God’s Not Dead: A review

Full disclosure: I’m not a big fan of Christian movies. Generally, I find them preachy, poorly acted, and – produced on a shoe-string – it usually shows.

So, I went to “God’s Not Dead” (2014) ready to hate it, and surprisingly, I didn’t.

The plot centers on atheist Professor Raddison (played by Kevin Sorbo), a philosophy professor who urges his freshmen students to write just three words on a piece of paper: “God is dead.” If everyone in the class will do this and turn it in to the prof, the unit on metaphysics can be skipped. There wouldn’t be a story to tell if all the students did so. One student – Josh Wheaton (played by Shane Harper) – is a Christian, and refuses to sign. As a result, the sincere but apparently outmatched Wheaton must give a presentation during three class periods, attempting to prove God’s existence.

The movie requires the viewer to suspend belief, at least to some degree. The veteran Radisson grows more agitated as the movie goes on, apparently troubled by the mounting evidence presented by the neophyte Wheaton. However, in real life, would any of these arguments have caught a philosophy professor worth his salt so flat-footed?

As the movie progresses — SPOILER ALERT! – Wheaton wins not by playing the philosopher, but by putting on his counselor’s hat. Radisson is not an atheist based upon reason as much as emotion, residual anger at God for taking away Radisson’s mother from cancer when he was only 12 years old. Seizing on the moment, in front of the class, the freshman chides: “How can you be angry at someone who doesn’t exist?”

“God’s not Dead” will convince no hardened atheists, but the plot twist – shifting the ground to the question of disappointment with God – may help explain its success. Produced for a mere $ 2 million U.S., it has made more than $ 60 million, a cool thirty-fold profit. Hardly a new film, it still generates lively discussion on  IMDB.com where some threads host conversations on the relationship between science and faith. Much to their credit, the writers of “God’s not Dead” avoided having their young hero take a narrow stance on the “how” of divine creation. Insisting only that God is Creator, they left room for either YEC (Young Earth Creationism)  or other viewpoints, such as OEC (Old Earth Creationism) or theistic evolution, i.e. that God created but has used and still uses evolution to do so.

Sometimes the movie gets it wrong. A young Muslim girl who is a student at Josh’s university is careful to put her head covering back on when around her father, but leaves her arms bare and sports hip-hugging blue jeans. Anyone concerned about covering her head would likely not transgress these other Islamic family norms.

On the positive side, if you’re a “Newsboys” fan, you’ll love the ending, though as time passes, they may have to change their name to the “Newsmen.” But most of those who were watching with us were teens, and they obviously enjoyed the upbeat music.

With the success of “God’s Not Dead,” expect to see more movies like it. If they generate good conversations about Christian faith among those who normally wouldn’t engage and manage to do it in a reasonably believable and quality way like this film did, then count me it.

MY RATING: 3.5 stars out of 5

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Photo credit: IMDB.com