# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/41 "2014-03-28T21:19:27Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Meaning that the baton of American movie bad guy has been passed from Arabs to atheists. Arabs? Atheists? Pshaw. Hollywood’s favorite villains are still Fortune 500 executives and 90 year old Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/42 "2014-03-29T00:30:03Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > 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. An actual Philosophy professor\* presumably wouldn’t be quoting Nietzsche to his students while totally ignoring what Nietzsche originally meant, though. And as I said in the other thread, it’s fairly common to describe as “dead” things that were never literally alive. If someone says “Rock is dead”, “Postmodernism is dead”, “This party is dead”, “My laptop is dead”, etc., they are not suggesting that these things were once living creatures that are now deceased. \*I do realize that Kevin Sorbo is not an actual Philosophy professor, and that the filmmakers probably don’t know much about the subject. ---
**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 29, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/43 "2014-03-29T00:32:13Z")
Anybody ever done a survey of action-movie villain ethnicities and creeds? North Koreans might be “stepping up” (_Olympus Has Fallen_) and Russians remain a classic (_Die Hard 5_), if 2013 is any guide. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/44 "2014-03-30T15:49:55Z")
_Spoiler link_-[Complete synopsis of the movie.](http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/GodsNotDead.html) It’s worse than the preview makes it out to be. ---
**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 30, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/45 "2014-03-30T17:40:19Z")
I admit, that wasn’t the ending I was expecting. The movie is even more chickenshit than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/46 "2014-03-30T18:59:34Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I admit, that wasn’t the ending I was expecting. The movie is even more chickenshit than I thought. Wow, no kidding. Pure cowardice. But that’s really what I expect from your average evangelical Christian. I used to go to a church that would take dreck like this seriously…so very glad I got away from all that. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/47 "2014-03-30T20:07:12Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Kevin Sorbo is a Christian: > > [Kevin Sorbo - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Sorbo) > [@](#): > > Sorbo believes Hollywood has limited his career because of his conservative political and Christian views.[19] :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/48 "2014-03-30T20:14:52Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Sorbo believes Hollywood has limited his career because of his conservative political and Christian views.[19] > > :rolleyes: Kevin Sorbo is [DISAPPOINTED!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O1hM-k3aUY) ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/49 "2014-03-30T21:08:38Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I admit, that wasn’t the ending I was expecting. The movie is even more chickenshit than I thought. Oh, the “atheist is mortally injured, admits he was wrong, and confesses Jesus at the last” business is _pure_ evangelical stroke fodder. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/50 "2014-03-30T22:34:32Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > An actual Philosophy professor presumably wouldn’t be quoting Nietzsche to his students while totally ignoring what Nietzsche originally meant, though. This professor wants (IIUC) to have his students renounce their faith so he doesn’t need to teach any philosophy relating to religion. So he isn’t particularly competent (read - he is an idiot) and it would be too much to expect him to understand any philosophical content at all. This is hardly unique to Christian movies - very often the villain has to be a complete dolt to get the plot going at all. So does everyone else, or the plot doesn’t stay going for long. Bad movies are bad movies, no matter if they are Christian propaganda or latest Lifetime movie of the week. Regards, Shodan ---
**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 30, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/51 "2014-03-30T23:54:27Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _Spoiler link_-[Complete synopsis of the movie.](http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/GodsNotDead.html) It’s worse than the preview makes it out to be. Wow… To paraphrase John 11:35, “Jesus puked” ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/52 "2014-03-31T00:01:04Z")
One of the prize books on my bookshelves is a 1632 edition of _The Theatre of God’s Judgments: wherein is represented the admirable Justice of God against all notorious sinners, great and small …_. It’s by Thomas Beard, Oliver Cromwell’s old schoolmaster and it was one of the most popular books in the 17th century. It relates in chapter after chapter of full gory detail the dreadful deaths of sinners, dividing them into categories: tyrants, blasphemers, persecutors, hypocrites, heretics and so on. One of the chapters is Epicures and Atheists, in which we read the grisly ends of those who denied God’s existence. (It contains the first report we have of the murder of playwright, or rather ‘notorious atheist’, Christopher Marlowe). OK, sorry for the long speil but that movie synopsis, with suitable adjustments, could have come straight from that book (which is nothing less than a stroke book for Christians). I might have expected just a little subtlety from the movie makers but what do they know from subtle? They’re preaching to the choir, they’re about giving the faithful a thrill, they’re not after converts, unless, of course, they’re dumb enough to believe that any atheists who happen to watch the film will have their beliefs shaken to the core by the incisive arguments for God’s existence presented. And perhaps they are; from the evidence of the trailer and synopsis this was made by very, very dumb people. It’s rather sobering to think that there are millions upon millions of people in the US who have a 17th century mindset about religion and much else. The Age of Reason clearly passed their ancestors by with scarce a ripple. What their descendants might do given power is the stuff of nightmares. Right, I’m making too much of stupid movie, I know! I’ll get my coat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/53 "2014-03-31T09:40:48Z")
this is what I think of when I see this title:[God's Not Dead.mov - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AonC8S-Kt7A) ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/54 "2014-03-31T09:48:35Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > 😃 > 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. ☹ Sorbo was on O’Reilly Friday, talking about how the Hollywood elite is out to get him for his conservative views, but more interested in clumsily trying to hawk his wife’s book, which he flatly asserted proves that God exists. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/55 "2014-03-31T13:01:37Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I think it would be fun to either go into the film, or wait outside the theater, holding a sign or wearing a shirt that says something like “You’ve seen the film, now talk to a real atheist Philosophy professor.” So why _do_ you hate God? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/56 "2014-03-31T13:54:27Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Sorbo was on O’Reilly Friday, talking about how the Hollywood elite is out to get him for his conservative views, but more interested in clumsily trying to hawk his wife’s book, which he flatly asserted proves that God exists. Kevin Sorbo flatters himself that the Hollywood elite even remember him or spend a millisecond in thought on him. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/57 "2014-03-31T14:04:01Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > One of the prize books on my bookshelves is a 1632 edition of _The Theatre of God’s Judgments: wherein is represented the admirable Justice of God against all notorious sinners, great and small …_. It’s by Thomas Beard, Oliver Cromwell’s old schoolmaster and it was one of the most popular books in the 17th century. It relates in chapter after chapter of full gory detail the dreadful deaths of sinners, dividing them into categories: tyrants, blasphemers, persecutors, hypocrites, heretics and so on. One of the chapters is Epicures and Atheists, in which we read the grisly ends of those who denied God’s existence. (It contains the first report we have of the murder of playwright, or rather ‘notorious atheist’, Christopher Marlowe). > > OK, sorry for the long speil but that movie synopsis, with suitable adjustments, could have come straight from that book (which is nothing less than a stroke book for Christians). I might have expected just a little subtlety from the movie makers but what do they know from subtle? They’re preaching to the choir, they’re about giving the faithful a thrill, they’re not after converts, unless, of course, they’re dumb enough to believe that any atheists who happen to watch the film will have their beliefs shaken to the core by the incisive arguments for God’s existence presented. And perhaps they are; from the evidence of the trailer and synopsis this was made by very, very dumb people. > > It’s rather sobering to think that there are millions upon millions of people in the US who have a 17th century mindset about religion and much else. The Age of Reason clearly passed their ancestors by with scarce a ripple. What their descendants might do given power is the stuff of nightmares. > > Right, I’m making too much of stupid movie, I know! I’ll get my coat. 🙂 Hey now, don’t tar the whole 17th century with the same brush 🙂 I’m pretty sure most of these people _also_ wouldn’t get Donne or Herbert or _Measure for Measure_ or any of the many other theologically sophisticated texts from the period. What this shows, I suspect, is that dumbed-down religious texts for dumbed-down people haven’t changed much. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/58 "2014-03-31T15:19:47Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Hey now, don’t tar the whole 17th century with the same brush 🙂 I’m pretty sure most of these people _also_ wouldn’t get Donne or Herbert or _Measure for Measure_ or any of the many other theologically sophisticated texts from the period. What this shows, I suspect, is that dumbed-down religious texts for dumbed-down people haven’t changed much. You’re right, of course. I should have said the 17th century uneducated mindset. That century produced some of the greatest rationalists of all time, most of them Christians. The list includes the great Sir Thomas Browne, whose book \* Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or, Enquiries into Very many Received Tenets, and commonly Presumed Truths\* is nothing less than the Straight Dope of its age. Here’s something that’s always puzzled me though. The vast majority of 17th century Englishmen had little or no education. The 19th century saw the advent of universal education and now everybody has had the benefit of 10 or 15 years of schooling. And yet the level of gullibility, ignorance and dumbness that can take your breath away remains as high as ever. It would seem that people are no more rational now than they were then. Why is that? ---
**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 31, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/59 "2014-03-31T15:26:04Z")
Wow, celebrity appearances by the Duck Dynasty guys _and_ the Newsboys, featuring the Newsboys new hit\* single “God’s Not Dead”? Christian student out-debates atheist philosophy professor? Deathbed confession and repentance? Attempting to launch a “God’s Not Dead” meme? (watch out, WWJD bracelets!). This movie’s got it all! \*in Lifeway Bookstores units ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700/60 "2014-04-02T19:29:27Z")
Just for grins, I sought out reviews of _ **God’s Not Dead.** _ Not reviews from well-known critics in the mainstream media, but from religious writers and bloggers. Even among devout Christians, the reviews are less than stellar! [http://www.catholicnews.com/data/movies/14mv038.htm](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/movies/14mv038.htm) > **[Opinion | Michael Gerson: ‘Noah,’ ‘God’s Not Dead’ are movies lacking grace](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-gerson-noah-gods-not-dead-are-movies-lacking-grace/2014/03/31/6a57b63e-b8ec-11e3-899e-bb708e3539dd_story.html)** > > So many problems with “Noah” and “God’s Not Dead.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-not-dead-current-movie/684700.md?page=4)