This time, the main character runs for Congress while being accused of being a Christian Nationalist

Jul 02, 2024

It’s finally here. The trailer for the movie you didn’t know you didn’t want: God’s Not Dead 5 (technically titled God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust).

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For those of you who stopped following this series a while ago, the previous chapter (God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, which came out in 2021) saw the main character Reverend David Hill, played again by David A. R. White, defend Christian homeschooling against overzealous liberals in Washington who claim its inadequate and not giving children the basic education they need.

This time, Hill runs for Congress against an incumbent, the aptly named Peter Kane, who warns people against voting for a Christian Nationalist. During an interview, Hill retorts, “Whenever anyone of faith promotes a policy that you don't like, you label them a Christian Nationalist!” (Peter Kane, by the way, appeared in God’s Not Dead 2 as a prosecutor who went to court to stop a teacher from mentioning the Bible in her classroom. He said in that film that his lawsuit would “prove once and for all that God is dead!” Then, of course, he lost.)

The trailer is bookended by speech clips from President Ronald Reagan. Actors appearing in the film include former-stars-turned-MAGA-cultists Dean Cain and Scott Baio. And to fulfill the right-wing propaganda outlet quota, Mike Huckabee makes an appearance as a self-righteous talk show host while Raymond Arroyo plays the moderator of the congressional debate.

It’s not clear from the trailer whether Kane is an atheist even if he was in God’s Not Dead 2. He just seems to be a run of the mill liberal here, the sort of person who says at a campaign rally, “We must maintain a wall of separation between church and state! Religion has no place in the public square!” It’s telling that the film uses that line to show audiences he’s the bad guy. After all, there’s nothing anti-Christian about that statement. Plenty of Christians support church/state separation, too.

And if there’s no open atheist in the movie, why is this franchise still going on? The new film is just a way to milk the title of the first film to sell some other kind of Christian propaganda. White could’ve spent two hours literally beating a dead horse on camera, called it God’s Not Dead: The Horse Gets It, and that film would be less subtle than the one that’s about to be released.

Based on the trailer, there’s no self-awareness of how white evangelical Christians have harmed our nation in recent years. While Project 2025 remains an ever-present threat, red states are demanding public schools display the Ten Commandments in the classroom or teach directly from the Bible, and white evangelicals are going to use their muscle to elect a convicted felon who’s broken every one of their so-called “values,” you can’t seriously make a case for why another white evangelical in Congress who opposes church/state separation would be a benefit to society.

The only question is how well this movie will do.

Just to recap this history of this franchise, the first God’s Not Dead truly was a phenomenon, making more than $64 million during its run in theaters in 2014. The sequel, which came out in 2016, made over $24 million. That likely covered all the production costs and then some, but it wasn’t a blockbuster by any means.

God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, the third film in the series, made just over $7 million.

God’s Not Dead: We the People, the fourth film, made an estimated $1,170,367. Total.

Another way of analyzing the success of a film is looking at how it did in its opening weekend.

God’s Not Dead made $9,217,013 in 780 theaters (an average of $11,817) its first weekend.

God’s Not Dead 2 made $7,623,662 in 2,419 theaters (an average of $3,151).

God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness made $2,689,677 in 1,693 theaters (an average of $1,588).

God’s Not Dead: We the People made $1,170,367 in 565 theaters (an average of $685). Unlike the previous films, this one only appeared in theaters for three days.

How bad are those recent numbers? Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas made more money per theater on its opening weekend (roughly $2,419), and that movie’s one of the worst rated films in IMDb’s history.

All of that is to say: No one needed a fifth God’s Not Dead film. Considering the decline of the franchise and the struggles in the movie theater business right now, there’s an open question of how badly this film will do and whether it’ll even make enough money to cover its budget.

Whatever the case, the movie will be in theaters September 12, courtesy of the Christian film studio Pinnacle Peak Pictures. And then, after you blink, it’ll be gone. You won’t be missing anything worthwhile.