Thread by @AndrewLSeidel

My Atheist At the Movie thread of cruel and unusual self-punishment will be here.
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Buckle friends, we're about to see some serious atheist-bashing from the loving Christians at Pure Flix.
Y'all ready for this?
Here. We. Go.

First thought, the title is right. Existence is a prerequisite to death. So, to be a pedant, god really isn't dead.

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Watching with CC and on the computer to grab screenshots reveals all kinds of fun stuff in the Christian background music. Guess @LucienGreaves wins(?) for getting the first mention.
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Yeah, there's a lot of not-so-veiled racism in this movie.
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So class registration scene and we're already seeing the Christian persecution complex--the yearning to be persecuted--in full swing.

Highly recommend Nixey's book, The Darkening Age, which puts a lot of this myth to rest, especially the Roman Colosseum stuff.

Already we see no attempt to develop characters, just an attempt to develop stereotypes. There's no depth or realism or humanity, just molding characters into the preconceived evangelical Christian mold.
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OOOOH Hercules is here!

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And here we are on the first day of philosophy class at the evil university learning about atheism, which totally happens to everyone. Everywhere.
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I actually forgot how bad this movie really is. I'm amazed at this.
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So at @FFRF we handle between 4,000 and 5,000 state-church complaints every year. Never have we had a complaint about an atheist professor or teacher imposing his atheism on students. Not sure if this is a public school or not, but this may be the most absurd part (hahaha)

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The lowercase g, extra credit joke.
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So how much of this movie is just mean to scare people away from higher education? These evil godless professors persecuting Christians and taking power away from students. @C_Stroop must have thoughts on this. Perhaps post viewing debacle.
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So how much of this movie is just mean to scare people away from higher education? These evil godless professors persecuting Christians and taking power away from students. @C_Stroop must have thoughts on this. Perhaps post viewing debacle.
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Dude, three sizeable readings for the first day of a freshman philosophy class. That's enough to scare anyone away.
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I forgot Duck Dynasty. Totally. Damn, that's an unfortunate reminder. This here is the scene where the fake news media gets schooled (y'all) by the down home Christians. Move along, no tropes to see here.

Did you know that they pray to Jesus?

Here's where the enlightened Christians empathize with the backward Muslims.
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Really leaning in to every stereotype they can in this movie.

Here's where the lost student seeks knowledge from the wise preacher, @DavidARWhite, who drops mad nonsense, on our lost student. This class is his mission field! Oh, and the bible. The bible answers all. Wish they would look at Matthew 6:5-6, esp next week (Day of Prayer)
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Liberals "don't have time for cancer." They're too "busy" and "important." You couldn't write this stuff with a straight face.
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YOU GUYS! THEY MET IN YOUTH GROUP AND THEY'RE CELEBRATING THEIR ANNIVERSARY AT A CHRISTIAN CONCERT, IT IS SO WHOLESOME MY GODLESS CAN'T STAND IT

We're just over 30 minutes in and already I need more booze. #AATM These two preachers are getting a car delivered, who wants to bring me some Irish whiskey?

OOOH, Hercules is going to debate a student.

#AATM ok, so the debate begins by shifting the burden and now he's got this very smooth presentation about the big bang, which the bible says is what happened. The bible is right, science is wrong.

Ahh yes, something from nothing. And a student quotes from The God Delusion, because that happens.
Josh answers the infinite regress problem by defining god out of the problem, which is not an answer because if god doesn't need a creator, neither does the universe.
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It's interesting that Christian Pure Flix portrays this as an argument from authority (Hawking, Dawkins, et al) vs an argument from authority (the bible).

"Do you think you're smarter than me, Wheaton?" says Hercules threateningly. Atheism is not about intelligence.
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Atheists are not smarter than Christians. We just have a different idea. Christians who become atheists, there are many, don't get smarter over night. They just change their minds.
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Holy shit! She's dumping him after 6 years because he stood up to an evil atheist colllege prof. You guys, he really is like a persecuted Christian of old. (Oh, and her mother was right about Josh, BURN!)
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Back to the racism. The Muslim is listening to Franklin Graham. Cue the ominous music. Little bro takes her ipod (remember those) and knows that 1 Corinthians is from the Christian bible. So that makes him more knowledgeable than our "two Corinthians" president.
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Dean Cain is not a good actor, but he plays a fantastic asshole. hmmmmmm

"Grow up Amy" Love is bullshit he says, when she tells him she has cancer. Then he literally lists off the stereotypes they are filling in the movie.
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More racism in this library scene (guys, this library is really, really crowded for a weeknight at the beginning of the semester, makes me think the filmmakers may not have been to college) in which Josh first chats with the exchange student from China. ("You are Mr Josh?")
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Brand new rental car doesn't work. Guys, I think the big G-O-D doesn't want these two preachers to go on their road trip. He needs them here. God has a plan for them. "Sometimes you make too much" sense.
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Next library scene makes me even more suspicious about the filmmakers perhaps not actually going to school. Who stamps books now?
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Now Hercules is passive-aggressively pissed that his lady left his wine in the car. She's a former student w/ a"brain inside that pretty head."

So we've got racism. Lot's of sexism (Hercules just asked, "You've been reading again, haven't you"!!!!). Some more racism. And then a dash more sexism. Oh, and the atheists are not really people, just lines strung together from Hitchens and Dawkins debates (literally).
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YES! This is the smug dinner party scene where all the godless professors laugh at the Christian who bravely tells them: "I actually believe in god." And then evil prof condescendingly shuts her up and changes the subject.
Classic music and wine. Because, you know.
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And the bad wine is coming back to haunt the dinner party. These smug sons-of-bitches!
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Back to all the argument and counterarguments from authority.
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And now Hercules's Christian girlfriend/server is meeting with the preacher who can't start a car. He's dropping some more knowledge, but he'll get to the religion in a minute.

Ope, there it is.

Oh shit, Josh is coming after "Darwinists" now. "Nature does not jump" becomes "nature takes a giant leap" if you just reconfigure the timeline and compress it. That little sleight of logic leads us to, wait for it.... the bible!
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Damn, Hercules gives a slow-clap. "Lies, lies, lies."
And here we get to perhaps the biggest atheist trope:
"What happened to you?" Josh asks.
Evil Hercules prof saw his mom die of cancer at age 12. Awful. God didn't save her despite prayers.
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I think this is one of the...

...biggest misconceptions about atheists: that atheism stems from pain or an emotional injury. It doesn't. We just have new evidence, new facts, new knowledge and we change our minds. Atheism is not born of pain, but of knowledge.
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So. Much. Racism.
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https://twitter.com/C_Stroop/status/1256044304499224577

🎶🎶confession time, here's what I got 🎶🎶
I had to get a refill. It was a necessity. And I didn't pause because this will be over sooner.
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Did I miss anything?
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Just kidding. It's all predictable tripe.

The beaten child is told "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" which is a lie. It just means that the believer never has enough faith because her faith is insufficient to accomplish the impossible. So the fault is with her lack of faith. So harmful.
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The answer to the problem of evil is free will. So that's sorted.
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And now we're on to morality and the need for god to anchor it. This is something I dive into in The Founding Myth. Moral absolutists are just relativists masquerading as absolutists.

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We're at the climax of the debate, and, though the music tells the viewer otherwise, it is supremely hollow. "Who are you looking to fail, professor? Me, or God?" This is just so bad.
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Hey! In this movie, even the backward Chinese communist gets saved! He's "decided to follow Jesus" all because Josh stood up to the evil atheist prof. But totally not racist, you guys. Really, it's not.
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I learned that if your car won't start, repeatedly, and even if a bunch of different cars wont' start, all you have to do is have faith. Seems not-so-legit.
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The Newsboys just said that god and Jesus are more real than people. That about sums up my feelings on religion. People are secondary.
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And now the liberal journalist is going to find god. Why? Because she's vulnerable and in a personal crisis. That's what converts people. Religion preys on the vulnerable and they're not even shy about it in this scene!
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The evil atheist prof Hercules is now reading a letter from his dead Christian mother and I sincerely apologize to
@C_Stroop @LucienGreaves @DebGod @LeighannLord @julieingersoll @GayleMJordan and everyone else. I am the worst. For real.
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Musical intermission. Christian rock concert is coming. And I refer you all to this tweet. As previously started, I am the worst.
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https://twitter.com/AndrewLSeidel/status/1256024573927133185

Spoiler, the atheist prof gets hit by a car (who is driving!) and dies. But in his last moments, those of distress, he converts.
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Ok, so this is the most predatory scene ever. A guy is dying in the street and a preacher is not giving medical attention, but trying to convert him.
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Also, check out this cinematography! (It far outstrips the acting in this death scene, yikes, Sorbo.)

If you ever come across someone dying in the street, provide medical aide or step aside for someone who can. Do not minister to them in the preachy sense. Minister to them in the health sense. This is seriously fucked up and it's the climax of the movie.
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Oh shit. It's the song, you guys. And Duck Dynasty is introducing it. It's all so much and so special and THEY ARE DEDICATING THE SONG TO THE KID WHO DEFENDED GOD.
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The movie is now just a music video and it's awful. I wish radio killed the video, not the reverse. Or killed me. What fresh hell is this?
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Viewers are supposed to text everyone they know, "God's not dead," so glad none of you tweeps have my number.
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Ok, the merciful gods of Netflix ended the music and credits and want me to watch the Final Table. I"m very tempted, but I'll hand around to answer all the queries I missed during the show. Also, let me ask this....
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What is the worst part of God's Not Dead?
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Apologies for all the typoes. Hazerds of live-tweeting a movie, especially one so very very baad. Normally, I deeleetee typo tweets, but doig soo would break the thread. (Yes, I know, its a joke.)(Yes, so was that.)

And that, my intrepid #AATM friends, is the end for me. I'm off to bed.