The Christian film series “God Is Not Dead” has released five episodes in the last decade. (Most of my friends balked when I told them this.) The newest film, “God Is Not Dead: In God We Trust,” channels the series’ faith-film scope into national party politics, and its creators hope their fictional narrative will make a creative impact. There is real world impact on this election.

The series is based on the 2013 evangelical self-help book of the same name. The first film, released in 2014, revolves around an evangelical college student who debates the existence of the biblical god with an aggressive atheist philosophy professor. Most importantly, this situation is not portrayed as a legitimate, well-intentioned philosophical disagreement. The professor’s refusal to accept the existence of God is revealed to be irrational, under the influence of the pain he feels from his mother’s tragic death.

This is insightful about how the franchise as a whole views non-believers. In the “God Is Not Dead” cinematic universe, non-Christians are either future converts, self-deceivers, malicious anti-Christian actors, or some combination of the three.

Since then, episodes in the series have further deepened the theme of Christians being persecuted by secular society and government, with the second last episode in 2020 focusing on the oppression of a Christian homeschooling family.

“In God We Trust” attempts to tackle a buzzword in the years following the 2020 election: Christian nationalism. An incumbent Republican congressman from Arkansas died unexpectedly six weeks before Election Day. Pastor Dave Hill, who was the supporting character of the 2014 film and rose to become the protagonist of the subsequent films, is appointed as the new candidate. His opponent is Democratic state Sen. Peter Kane, a ruthless and power-hungry career politician determined to reinforce the separation of church and state.

The film opens with Kane offering his condolences at a press conference for the death of incumbent Rick West. He is almost immediately hounded by journalists demanding answers to his plans to “restrict religious freedom”. As he leaves without answering these questions, behind closed doors, Kane tells campaign staff that his opponent’s death “could allow us to catch up with the rest of the modern world” and toasts to “the Enlightenment, reason, and the reshaping of our nation.” sunflower seed.”

Kane’s juxtaposition with the small-town, Bible-challenging anti-politician Dave brings the film’s central conflict into focus. It’s a fight between conservative Christians with the values ​​and worldview of the hard-working average Joe and cynical elitists who call them reactionary and superstitious and want to vaguely “restrict religious freedom.”

That’s one of the main problems with this movie: While Dave gets excited about vague ideas like “Christian values,” “small government,” and “standing up,” it’s rare for any of the characters to lay out actual concrete policy positions. The only exception is universal health care: during the live debate, Kane says he’s in favor of it, saying the government should take care of its own people, while Dave argues that it would require too much government spending and vaguely points to a system with religious organizations. (like his church) will fill this gap.

During this discussion, Kane directly accuses the priest of being a Christian nationalist. “It’s not fair,” Dave complains, before moving on to the following argument:

“Whenever a believer advocates a policy you don’t like, you brand him a Christian nationalist. Consider a Christian school board member who opposes books that are not appropriate for children. Nationalist? Or is it just a worried parent?”

While Dave talks generally about “books unsuitable for children,” he neglects to provide further detail. For example, what books does this school board member oppose? Why are the books not suitable for children? In many cases, Christian school board members, like the one Dave mentioned, have attempted to restrict or ban books that discuss LGBTQ people and related topics that they oppose because of their personal beliefs. However, Dave never mentions gays and trans people in the movie.

That’s the fundamental problem with this movie: it refuses to offer Dave a concrete stance, because if he did, people might find reasons to disagree with him and the message of the movie as a whole. Because of these shortcomings, “In God We Trust” ends up being fundamentally hypocritical about what Christian nationalism represents and why people oppose it.

As previously mentioned, Christian nationalists have attempted to use their political power to restrict the rights of LGBTQ people. Over the past few years, transgender people have been in the spotlight; Here in Colorado, Christian right activists gathered this year behind a series of ballot initiatives This would have serious impacts on the freedoms of trans young people. These groups also made efforts. preventing access to reproductive health servicesand there are signs of this many will also ban no-fault divorce. Christian nationalists who use their faith to justify violating the rights of others are just the tip of the iceberg.

The film somehow manages to be even more dishonest with its fear-mongering about the consequences of a victory for secular Democrats. One of the characters describes his family’s experience as Christian refugees of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, saying that the Chinese Communist Party says “all the country’s problems have to do with religion and faith,” leading to religious persecution and the internment of Christians in camps. “A similar revolution appears to be developing in America,” he continues.

Another character echoes this, warning that if the Democrats win, “They’ll be in complete control… Hiding in the mountains won’t protect you from what’s going to happen.”

“In God We Trust” wants to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to the discussion of Christian nationalism. Dave, the spokesperson for the film’s messages, denies claims that he is a Christian nationalist. But his ideal government, and the government the film pushes for, is a government in which Christian voters elect Christian representatives to legislate based on Christian values. And the film devotes a fair amount of its running time to pseudo-historicity, Barton-like arguments America was intended by its founders to be a nation of Christians, by Christians.

“In God We Trust” makes its goals clear: The purpose of this film is not just entertainment or a hopeful message for people of faith, but a unifying cry for Christian nationalism. He repeatedly states: “40 million Christians do not vote; “Another 15 million people are not even registered.” This insistence that tens of millions of conservative Christian voters stayed home in the last election is regularly repeated by the religious right pollsters and Republican politiciansbut there is little evidence to prove this.

While his campaign manager repeatedly urged him to set aside his faith, Dave’s insistence on turning every stump speech and argument into a sermon is noted to have exposed the Christian conservatives’ base, resulting in him gaining a narrow victory over Kane. voters. “Maybe people are looking for more spiritual and moral leadership in Washington,” he tells Mike Huckabee (playing himself) in an interview.

But you don’t need to see the short film by former Arkansas governor Huckabee to understand that “In God We Trust” is a Republican political project. The creators said it themselves: Produced by Michael Scott he told Fox News “(Christians) should vote for what we stand for… Choose the candidates that are best for you.”

He continued: “For me, as a Christian, I think we need to do this… I always say, let your voice be heard, let your vote be heard. I think this is very important. And I think there’s such a political divide in today’s world. I don’t believe any man can mend this abyss. “I think if we put God at the center of this, that’s where we can see the difference.”

Efforts by Christian nationalists to link their movement to the Republican party are increasingly successful. Even Donald Trump has made efforts to encourage Christian votes with collectible Bibles, among other things. He went so far at a rally this weekend They call Democrats “evil” an expression often used for Christian nationalist conservatives Like Colorado’s pastor-turned-legislator Scott Bottoms.

The creators of “God Is Not Dead: In God We Trust” seem to believe that such strategies will benefit Republicans at the ballot box. We can expect to find out this week whether that’s actually the case.