I got no problem with movies about faith. Some of the best movies ever made are about faith. But God’s Not Dead 2 (I mean, the title alone!!) is representative of a seething and resentful very American brand of evangelical Christianity, which could be an interesting topic, but it’s all so poorly written and executed. Huge box-office hits, though, but – like the Christians in the movie – I have to speak my truth.
There was a moment when Catholicism in particular and Christianity in general were legitimate intellectual territories in modern thought, and it might be an interesting exercise to track when that force was spent. It is possible that Vatican II was its last gasp– after that the Church diverted much of its energy towards internecine disputes, and Christianity began presenting itself more in opposition to critical thought than as a species of it. One could at one time read, say, Teilhard de Chardin or Thomas Merton and think that they were articulating a legitimate world view that incorporated their faith. Current Christian thinking — at least in the US– appears to derive primarily from old Jack Chick tracts. It is interesting that the whole thing has collapsed upon itself in this particular way. You can’t say that religion has become irrelevant, because religion is still a powerful motivation for a great many people, but not many of those people seem to think very deeply about why they believe what they believe, and what the larger implications of that belief might consist of. In that way they more closely resemble nihilists than did believers one or two or three generations ago.
This movie sounds as though it might be worth seeing as a sociological document, but I’m not sure I could sit through it. Watching it ironically would just make me sad. Or sick.
Interesting thoughts, Bill – thanks!
// as though it might be worth seeing as a sociological document, //
Yeah. I would say in about 30 years it will be completely incomprehensible, except as a relic. Or at least I hope.
The fact that this movie seems to actually believe that a mother who doesn’t believe in God would not even mourn her dead teenage son … that her attitude would be, “Oh well, he’s dead, and I don’t even need ‘comfort’ because I am such a rationalist that I have no feelings” … is evidence of quite dangerous dehumanization.
and I come from a pretty devout Catholic family – my parents in college when Vatican II happened – and two great-aunts who were nuns – intellectual powerhouses and deep thinkers, great critical minds – the opposite of anti-art – so I grew up in a completely different tradition, although very faithful.