World News Korner

New film, "God is not dead," attacks higher education, secularism, and logic, all in equal portions.

Yes that was the guy from Duck Dynasty that you just saw in that trailer. And that dude who played Hercules too.

I have been tempted to write something about this film a couple of times now. But to be honest I found the damn thing so irritating that I did not want to get my self all worked up over something so ridiculous.

However that was before I stumbled across this entry about the film on Wikipedia:

Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), a devout Christian and freshman college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by a dogmatic and argumentative atheist. Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) demands that all of his students must sign a declaration that "God is dead" in order to get a passing grade. Faced with a choice between passing the class and betraying his beliefs, Josh refuses. As Josh is the only student in the class to do so, the professor strikes a bargain: Josh must defend his position that "God's not dead" in a series of debates with him, with the class members ultimately deciding who wins. If Josh loses, he flunks. When Josh accepts the challenge, he gets more than he bargained for — jeopardizing his faith, his academic future, and even his relationships.

There are several struggles and personal beliefs going on as well in the film. Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) must hide her Christianity from her devout Muslim family and father. Mina (Cory Oliver) must deal with her mother who is suffering from dementia, her rich executive brother Mark (Dean Cain) who refuses to see their mother, and her personal relationship with Radisson (which proves a struggle as Mina is a devout Christian and Radisson is an atheist, and Mina is frequently belittled in front of Radisson's colleagues). Amy (Trisha LaFache), a businesswoman and animal right's activist, is diagnosed with cancer and Mark (her boyfriend, Mina's brother) breaks up with her, seeming to care more about his business life than he did about Amy. Martin (Paul Kwo) is a foreign exchange student from China, whose struggles are similar to Josh's: his father does not want him screwing up his brother's scholarship (as Josh's girlfriend, Kara, did not want him standing up to Radisson as it might affect her scholarship).

Radisson has Josh spend 20 minutes at the end of every lecture to give his arguments on why God exists, but Radisson constantly has a counter argument against all of Josh's debates. Ultimately, it comes down to a debate between Radisson and Josh, who both make compelling points from both sides. Josh questions Radisson, asking why he hates God. After Radisson gives his response, confirming he hates God for his mother's death that left him alone despite his prayers, Josh asks Radisson how he can hate someone that doesn't exist. In the end, every member of Josh's class, including Martin, stand up and say "God's Not Dead", causing Radisson to leave the room in defeat.

After the last lecture, Martin excitedly tells Josh that his lectures have changed his heart and he has become a Christian. Josh invites him to come to the Newsboys concert with him because he had an extra ticket (due to Kara breaking up with him). Radisson ultimately has a change of heart upon reading a letter from his late mother, and leaves to find his ex-girlfriend Mina, who is shown to be attending the same Newsboys concert. He is struck by a car while crossing the street and his ribs are crushed, leaving him slowly dying of internal hemorrhaging. Pastor Dave (David A.R. White) finds him, and helps save Radisson, who becomes a born-again Christian moments before his death. Mark is shown taunting his mother, stating that he as a non-believer has a great life while she, a faithful person, is riddled with a disease. A suddenly lucid Mom makes a point about how the devil helps some evil people to succeed so that they won't turn to God, but that the person's life is like that of a prisoner whose barred door will ultimately slam at life's end. The cancer-ridden Amy is shown confronting the Newsboys in their dressing room moments before their show, presumably to ambush their faith, but ultimately revealing that she wants to know God. In the closing moments, the Newsboys show a video of Willie Robertson congratulating the "young man" who took up the argument against his professor that God was alive. The Newsboys close the movie with their song "God's Not Dead", dedicating it unknown to themselves, to Josh, saying they support and commend him for taking up the gauntlet against Radisson.

Holy crap is that a bunch of hooey.

First off I am sure that those of us who attended college know full well that professors do not make statements like that in their classrooms.

I took philosophy in college, and a class on comparative religious studies, and I cannot even tell you for sure if either of those instructors were, or were not, atheists. In fact I don't think I ever knew, or cared, WHAT religion my instructors identified with.

However THIS is how these fundamentalist types view higher education in this country. As an aggressive assault against their faith.

And I cannot tell you how ironic I find it that Kevin Sorbo is playing this educator.

As you may or may not know, he played one of the worst versions of Hercules every imagined. Hercules of course was mythological person who was said to be half god, and half man.

Sound familiar?

It is actually not surprising that the plot for this movie is so hyperbolic and over the top, since it appears that it is at least partially based on one of the most laugh out loud funny Chick Tract ever produced.

Perhaps you've seen it.

If you click the link at the top you will see that the movie mimics the comic almost frame by frame.

Look I understand that when your belief system relies on keeping people as uneducated as possible, that your fear of college must be almost overwhelming. But this kind of transparent propaganda cannot really be helping.

After all if what you believe has real value, wouldn't people be flocking to your church, and not have to be tricked and lied to in order to be convinced to show up?

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