Despite Christianity being the largest religious doctrine in the world, Christians are harassed, discriminated against and oppressed in many places all over the world. Religious persecution is a big deal worldwide as explicitly stated when Reverend Jude (Onyango) warns Martin of his plan to preach the gospel in Communist China. In response to the film being called an example of "fake persecution" by an Atheist blogger, White stated, "It's an interesting thing, because, if it wasn't real, why do they get so offended by it.I don't think it would annoy people if it wasn't true." Of course if we followed that logic every teething toddler at a Dennys would be considered a sage.
While doing so he confronts a grotesque bureaucratic flunky who warns him in an exchange so over-the-top you'd swear the movie was hinting at a vast Atheistic conspiracy. White has to turn in three years worth of notes on his sermons to the government because of.reasons.
In a side story, returning character, actual producer and Keystone Kops impersonator David A.R.
It's more cobbled together out of a few lower court cases taken out of context and those dubious Facebook posts your angry Uncle from Omaha wishes were true but aren't. Much like the film's predecessor, God's Not Dead 2 isn't based on any specific case of religious persecution. While confusing and conflating basic legal concepts like "precedent" and "discovery" and "defendant", the film nevertheless aims its sights on drumming up accusations of religious persecution while playing to the very tired culture war clichés we've gotten sick of twenty years ago.
Yet what the movie gets wrong, it gets very wrong starting with it's representation of a legal system gone rogue. Then there's Melissa Joan Hart who truth be told is a much better central figure than Shane Harper, who's pious college freshman was more weaselly than anything. He exhibits a sincerity we never saw before and one can't help but think if the movie were about him, it'd be a hundred times better. Also as far as acting goes, returning cast member Paul Kwo is given much more to do than be a walking Asian stereotype. Thankfully, God's Not Dead 2 doesn't outright vilify atheists and doubters like it's prequel in-fact one of our heroes, scrappy attorney Tom Endler (Metcalfe) is an agnostic who doesn't become a convert by the end credits. His ability to manipulate his audience to well up in a flurry of sanctimonious pride and self-adulation is not to be underestimated.
Director Harold Cronk has sure learned a lot since 2014 though some of the elevated crane shots and glossy establishing scenes may have something to do with a bigger budget. Wesley be able to continue professing her faith? Will she lose her job? Will Reverend Dave (White) finally be able to start his car? And did Tituba really see Goodie Proctor with the devil? Okay let's dissect this bloated corpse of a movie by first highlighting the good parts. and Jesus Christ, the public school, teachers union, local government, and the ACLU are all out for blood. Wesley (Hart) had the temerity, the gall, nay the malicious, impudent daring to draw parallels to Martin Luther King Jr. God's Not Dead 2 follows an ensemble cast (some old, some new), all flung into the sticky tendrils of a flimsy courtroom drama surrounding a history teacher and her answer to a contentious classroom question.