Ive spent a great deal of time contemplating whether to post this, and I ultimately decided to do so with the disclaimer that if you are not a Christian or an atheist, this post probably wont interest you, and it is in no way intended to proselytize. I only wrote this to share personal observations. I went to see the movie Gods Not Dead because the band in the movie, the Newsboys, is one that my sisters college class assisted in the creation of a music video for. Her classmates are actually in the video, though she is not. She now wishes that she had shown up for the video, but she had had no clue what a fancy production it would be. Their instructor, and the director of the video, is a very kind man named Brandon Dickerson, who can be seen in the video at the beginning, just before the traffic light, and at the end, spinning on his back. It is not uncommon for music video directors to put themselves in their videos, so his appearance at the beginning and end is like his signature in the video. Of course, Brandon was a Christian, at least at the time that he was a Christian music video director. Naturally, most of the kids in his San Francisco class, and many of those who are in this video, were not, so they often teased him because I dont think they understood how seriously he took the religion. The movie Gods Not Dead has obtained the lowest ratings from professional reviewers that I have ever seen, so I was prepared for a very corny movie, which is indeed what I got. If it had been up to me, I would have cut out all scenes except those with the professor or the student, but they probably needed that Duck Dynasty guy for funding. It is an independent film, so its not like it enjoyed the budget that Disney had to create the Chronicles of Narnia. However, there seemed to be a Wild Things element to it, where a more complex story seemed to be hidden inside a seemingly simple one. You see, in this movie, practically every time professor Radisson opens his mouth, he is either quoting scripture or atheist material, and catching this would require familiarity with both types of material he is quoting. Radisson appears to be a Nietzschean atheist, whose true aim might be to prolong Christianity in his students by playing the part of the bitter, tyrannical atheist professor. Religious fervor is strongest in those who feel persecuted for it, so perhaps he was trying to fit the stereotype, because kind atheists can deconvert people just as kind Christians can convert them. The reason I suggest this is because Radissons hate for God is rooted in his love for his Christian mother, and he is either married or engaged to a Christian, demonstrating he still prefers the company of Christians over atheists. I might be reading too much into it, but its interesting to consider the possibility that Radisson is an atheist pretending to be a Christian pretending to be an atheist, and I even wonder if he is supposed to represent the movies creators, who might be trying to explain why they are atheists pretending to be Christians. That may seem far fetched, but there are a few clues that might support this theory: FIRST, Professor Radisson skips the chapter on religion, which is sure to be filled with atheist arguments. He lists several atheist authors on the board, pronouncing each of their names correctly, but he informs his class that this is the chapter where students typically receive their lowest grades of the semester, because they must read and analyze atheist arguments. So he does the opposite of what one would expect an atheist professor to do: he allows them to skip reading those authors and still receive full credit for that section. SECOND, Radisson has his students quote one of the atheist authors he has listed on the board, Friedrich Nietzsche, when he has them write God Is Dead on a piece of paper and sign it. Here is Nietzsche’s full quote: God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” Obviously, Nietzsche was not quite as gung-ho about losing God as many atheist writers are today. Nietzsche apparently wrote God is dead several times in his works, but he also often wrote of his fears that the world was not ready for no absolute moral authority. He feared people would become nihilists without the fear of a higher power, and society would collapse because of it. Atheists who dont share that fear, such as Richard Dawkins, are probably not familiar with temperament theory. Nietzsche’s point seems to also be the point of the movie, and possibly the point of professor Radisson, when he decides to skip the chapter about atheism and has his dissenting Christian student, Josh, prove God is not dead. Josh need not prove God exists or that God is alive. Perhaps God is lying brain dead in some hospital on life support, but He simply is not quite dead yet. Thats all Josh must prove, and he actually does so by remaining true to his faith, no matter how difficult it becomes. His class surely contains plenty of casual Christians who simply do whats easiest. Radisson sticks with his phrasing of this question very closely, and Nietzsche initially intended God as a metaphor for morality. Radisson initially explains to his students that this is a metaphor, and he promises Josh that he will keep his interruptions of Joshs arguments to a minimum. So... Josh begins his entire debate by crashing blindly right into atheist argument 101 when he says Atheists say I cant prove God exists, and theyre right, but I say nobody can prove God does not exist. Of course, the burden of proof lies with the person making the claim, and many, many atheist books will point this out first thing. There was a time when science had to be fit inside preconceived notions, which led to the imprisonment of Galileo, and Copernicus releasing his heliocentric book on his death bed. Naturally, this slowed scientific progress, so the default position, both in science and law, became that nothing has happened without evidence that it has happened, and both scientists and juries are asked to simply follow the evidence wherever it leads, without bias. Therefore, according to our current rules of debate, if there is no known evidence for the existence of some creature, then somebody who claims that creature does not exist need not prove this, but somebody who claims that creature does exist must show the evidence for that creatures existence or lose the debate. So this initial comment from Josh seems to serve no purpose except to allow Radisson to smile condescendingly, as one might expect from a professor who could give a good argument, but is instead keeping his promise not to debate his student. Of course, when Radisson insists on using the metaphor God Is Dead, he actually shifts the burden of proof to himself, which gives Josh an easy out, if Josh simply wants to point out that Radisson is now the one making the claim. In the legal field, this principle is why we are all innocent until proven guilty - the reverse would result in too many false convictions, just as the reverse approach to science would leave any possibility open and requiring extensive work to disprove. THIRD, Josh uses both evolution and the Big Bang theory in his attempts to prove God might exist. I suspect most Christians would avoid these scientific theories, but Josh says Professor Radisson is right. I cant prove Gods existence and he accepts both evolution and the Big Bang theory as fact, yet he then claims they prove Gods existence. For his debate, the one book Josh tends to avoid is the Bible, or at least he skips the details of the actual wording in the book of Genesis. The script writers drop many hints that they are familiar with atheist material. They just dont think every kid in America needs to be. For instance, Radisson says Religion is like a mind virus that parents pass on to their children. This quote is straight from Richard Dawkins. FOURTH, There is a noticeable break in the professors behavior from that of atheists in Christian movies from my youth. Radisson is either married or engaged to his Christian student, and he explains to her that there is only room for 2 people in their relationship, meaning he cant have a mistress. When I was a kid, any atheist in a movie was portrayed as being quite hedonistic, at least to the extent that they were incapable of a monogamous relationship. Radisson is clearly capable of love. Its actually this fact that turns him atheist and its this fact that ultimately gets him killed. Radisson wishes to avoid the chapter on religion because it is a painful topic for him, so he bargains with the students that they will receive full credit if they quote Nietzsches statement that God Is Dead. Radisson fully expects that those students who dont want to cooperate will drop the class, so he blames Josh for forcing him to confront the issue, and he even threatens Joshs academic future to convince Josh that the situation is hopeless and that he should drop the class. Radisson is up for a promotion in his very agnostic department, and the creators of the movie portray his fiancé as respecting him, but failing to fully understand his need to show off for his colleagues, and she even humiliates him in front of both his colleagues and his students when she leaves him. None of this is deliberate on her part, but Radisson responds with more fury at Josh, blaming him now for causing his fiancee to leave and the loss of respect from his colleagues. He tells Josh in the elevator that he intends to change things up a bit, meaning he now intends to enter the debate, and he keeps interrupting Josh during his final argument. FIFTH, Radisson comes right out and admits to Josh that the most committed atheists were once Christians. Imagine a movie where a Muslim announces Youll find the most committed enemies of Islam were once Muslims? I suspect a true Christian would avoid this very inconvenient fact, not write it into a key scene in his movie script. SIXTH, Josh claims Radisson is teaching antitheism, a term first coined by Christopher Hitchens to describe behavior such as Radissons: treating Christians with contempt and simply scoffing at the more unrealistic elements of the Bible, rather than engaging in serious debate. SEVENTH, Even after professor Radisson manages to humiliate Josh in class, winning the debate, he still approaches Josh immediately afterwards and threatens his academic future if Josh wont stop arguing with him. Radisson simply doesnt wish to discuss religion. He might believe it doesnt belong in a college classroom. He might believe Christianity is what made his own mother so lovable, which might also be why he married a Christian. He simply wants Josh to drop the class or sign the paper, but he doesnt want Josh to read the atheist arguments, and he wont even give those to Josh during the debates. He tells Josh he is free to pray in his dorm room, but what he does in class becomes Radissons business, yet what they are doing is skipping the atheist reading, and seemingly with a quote from Nietzsche, an atheist who feared anarchy would occur in a world without religion. This appears to be the professors explanation as to why they are skipping that material. Throughout the movie, professor Radisson casually quotes the Bible, including absurd quotes like I am a jealous God, indicating the Hebrew God was a bit insecure about having to compete with other gods. His Christian wife tells him that she worries that she is unequally yoked, and he immediately realizes this is from the Bible and that she is questioning the wisdom of their relationship due to his lack of faith. Indeed, Radisson is portrayed as having more knowledge of the Bible than most people in the movie. He quotes twice from Job, demonstrating that he read this book extensively in his youth, after his mother had died, as he sought answers, and one of his quotes contradicts the idea of an afterlife. Also, the pastor is portrayed as being hesitant to give Josh a Bible verse which has an ugly part about beating slaves, yet the camera focuses in on that verse. Josh acts like he gets inspiration from a Bible verse so barbaric that most Christian movies probably would not show it, yet this movie focuses in on this particular verse, so we can see the stuff about beating servants, even when Josh could simply read the end sentence about the point the metaphor in the Bible was making. EIGHTH, When Martin asks Josh, in the library, if he believes Jesus is God, Josh responds Yeah, and the son of God, leaving Martin to look confused, but he asks no further questions. Martin is from China, so he should be rather unfamiliar with the Trinity. Robert Ingersoll was an atheist author from the Civil War era, and his humorous piece about the absurdity of the Trinity remains one of his most popular works. Where we might expect Martin to ask How can Jesus be both God and his own son? Is he also his own father?, Martin seems to determine that Josh has already been drilled enough in class by the professor, so he keeps any such bewilderment to himself. He is portrayed as a compassionate character long before he becomes a Christian, in a class filled with students who should understand better than he does why Josh is doing this, but who still wont defend Josh. He is always the most respectfully dressed student in the class, and never seems to notice or change this and, of course, he is the first to announce his conclusion that Josh won the debate. Martins father wont even discuss religion with him, and the oppressiveness of his professor might remind him of such strict repression in his own country, so he might see Josh as the necessary voice of brave dissent, no matter how little Joshs ideas make sense to him. In one scene, Martin is slow to leave the classroom, making him the last person out of class, as though he predicts the professor will bully Josh if left alone with him, which is also what happens. NINTH, Addressing Radissons point that Stephen Hawking had stated that, due to the law of gravity, the universe can and will create itself, we leave Joshs speech and return while Josh is summing up his point: You see, in nature, we never see something arising out of nothing, but atheists want to make one small exception to this rule: namely, the universe and everything in it. Likewise, Joshs entire family is in the credit list at the end of the movie, but these same characters dont actually exist within the movie. This is a real shame, because it has me suspecting they cut some decent scenes out in order to fit the Duck Dynasty guy in, so they could meet their budget requirements. So let me just speculate what we missed during Joshs argument: Josh: It is interesting that Stephen Hawking currently holds a position once held by Sir Isaac Newton because his claims about the rules governing the universe contradict those of Newton. Newtons 2nd law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, states that the total amount of disorganization in the universe should naturally increase over time, which is the opposite of what one would expect from a self designing universe. And then we come back to Joshs conclusion: You see, in nature, we never see something arising out of nothing, but atheists want to make one small exception to this rule: namely, the universe and everything in it. Of course, Im no scientist, so I probably am wrong about something, here. Anyway, to my knowledge, Hawking never said there was no God. He merely stated that gravitational forces could design the universe without one. Also, Christians might also feel a bit better if they read all of the theories that Newton and Einstein were wrong about. They were impressively ahead of their time, but they were not always correct. FINALLY, Joshs last name is Wheaton. I once ordered a box set on evolution from the Discovery Channel and was surprised to see that some of it was clearly an ad for Wheaton college, a Christian college. The professors at the Christian college teach their students about evolution and encourage them not to dismiss it, but to practice debating and discussing how it relates to the Bible, which upsets many of the Christian parents of their students. Josh seems to represent the arguments of Wheaton faculty. In the movie, Radisson says he wont debate Josh, and he actually keeps that promise, only using the weakest of arguments - that from authority, although the creators of the movie clearly know who the atheist authors are and the works they have written. They have the professor introduce the lesson with a long list of such authors, and the students quote from them. Despite Radissons behavior, both his intellect and that of many other atheists is praised throughout the movie, including by several Christians. The movie contains some Christians with poor character, like the casual Christians who are no doubt in Joshs class and his girlfriend who leaves him, and even that guy from Duck Dynasty, and the movie noticeably contains some atheists with poor characters, and it portrays unlucky Christians (one so unlucky that she winds up dead and her son becomes an atheist) as well as unlucky atheists. Despite the complaints from reviewers, no belief system in the movie is portrayed as filled with saints or even with good fortune. The ultimate result of Radissons behavior is 1. his class skips the atheist reading material, 2. many students resent being forced to write God Is Dead even though they dont believe it, and their professor has put no effort into convincing them, 3. the students witness him bullying a dissenting student, fitting the stereotype of the bitter atheist, with the result that they sympathize with that student and learn the arguments for the existence of God from that student, even while they are skipping the atheist reading material, 4. his agnostic academic department promotes Radisson in part because he shares their ideologies, and in part because he is clearly too impatient to be teaching freshmen. So Radisson winds up prolonging Christianity in his classroom, skipping the chapter about atheist arguments, and gaining a promotion from atheists all at the same time. Who is to say Radisson isnt doing this deliberately? Keep in mind he loved his Christian mother and he loves his Christian fiancé, so why would he want to rid the world of Christians? Im not saying Radisson is a Christian, however, but I believe he is supposed to be a Nietzschean atheist. Im also not saying there is anything acceptable about his behavior, but if my admittedly rather far-fetched theory is correct, the movie creators reason for pretending to be Christian, and Radissons reason for his own behavior, is explained in Joshs final argument during the debate, when Josh points out the lack of moral absolutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyway, thats my lengthy analysis of a movie that I think might be unfairly receiving only 1 star, though some people have complained about a lack of precedent case for the movie to be based on. Though the movie is followed by a list of legal cases, its hard to say whether those are simply separation of church and state cases, and even that seemed like perhaps just another ad for that particular legal organization, so the movie could gain funding. I think the actual inspiration for the movie might be the case in Florida where a philosophy professor instructed his students to write Jesus on a sheet of paper, toss it on the floor and stomp on it. He later claimed it was a philosophy exercise. In this movie, professor Radisson dies after only 3 days of class, so we can never tell where he was headed with all of this. Perhaps the entire ordeal was simply feigned by the professor as an exercise to teach about the concerns of Friedrich Nietzsche. Perhaps all of the persecution was simply a test so Josh could prove that God, Nietzsches metaphor for morality, was not dead, by maintaining his faith and efforts in the face of such opposition. Perhaps Radisson intended to praise Josh in the end for his integrity. Of course, perhaps none of the above is true, but it is what Radisson would claim if confronted by the school for his behavior, and perhaps Radisson would even point to his letter from his Christian mother, and to his Christian wife to prove that even he is a Christian. So I think that might be the point of the movie, that the behavior is still inappropriate because the students cant read the professors mind. Several times in the movie, Bible verses are quoted that a Christian student might actually face hell if they publicly denied Jesus, yet that is also what the Florida professor requested his students do. Anyway, I figured Id leave this post on a more fun note with Brandons video. Remember, Brandon Dickerson is the guy at the beginning of the video immediately before the traffic light, and also at the end of the video, spinning on his back. https://youtube/watch?v=ylyM-_vHKEA
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 13:49:08 +0000
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