014-03-28T02:20:38Z")
As I said in the other thread on this movie, an actual atheist wouldn’t say “God is dead” in the way the movie uses it (laying aside what Nietzsche originally meant). For God to be dead, God would have had to, at some point, have been alive. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/29 "2014-03-28T02:31:54Z")
Yeah, but in the movie, the character’s not _really_ an atheist - he believes in God but is mad at Him. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/30 "2014-03-28T04:02:18Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Yeah, but in the movie, the character’s not _really_ an atheist - he believes in God but is mad at Him. I think that’s almost the definition of an atheist to the target audience of a film that boasts Willie Robertson in the trailer. I’m just trying to figure out how/why Kirk Cameron sat this one out. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/31 "2014-03-28T04:05:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Wait, they got Dean Cain _ **and** _ Kevin Sorbo for this? > > In a discussion over whether God is dead, you call Superman and Hercules? I’m really disappointed in Kevin Sorbo, I guess he’s done things like this before and I didn’t notice, but he’s all but ruined the Hercules series for me. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/32 "2014-03-28T05:19:00Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I think that’s almost the definition of an atheist to the target audience of a film that boasts Willie Robertson in the trailer. I’m just trying to figure out how/why Kirk Cameron sat this one out. Scheduling conflict. He had a regional Arby’s commercial to shoot. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/33 "2014-03-28T06:46:49Z")
Pure Filx entertainment is not a film company, but a religious propaganda company. When I worked freelance in post production a few years ago, I had to endure working on “Escape” with born again brat C. Thomas Howell & John Rhys Davies. Basically, C. and his wife move to Tibet to open a medical practice after losing their child. C. ends up being kidnapped by jungle thugs to help cure their leader and preacher Davies is also held captive. Yadda, Yadda, they get a chance to escape using a SAT phone (brought by ultra rich Davies and not made by any god) and reciting prayer. While escaping, Davies ends up getting killed cause he can’t walk in the jungle without snapping a twig or sneezing, alerting the guards to his own demise. But he got C. to embrace his lost faith, and that’s the crux of the meaning of Pure Flix. C. escapes, finds wife looking for him with the US government (also no god help here) and all is grand when they return. Open mouth, insert spoon. If you wanna rent any Pure Flix, Netflix and Redbox won’t have it, but that’s fine for the religious propaganda company-- buy it for $30 and it makes a great coaster for maple syrup. Their films are blasé entertainment riddled with scripture, so the blind can still lead you know who. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/34 "2014-03-28T06:56:08Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Pure Filx entertainment is not a film company, but a religious propaganda company. When I worked freelance in post production a few years ago, I had to endure working on “Escape” with born again brat C. Thomas Howell & John Rhys Davies. Basically, C. and his wife move to Tibet to open a medical practice after losing their child. C. ends up being kidnapped by jungle thugs to help cure their leader and preacher Davies is also held captive. > > Yadda, Yadda, they get a chance to escape using a SAT phone (brought by ultra rich Davies and not made by any god) and reciting prayer. While escaping, Davies ends up getting killed cause he can’t walk in the jungle without snapping a twig or sneezing, alerting the guards to his own demise. But he got C. to embrace his lost faith, and that’s the crux of the meaning of Pure Flix. > > C. escapes, finds wife looking for him with the US government (also no god help here) and all is grand when they return. Open mouth, insert spoon. > > If you wanna rent any Pure Flix, Netflix and Redbox won’t have it, but that’s fine for the religious propaganda company-- buy it for $30 and it makes a great coaster for maple syrup. Their films are blasé entertainment riddled with scripture, so the blind can still lead you know who. 😉 A jungle in Tibet? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/35 "2014-03-28T07:14:19Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > A jungle in Tibet? Not Tibet, but from history authoritarians like Pure Flix, I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s more clearly set in “the islands of Southeast Asia”, so probably the Everglades of Florida. Here’s the site with trailer: [http://pureflix.com/portfolio/escape/](http://pureflix.com/portfolio/escape/) Note the company motto/disclaimer : "Pure Flix is a Christian movie studio that produces, distributes, and acquires Christ centered movies for the sole purpose of influencing our culture for Christ… " So calling themselves “entertainment” is an oxymoron. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/36 "2014-03-28T15:16:13Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Pure Filx entertainment is not a film company, but a religious propaganda company. When I worked freelance in post production a few years ago, I had to endure working on “Escape” with born again brat C. Thomas Howell & John Rhys Davies. Basically, C. and his wife move to Tibet to open a medical practice after losing their child. C. ends up being kidnapped by jungle thugs to help cure their leader and preacher Davies is also held captive. > > Yadda, Yadda, they get a chance to escape using a SAT phone (brought by ultra rich Davies and not made by any god) and reciting prayer. While escaping, Davies ends up getting killed cause he can’t walk in the jungle without snapping a twig or sneezing, alerting the guards to his own demise. But he got C. to embrace his lost faith, and that’s the crux of the meaning of Pure Flix. > > C. escapes, finds wife looking for him with the US government (also no god help here) and all is grand when they return. Open mouth, insert spoon. > > If you wanna rent any Pure Flix, Netflix and Redbox won’t have it, but that’s fine for the religious propaganda company-- buy it for $30 and it makes a great coaster for maple syrup. Their films are blasé entertainment riddled with scripture, so the blind can still lead you know who. 😉 Redbox wouldn’t have a Pure Flix film, but Netflix almost certainly carries them. Why wouldn’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/37 "2014-03-28T15:40:50Z")
Just checked, and _The Escape_ is indeed on Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/38 "2014-03-28T15:50:29Z")
The best I can say about this movie is that, at 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, it is getting better reviews than Schwarzenegger’s _Sabotage_ (21%) or Tyler Perry’s _Single Mom’s Club_ (17%). But not as good as the big-screen video game _Need for Speed_ (23%). ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/39 "2014-03-28T15:54:55Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Yeah, like “King of Kings” (any of them), “The Ten Commandments”, or even “Chariots of Fire”. I’ve always loved _The Mission_ but even going right next door to see _Noah_ - which is neither specifically Christian nor an especially good film - would be an improvement. Ironically they’re probably boycotting that one. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/40 "2014-03-28T16:33:24Z")
Its opening weekend numbers were strong enough to encourage more like it. Meaning that the baton of American movie bad guy has been passed from Arabs to atheists. Am I up to the task of movie bad guy? I guess I could get used to being driven around in an open staff car like Eric Von Stroheim. Actually, that would be really cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700.md?page=3)