History YMMV / GodsNotDeadALightInDarkness

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: This film has a less pro-Christian, anti-atheist/anti-liberal bias than the first two. The Christian Right accused the filmmakers of caving in to "the Left's" complaints about the first two and refused to support it, while everyone else who would have appreciated the change took one look at the title, assumed it would be like the other films, and ignored it too. So it flopped at the box office.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: As stated below, this film has less of a pro-Christian, anti-atheist/anti-liberal bias than the first two. As such, the Christian Right accused the filmmakers of caving in to "the Left's" complaints about the first two and refused to support it, while everyone else took one look at the title, assumed it would be more of the same, and ignored it too. As a result, it flopped at the box office.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Giving a much more even-handed look at those who didn't believe in God and streamlining the story by reducing the number of subplots actually made this one of the more critically well-liked Pure Flix films.

* CriticalDissonance: Despite being considered a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel by critics (at least compared to the previous two) it bombed at the box office and was derided by its usual audience for "not having a Christian message anymore", meaning that the usual audience only wants a dogmatic portrayal of Christianity.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: This movie seems to address many common critiques of its predecessors, notably in presenting its conflicts in a much more balanced way where BothSidesHaveAPoint, Pastor Dave isn't always in the right and the two main antagonists are presented as genuinely sympathetic rather than Christian-hating strawmen.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** While the film tones down the propaganda aspects, it still makes a key problem with its plot. The idea is that when a church on the grounds of a college burns down, the college attempts to use eminent domain to seize it and tear it down. Only a city or state government would have that power, not a school. Plus, it was on their grounds to begin with, meaning they technically already owned the building and thus have no need to seize it.
** Additionally it's apparent that none of the filmmakers have visited any public or 'liberal' universities and colleges, as many of them have chapels or churches on their campus (often holdovers from days when Christianity was the sole religion among students aside from a few Jews) and instead of demanding their demolition, school administrations have usually just made other changes (such as multi-faith worship spaces) as the student population diversified. In reality as well you would be hard-pressed to find a college, university, or any public school where ''no'' Christian students or groups exist and trying something like this would cause ''huge'' negative publicity.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many fans of the two previous films have dismissed this movie as a "cash grab" which no longer had a Christian message. However, it has also been theorized that the movie's more [[BothSidesHaveAPoint even-handed treatment]] of the arguments presented, as opposed to the [[BrokenAesop "Christians are right and Atheists are wrong"]] approach of its predecessors, may not have played well with the more dogmatic members of the franchise's fanbase.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many fans of the two previous films have dismissed this movie as a "cash grab" which no longer had a Christian message. However, it has also been theorized that the movie's more [[BothSidesHaveAPoint even-handed treatment]] of the arguments presented, as opposed to the [[BrokenAesop "Christians are right and Atheists are wrong"]] approach of its predecessors, may not have played well with the more dogmatic members of the franchise's fanbase.
%% * UnfortunateImplications: While this movie seems to [[AuthorsSavingThrow address many common critiques of its predecessors]], [[WebVideo/RenegadeCut Leon Thomas]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5uu6bUzI2c argues]] that it has even more insidious message of its own, citing that the film's cries for "civility" are a thinly veiled request for peaceful (albeit confrontational) protesters against the status quo to basically QuitYourWhining.

* BrokenBase: More secular audiences think it's a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel because it [[BothSidesHaveAPoint fleshes out both sides of the conflict]] instead of portraying the conflict as "Victimized Christians vs Evil {{Hollywood Atheist}}s". Unfortunately, the more Evangelical viewers the films were made for [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks see these changes as a downgrade]], seeing it as a cynical cash grab that forgoes its Christian messaging if favor of appealing to both sides.

* BrokenBase: More secular audiences think it's a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel because it [[BothSidesHaveAPoint fleshes out both sides of the conflict]] instead of portraying the conflict as "Victimized Christians vs {{Straw Atheist}}s". Unfortunately, the more Evangelical viewers the films were made for [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks see these changes as a downgrade]], seeing it as a cynical cash grab that forgoes its Christian messaging if favor of appealing to both sides.

* BrokenBase: More secular audiences think it's a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel because it [[BothSidesHaveAPoint fleshes out both sides of the conflict]] instead of portraying the conflict as "Victimized Christians vs {{Straw Atheist}}s". Unfortunately, more the Evangelical viewers the films were made for [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks see these changes as a downgrade]], seeing it as a cynical cash grab that forgoes its Christian messaging if favor of appealing to both sides.