God's Not Dead

[diana]

Just wondering who has seen this and what they think of it.

I just saw the preview (I don't get out much), and I admit to being more than a little annoyed with the cliche'd-to-death smug, hateful "atheist professor" bit. And what they're setting up as The Ultimate Question to ask an atheist: Why do you hate God?

Of course, previews aren't movies.

d

 

[diana]

I just checked Rotten Tomatoes, and the highest score anyone registered there was a 5.5 out of 10--and that's by a Christian reviewer.

I got curious about this movie because I've seen that "GOD'S NOT DEAD!" on my Facebook newsfeed a couple of times in the last week. Hmmmmmm....

From this review:

Its final call to action, one delivered by the Newsboys in the closing concert sequence? Text bomb everyone you know with the words “God’s Not Dead,” which just happens to be the name of the film you’re watching, as well as the name of a 2011 Newsboys album. Don’t call your friends and loved ones and ask them how their lives are going. Don’t see what you can do to help them with whatever need they may have. Send a brand-building mass text to everyone on your call list. None of them will find this at all annoying. You’ll be the first person they think of when times get tough and they need a friend. And that transforms God’s Not Dead into the opposite of its stated intention for existence; it’s not just bad filmmaking, it’s bad Christianity.

d

 

[-RRH-]

I only saw the preview, and the bit that stuck with me is where the philosophy professor says, "I would like to bypass senseless debate altogether and jump to the conclusion ... "

Because I took some philosophy courses, and none of the profs would have seen that as a senseless debate. A philosophy professor who wants to bypass discussion of how to support his conclusion is essentially bypassing the teaching of philosophy.


On the other hand, they would all use specious arguments to see if any students would catch them. Then one or more students might argue against them, and eventually prevail once they are able to articulate what was the matter with the professor's arguments. And that was really what the professor was trying to teach.

But this movie makes it seem like the professor is going to be all, "What? You're arguing against my authority? In philosophy class? How dare you!"

 

[steve_bnk]

How can I hate a god I believe to be a mass figment of people's imaginations

What us skeptics do is look at the Christian claims of what god represents and what Christians , Muslims, and modern Jews in Israel have done and do in this god's name.

Overall a very ugly history.

 

[jonJ]

So they're making feature films out of lying Christian anecdotes now? I can't wait for the sequels about Einstein the student and the little girl sitting next to the atheist on a plane.

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

Of course God isn't dead. He/she/it was never alive to begin with. It's like saying rocks aren't dead, except at least we know that rocks exist.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

If God's not dead, then it's our fault for just assuming that we killed him and walking away as opposed to putting a couple more bullets into him or cutting off his head or something.

We clearly didn't learn anything from all the horror movies we watched and our now simply reaping what we sowed.

Next time we take the guy down, we need to remember the first rule of monster hunting - woodchipper beats everything.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

God is just a puppet operated by self elected spokesmen for this non-existent being.

"Unfortunately, God could not be here today to speak to you and tell you what to do, but I have graciously volunteered to fill in for him."
- Some damned preacher or the other.

The puppet waves its arms and appears to glower at us. "No gays! No birth control! Evolution is satanic!" say the preacher-ventriloquists.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Just wondering who has seen this and what they think of it.


I just saw the preview (I don't get out much), and I admit to being more than a little annoyed with the cliche'd-to-death smug, hateful "atheist professor" bit. And what they're setting up as The Ultimate Question to ask an atheist: Why do you hate God?

Of course, previews aren't movies.

d

I have not seen the movie but a few critics posting have. Here is a philosophy professor's examination of the theology in this film.

www.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2014/03/a-pwww.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2014/03/a-philosophy-professor-analyzes-gods-not-deads-case-for-god/?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDQQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2F.

First the strawmen professor issue...
"For example, if you were like me, you were troubled by the idea of Professor Radisson’s desire to have his students sign a statement of belief that “God is Dead” with threats of failure if they do not do so. He was forcing them to agree to a conclusion without any debate. He was being closed minded and dogmatic.

In the real world it is Christian universities that alone in America require of students and faculty that they sign faith statements to attend or teach."

..........

In the end the movie plays the old, childish ad hominem attacks. Atheists hate God and approach philosophy and religion from an irrational emotional basis

....

"And it is a complete joke to suggest that the strong majority consensus of philosophers against theism is all because we secretly hate God. It’s completely implausible that 83% of people who study philosophy professionally all come down against theism for emotional reasons rather than cognitive ones. "
...
"Why Do Christians Say Atheists Disbelieve for Emotional Reasons?

One hypothesis about why you keep changing the subject from the intellectual reasons to the atheists’ hearts is that it’s another instance of projection. It’s another instance of you accusing atheists of doing what you yourselves do–only ten times worse. The log in many religious believers’ eyes is that they believe for emotional reasons rather than rational ones."

The movie seems to be nothing more than the lame apologetic attacks us old timers in the internet atheist debates have seen again and again, lacking intellectual honesty and rigor.

Cheerful Charlie

 

[braces_for_impact]

Perhaps now we can finally bring Lady Hope, A Historic Perspective and How Darwin Was Saved to the silver screen.

This is like "Christian Rock". Ironically, it has no soul, and only appeals to Christians that also don't have one.

 

[Angry Floof]

Brilliant! What better demographic to respond like trained monkeys and zealously do your viral marketing for you without question than religious believers?

 

[diana]

I've given serious thought to writing an apologetics book and/or apologetics novels just to make my first million so I can retire sooner.

Seriously. Christians are so hungry for shit that reinforces their beliefs and seems to circumvent the "logic" of us "evil atheists," it seems only right to make some money off of them.

Only problem is, I'm not sure I'm dishonest enough to do it.

d

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

I've given serious thought to writing an apologetics book and/or apologetics novels just to make my first million so I can retire sooner.

Seriously. Christians are so hungry for shit that reinforces their beliefs and seems to circumvent the "logic" of us "evil atheists," it seems only right to make some money off of them.

Only problem is, I'm not sure I'm dishonest enough to do it.

d

I've thought about this too. But my bullshitter's desire to make millions off the gullibility of others takes the form of an Ancient Aliens kind. If just ten years ago I would have started writing alien books and speaking at conventions I would have been writing this post from Fiji and giving you shit for not already jumping on the idea.

 

[-RRH-]

I have not seen the movie but a few critics posting have. Here is a philosophy professor's examination of the theology in this film.

www.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2014/03/a-pwww.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2014/03/a-philosophy-professor-analyzes-gods-not-deads-case-for-god/?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDQQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2F.

First the strawmen professor issue...
"For example, if you were like me, you were troubled by the idea of Professor Radisson’s desire to have his students sign a statement of belief that “God is Dead” with threats of failure if they do not do so. He was forcing them to agree to a conclusion without any debate. He was being closed minded and dogmatic.

In the real world it is Christian universities that alone in America require of students and faculty that they sign faith statements to attend or teach."

..........

Yeah, like I was saying this sounds more like the philosophy professors I've had:

I was always very proud of how well I trained my students to vigorously and unapologetically disagree with me.

I wonder if some of the problem is the Christian students assume if the professor is arguing with them, it means he wants the student to be quiet and just accept his authority, because that's the way they're used to being taught.

 

[ksen]

This is like "Christian Rock". Ironically, it has no soul, and only appeals to Christians that also don't have one.

I don't know man, Skillet and POD are pretty good.

 

[The Paul]

If God's not dead, then it's our fault for just assuming that we killed him and walking away as opposed to putting a couple more bullets into him or cutting off his head or something.

We clearly didn't learn anything from all the horror movies we watched and our now simply reaping what we sowed.

Next time we take the guy down, we need to remember the first rule of monster hunting - woodchipper beats everything.

I'm pretty sure that to kill God you need to bury his skull upside-down at a crossroads.

I'm not saying the woodchipper thing is a bad idea, but we'll need to somehow keep track of which pieces are from the skull and which direction is up for each one.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'm pretty sure that to kill God you need to bury his skull upside-down at a crossroads.

I'm not saying the woodchipper thing is a bad idea, but we'll need to somehow keep track of which pieces are from the skull and which direction is up for each one.

If something's been through a woodchipper, that thing is gone. Burying the skull is an ancient hack needed for primitive people who were fighting monsters before the advent of woodchippers.

It's like if you're fighting vampires and you can't remember if silver bullets were for them or werewolves. Toss the body into a woodchipper and you don't need to care about any other details.

 

[The Paul]

If something's been through a woodchipper, that thing is gone. Burying the skull is an ancient hack needed for primitive people who were fighting monsters before the advent of woodchippers.

It's like if you're fighting vampires and you can't remember if silver bullets were for them or werewolves. Toss the body into a woodchipper and you don't need to care about any other details.

Look, I'm not against the woodchipper. It's a good idea. But it's not like we're talking about a vampire or a wendigo or some weak shit like that. You screw up killing one of those and you've got one more dead homeless guy or lost hiker or whatever on your hands, no big deal.

This "God" thing is seriously evil and I just think we should take every possible measure and precaution.

 

[Underseer]

So they're making feature films out of lying Christian anecdotes now? I can't wait for the sequels about Einstein the student and the little girl sitting next to the atheist on a plane.

I saw a YouTube video somewhere and variations on this professor story are a fairly common trope in films. I guess that must be one of the more popular Jack Chick comics among Christians.

 

[The Paul]

I'm kinda surprised that I haven't seen more Christians express embarrassment in response to this.

If someone made a movie with the roles reversed, some Christian professor tries to make his atheist student pray to Jesus, so he engages in a prolonged debate against a charicture of Christianity while we explore how ever non-atheist character is either evil or hopelessly stupid...

...that'd be really cringe-worthy.