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  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Ayisha's father: Is he a sympathetic Anti-Villain because he seems to suffer a My God, What Have I Done? moment after throwing his daughter out of his house, or is he suffering the My God, What Have I Done? for throwing her out but still has no qualms about disowning her for converting to Christianity? Regardless, he does not accept this or let her come back.
    • Josh: Is he the pure good Christian student fighting for good against the evil professor, or is he the exact same as the professor, just from a different viewpoint?
      • Or alternatively, is Josh just a sheltered Spoiled Brat who finds it next to impossible to follow rules he doesn't like, regardless of any legitimate moral qualms? Plus he makes his girlfriend give up two better colleges for the sake of their relationship, yet is okay with them breaking up when she asks him to do something for her.
    • Is Radisson just a stuck-up atheist professor who takes joy in stroking his own massive ego, or is he a Nay-Theist in denial suffering from the severe trauma he experienced as a boy feeling absolutely powerless to save his mother and feeling like God abandoned them, therefore he does these actions to have power in his life? Something Josh gleefully exploits to win the last debate.
    • Was Mark Shelley's dumping of Amy after finding out she had cancer just to show he was a heartless asshole, or was he just trying to cut ties before having to see someone suffer like his dementia stricken mother?
  • Angst? What Angst?:
    • Josh doesn't react to breaking up with his girlfriend (whom he was dating for the past six years) at all. She completely disappears after the break-up and is never even brought up in conversation for the rest of the movie.note  The film even suggests he and Ayisha hook up at the end of the movie, which has probably been only a few daysnote  after said break-up.
    • Even worse with Radisson's death. It is treated as a joyous occasion that someone was just killed by a hit-and-run.
    • Ayisha doesn't seem to really care about the fact that she is now homeless and most likely about to be kicked out of college because her father will most likely stop paying for tuition.
  • Anvilicious: To the point that Faith Street could review the movie with just four words: "Atheists Bad, Christians Good."
  • Bile Fascination: Atheists watch this film because it hits all the negative stereotypes about them, and the fact some Christians believe all of this to be true. Some find it unintentionally funny as well, because it's so biased, caricatured, and over-the-top. In fact, Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu from MST3K reviewed the movie at the 2015 Convention of the American Atheists.
  • Critical Dissonance: The film currently has a 17% rating from critics but also an 82% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic, on the other hand, is much more uniform, with a critical score of 16 and a user score of 3.1.
  • Critic-Proof: Despite secular and even some Christian movie critics pummeling this movie, it grossed more than 60 million dollars in the US, which is both very rare for a propaganda film and pretty remarkable given its shoestring budget of two million dollars. Though it should be noted that it did abysmal overseas and only made a majority of its money in the US. Some Christians have even apologized to atheists for how this film portrays them.
  • Designated Hero: Josh comes off more like a Spoiled Brat than a moral Christian. The reason he is arguing against Radisson is because he mocked something he believed in, rather than how the movie portrays him as "fighting against an evil professor." Let's face it, if Radisson told all the students to write down "Allah is Dead" (ignoring that Allah is Arabic for God, as even Arab Christians use), there is a strong chance Josh would have written that down without a second thought. Later, he admits that he himself isn't sure that God does exist, but since now a good chunk of his final grade rides on this, he sets out to get an entire class to believe that God does exist, which is the exact same thing Radisson wants, just in reverse. He is also upset that Radisson dismisses his belief, only for Josh's arguments to consist of him dismissing every other belief, claiming only Christians are right and are good people. Then his girlfriend who he has dated for six years and who turned down two better colleges just to stay with him, seeing that doing this will most likely hurt his future, tries to get him to stop and suggests they break up when that doesn't work, which he agrees to without a second thought, shocking and hurting her. He then seems to hook up with Ayisha at the concert not too long after, suggesting he completely forgot about his ex. This is the opposite of what Radisson does when his girlfriend breaks up with him, where he is genuinely filled with guilt and sadness and soon tries to make amends. Then there are his "debates" where he makes snide comments just to tick off Radisson, then gets overly emotional and just starts angrily badmouthing Radisson till he breaks, things Radisson himself was doing during the debates as well. It seems like the only reason we are to see Josh as the hero is just because he is fighting for Christianity, which he is only fighting for because he believes in it, rather than a moral reason.
  • Don't Shoot the Message: Christians criticized the film for being alienating to non-Christians, feeling it would only turn them off to its intended message of accepting Christianity.
  • Esoteric Happy Ending: Radisson gets hit by a car and converts as he dies, with one of the missionaries saying that what happened "is a cause for celebration." That's right, someone dying is something to be happy about, and it becomes worse when it's shown that Radisson's girlfriend texted him as he laid dead on the street. How will she react when she learns he's dead?.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Professor Hercules.
    • Amy is a reporter dating Superman, therefore she is Lois Lane.
    • The cancer is never given an actual name, so some call it General Cancer.
  • Glurge: A liberal blogger gets diagnosed with cancer but gets cured when she converts to Christianity and the professor dying at the end is seen as a cause for celebration because he was successfully converted beforehand.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Whether intentional or not, Professor Radisson comes across this way, given the reasons for his anger at God and especially at the end where while everyone else is having fun at a concert, he dies in the rain before he can reconcile with Josh or his ex-girlfriend.
  • Les Yay: Some random girl walks up and spouts "You're beautiful" to Ayisha out of the blue when she sees her out of her hijab, with her tone sounding like she is infatuated with her.
  • Mis-blamed: Josh's girlfriend is usually stated in reports that she just up and dumped Josh simply because he didn't do want she wanted where in fact it's more that Josh broke up with her because she wouldn't let him do something he wanted. What actually happens is that she gave Josh the option to break up after seeing what he is doing will most likely destroy his future, which he accepts without any emotion to it. She is taken aback by this answer and is clearly hurt by him as she was expecting him to at least react to that in some way.
  • Narm:
    • Especially Amy and Ayisha's big, allegedly emotional scenes.
    • The Chinese student telling Josh out of nowhere that he "decided to follow Jesus."
    • At the end of the film, Josh (somehow) becomes a virtual celebrity overnight for...winning an argument with a college professor. The local news reports on his debate with Professor Radisson, a famous reality TV star addresses a video message to him, and a rock band pauses their concert to praise him in front of an audience of thousands. One would usually see this as a funny Imagine Spot, but it's 100% serious.
  • Offending the Creator's Own: Despite the Movie being made by Christians for Christians, many of the film’s biggest detractors are themselves Christian.
    • They criticize it for being a very poor representation of religion in general that often goes against Christian teachings, especially since the Audience Surrogate Josh (who is supposedly a good Christian) is a very selfish, un-empathetic, priggish asshole and yet the audience is supposed to identify & sympathize with him.
    • Similarly, Radisson’s death is also lambasted by many Christians, where with his dying breaths a minister helps him regain his faith before he dies, and it is treated as a “cause for celebration”. While yes, Christian doctrine would state he would go to heaven and find happiness with God, it still doesn’t diminish the fact that death in Christianity is still treated as a serious, sad, & tragic occurrence in life that happens to everyone that should be grieved and given proper respect to.
      • This scene also makes the ministers look like callous jerkasses who are more concerned with converting a man on death’s door rather than provide the proper emergency assistance needed, and then practically “dancing on his grave” when he passes on, which is a very UnChristian thing to do.
  • One-Scene Wonder: One of the students in Radisson's class doesn't stand up at the end when the rest of the class said "God's Not Dead."
  • Pandering to the Base: This film does nothing but pander to the Christians that already believe this to be true.
  • Questionable Casting:
  • Reception Dissonance: This film was made by Christians for Christians as Christian inspiration (Likely not caring other groups would denounce it as propaganda), and the film did well enough at that to turn a significant profit at the box office. Its messages didn't go over well outside that target demographic though, leading to its abysmal ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
  • Special Effect Failure:
    • Dave tells Josh to read from Matthew. When Josh is at home reading his Bible, he is reading from Luke.
    • When Radisson is getting rained on, you can clearly see the people at the table just behind him are not.
  • Strangled by the Red String: The end of the movie implies that Josh and Ayisha are going to get together. The end of the movie is also the only time they've actually interacted on screen, save earlier where Ayisha overhears Josh's conversation with his girlfriend and they make brief eye contact.
  • Strawman Has a Point:
    • Many of the Professor's comments against Josh's speech are quite right, like when Josh tried to explain all the horrors that go on in the world as the result of God giving us free will. The Professor points out that many natural evils, like viruses or devastating weather, have nothing to do with it.
    • Josh's ex-girlfriend is portrayed as evil for wanting Josh to drop his debate with Radisson, stating that Radisson would destroy his future is made out like some crazy rantings. Only for this to later be 100% true as Radisson admits that he is going to destroy any chance of Josh having a future career, which is only averted by the ending.
  • Tear Jerker:
    • Mark Shelley talking to his dementia-stricken mother. He says he can't understand why God would let such a kind, devoted Christian woman like her go through what she is going through while an awful person like him has such a successful life. She explains why this happens in her view...then asks who he is.
    • Radisson telling Josh why he became an atheist. How he reacts when he brings up the painful memory makes it quite clear he is still suffering from this to this day. This makes Josh all the more of an absolute Jerkass when he uses this knowledge to break Radisson during the last debate.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • While the subplots of the respective girlfriends of Radisson and Josh do support the central plot, the other stories could've comprised two other films all their own: one for the stories of Amy and Mark, her Corrupt Corporate Executive boyfriend with an ailing mother, the other for the Muslim family. The comedy subplot of the two ministers and the car could even have been better integrated into the "debate" movie, perhaps by having Radisson show up to banter with the pastor about it or something. As it stands, trying to cram way too many unrelated stories into one movie can easily make the film exhausting to watch.
    • The film could've been an interesting character study of why certain people believe in God, and some are atheists, while leaving it open to the viewer's interpretation—or at least make it so the atheist voice in the film isn't limited to one Jerkass. The film being so Anvilicious may alienate atheist and Christian viewers.
    • The end where Radisson seems to have seen the error of his ways and is heading to apologize to his ex-girlfriend. This would have made a much better conclusion to his story where he reconciles with his girlfriend, possibly admits to Josh that he was wrong to force his beliefs instead of teaching the class, and in doing so really develop his character where while he might not believe in God, he shouldn't be such a jerk to people that do. Instead, it just up and kills him and he converts to Jesus before he dies just to give a "there are no atheists in foxholes" message. This, despite the fact it was already made clear he wasn't an atheist.
    • Speaking of the subplots, the fact that only one of said subplots has any connection to the main plot, that being Martin becoming a Christian because of Josh's speeches. But even then that is hardly developed as all it ever does is focuses him trying to talk to his father about religion for about a minute and said father just not giving him the time of day. How hard would have been for all the subplots to be based around several of the students changing because of how Josh's speeches had affected them? Though he does inspire them all to say "God's not dead" at the end, this is so rushed it seems more like just a "screw you" to Radisson.
    • Ayisha's storyline. Her father's depicted as a somewhat sympathetic Anti-Villain, who loves his daughter but can't tolerate her abandoning Islam. Given proper time to develop both characters and their motivations (explaining why and how Ayisha became a Christian, at least), this storyline could have worked. In the movie, it's so rushed amidst the film's other dozen subplots that the emotional payoff (Ayisha's father kicking her out of the house) barely registers.
    • Ayisha's introduction also easily could have been used to strengthen the film's anti-atheist message by demonstrating that people from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds agree on the existence of a higher power. Instead, it's used for yet another conversion subplot—just one involving a Muslim converting to Christianity instead of an atheist. Because God forbid (no pun intended) the film include any sympathetic characters who are anything other than evangelical Protestant Christians.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic:
    • Mark Shelley, the Jerkass business man. It is made clear he does not want to visit his mother because of her dementia that has gotten so bad she can't even remember she has had the same meal for every meal for a week. To some people, it is extremely painful for them to see their loved ones not even remember who they are and makes it a bit understandable as to why he doesn't want to see her.
    • Josh's girlfriend. True, she seems to be a little high-strung, but her actions show that she really does care about Josh and did love him. She didn't want him to debate against Radisson because she felt that upsetting such a highly influential teacher would cost him big time in his future all because of a personal matter. Which she was right on with, as Radisson promised to do just that. Then there was the fact that she was willing to stay with him when they got into college where she admits she turned down two better colleges she favored to be with him, whereas Josh wouldn't even change one class because it would mess with his schedule, not to mention the fact her own mother did not approve of him but she defended him and stayed with him. And lastly there was how clearly she was hurt and shocked with how coldly Josh just agreed to break up with her when she gave him the option. Yet this movie tries to portray her as the Eve trying to corrupt Josh away from God.
    • Radisson. It is quite clear after The Reveal of why he hates God: he is more or less someone that is suffering from his mother's death. Having experienced such a traumatic experience as a child to lose his mother and believing that God is good practically drilled into his head since birth, to see his desperate pleas go unanswered must have taken a severe toll on him. He is just a man angry at his own powerlessness, so therefore he demands complete control in his classroom and his love life, both of which crumble the moment someone changes this. In the end, he was just a guy who never got the help he clearly needed; not helped at all by one of the missionaries referring to his death as "a cause for celebration."
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
    • Josh has a few:
      • The breakup with his girlfriend. True, his girlfriend seems to be a bit controlling (having planned 50 years of their future as a couple). However, she also mentions that she turned down offers from two other better colleges to stay with him. Josh never once said she didn't have to do that and he could have just taken a different class, but didn't want to simply because it messed with his schedule. She also mentions that her own mother did not approve of her dating him but still defended him and chose to date him anyway, and we can see how well that turned out. Not to mention the fact Josh doesn't react to the breakup at all and doesn't even try to convince her otherwise (and from her reaction it was clear she was hoping he would and is shocked on how coldly he agrees to her suggestion). He just agrees to it and leaves her without a second thought.
      • The main reason Josh is fighting against Radisson is because Radisson dismisses his belief. However throughout his arguments Josh does nothing but dismiss every other belief aside from Christianity. He then constantly asserts that only Christianity is the correct belief and you can only be a good person if you believe in Christianity. Which the film takes great pains to present as completely correct. Then there's the fact that Josh is going through all of this trouble even though he admits in other scenes that even he isn't 100% sure God exists, which makes him come off less like a devout Christian fighting for his faith, or even people's right to believe what they want against pressure to conform, and more like a pompous ideologue that's outraged someone would challenge his beliefs at all.
      • Some of his arguments to support his claims are nothing more than mean jabs at his teacher (of course, Radisson's jabs make Josh's look mild). But since Radisson is a Straw Man villain that is expected of him, whereas from the Pure Good Student it undermines him.
      • Radisson confides in Josh about the death of his mother and how he became an atheist after his prayers to save her went unanswered. Josh later brings this information up in front of the entire class during the last debate and browbeats Radisson until he has an emotional breakdown in front of them. It comes across as a tasteless and underhanded thing for Josh to have done, making him seem just as nasty as he complained Radisson was being to him.
    • The two missionaries. They are comic relief for most of the film, but after Radisson is hit by a car and is dying in the street, their biggest concern rather than comfort him is to try and convert him to Christianity before he passes. The way they want to "celebrate" after he dies makes this even worse.
  • Values Dissonance: Viewing the events of the movie through Orthodoxnote  Christian ethics makes them make a lot more sense, even if the viewer doesn't agree with them. Josh dumping his girlfriend for trying to convince him to drop the fight with Radisson? She was the Temptress trying to distance him from God. The fact that she dresses sexy is intended to drive this point home and make her less sympathetic. Josh is intended to be seen as noble and laudable for having the strength of character to drive her away. The joyful mood at Radisson's death? Those two missionaries saved his eternal soul (at the last second no less), which is infinitely more important than any earthly concern, of course that's a reason to be joyful.
  • The Woobie: Mina, who does nothing but looks after her dementia-stricken mother, and has to deal with an asshole brother who won't visit her, and a professor boyfriend who verbally abuses and humiliates her for her belief at every available opportunity. She's one of the few non-insufferable characters in the movie, if only because of her lack of screen time.

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