Call to ban 'sick filth' box office hit God’s Not Dead ignored

A CALL to ban the controversial US box office hit God’s Not Dead looks set to be ignored as the DVD goes on sale in the UK from Monday 27 October.

In his review of the film for The Guardian, Mike McCahill wrote in April: ‘Ban this sick filth’. He also criticised the ‘jaw-dropping climax wherein a preacher is effectively granted divine right to mow down non-believers.’

Biased

McCahill said ‘doing God's work’ had become indistinguishable from Grand Theft Auto in the film. The review was published just as the film was released to selected UK cinemas.

Christian author and blogger Adrian Warnock was ‘outraged’ at the review in The Guardian, calling it a ‘biased and hateful rant’.

'How can any right-minded film critic call this PG movie sick filth in comparison to other films? Seems to me that the reviewer may well be an unbeliever who is feeling threatened by the potential this movie has to galvanize Christians in this country as it has in the USA.’

Warnock, who has been actively promoting the film in the UK, argues that Evangelical Christians are ‘increasingly muzzled’ in the public square. He says the film should give greater confidence to Christians to share their faith, and even reports that some have become Christians as a result of watching the film.

But in a recent interview with Lapido Media, McCahill stood by his review, calling the film ‘rubbish’.

‘God’s Not Dead wasn’t a proper film,’ he said.

‘It was amateurish and looks cheap and cheerful. I certainly don’t have any objections to films which deal with Christian themes. I was brought up in a Church of England household and was a big churchgoer.’

McCahill admitted ‘I totally don’t believe [in God] now’ and argued the film ‘portrayed a very black and white way of viewing the universe’

‘If you don’t believe, you are damned. That was dramatised within the movie with characters that are non-believers: bad things happen to them. One gets cancer, the other one gets knocked over by a car.’

Preachy

The feature film charts the adventures of college freshman and devout Christian Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) who finds his faith challenged on his first day of his philosophy class by the argumentative Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo).

Radisson begins his class by informing students that they will need to disavow, in writing, the existence of God on that first day, or face a failing grade. As other students in the class begin scribbling the words ‘God Is Dead’ on pieces of paper as instructed, Josh chooses to fight for what he believes.

The film received poor reviews from mainstream media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic. Variety said the film was as ‘subtle as a stack of Bibles falling on your head’ while USA Today called it ‘preachy’ and ‘implausible’.

The film, which has made a worldwide total of $70m against a $2m budget, was brought to UK cinemas by Rev George Hargreaves, 56 - who is a founding member of the Christian Party and former aide to US politician Herman Cain.

‘I discovered the movie on the internet and asked the American producers whether it was coming to the UK,' Hargreaves said. 'They said “no”. I then begged them to let me release it and the rest is history.’

But Hargreaves, who famously wrote and co-produced Sunita’s 1985 smash hit So Macho, said the ‘bitter reviews’ had not surprised him.

Outreach

Two weeks after the UK release of God’s Not Dead, large billboards advertising the film were taken out on the London underground. The advert featured quotes from Christian leaders endorsing the film, plus ‘Ban this sick filth – The Guardian’.

McCahill was surprised to see the billboards as the film was not showing in any Central London cinemas by the time the adverts appeared.

The controversy surrounding God’s Not Dead has led to some questioning whether the film was ever intended for a non-Christian audience. Co-producer Russell Wolfe said the film was primarily geared toward Christians, but other evangelicals have used the film as an outreach tool.

At the end of the film, the audience is told to text their friends ‘God’s Not Dead’. McCahill argues this ‘built in viral aspect’ was designed to appeal primarily to churchgoers.

DVD distributors Joining The Dots told Lapido Media that God’s Not Dead has received ‘excellent pre sales’ and is expected to be a ‘top seller’.

‘The film itself has been highly rated by those who have seen it’ they added.