"God's Not Dead In God We Trust" - A Movie Review

Separation of Church and State and ending religious "superstition" form the basis of State Senator Kane's campaign for U.S. Congress in "God's Not Dead In God We Trust", the fifth installment in the "God Is Not Dead" movie series. Superbly portrayed by Ray Wise, an American actor originally from Ohio, State Senator Kane receives good news for his campaign

when six weeks before the election, his sole opponent passes away.

This news is not well received by Senator Smith, portrayed by a former member of the U.S. AirForce, Isaiah Washington, however. As he realizes that with Kane's impending election to the

U.S. Congress, the makeup of the country's main legislative body will be tilted in the direction of atheism being used to usher in big government and socialism. Smith then recruits a once

prominent political campaign strategist, Lottie Jay, portrayed by the half-Scottish and half-Italian who was born in Tokyo actress, Samaire Rhys Armstrong, to recruit the Reverend David Hill, a small town pastor from a small town in Arkansas, to challenge Senator Kane.

Portrayed by David Andrew Roy White, who is actually the son of a Mennonite pastor in real life, the Reverend David Hill is faced with the challenge of trying to keep open the women's center he and his Church have supported after the federal funding for it is pulled due to some women having a Bible Study in the center. This was a Bible Study that the women, themselves, hosted and not a requirement of the center. And when he is approached by Lottie to run for office, he is naturally hesitant. For he is a pastor and not a politician. And after he does agree to run for office, he is faced with the challenge of running for office but staying true to his values as a

Christian pastor.

While the Reverend David Hill was recruited to run for office by Smith's team because of his public commitment to his faith, the staff that is in charge of running his campaign is a

professional one. And they are used to running campaigns the way traditional campaigns are run. With "business, politics, the law, banking or international development" being some of the "power professions" to which sociopaths are drawn to as explained in "The Sociopath Next Door" by Dr. Martha Stout, the professional campaign staff headed by Lottie Jay is trained to run campaigns in the negative style an environment replete with such individuals calls for. And the professional staff is very insistent that the Reverend Hill tone down his religious themed statements. Which is something that the Reverend Hill cannot do. And which Kane's staff is very quick to successfully use against him.

However, as the movie states, one cannot run and "hide in the mountains", and the Reverend Hill decides against dropping out of the race when all of the poll numbers and trials in his own life indicate that he should. With the Reverend Hill explaining that Separation of Church and State was not meant to keep the Church out of government, but the government out of Church.

An hour and forty-six minutes in length, "God's Not Dead In God We Trust" features remarkably good acting and an engaging story line. At times the camera angles cut off parts of the actors' heads which is the main clue that this is not a Steven Spielberg production. But, with the cast being so adept in their roles, the errors in cinematography are easily overlooked. The

soundtrack of the motion picture gives a lot of prominence to the Christian rock band, Newsboys. And overall "God's Not Dead In God We Trust" is an inspiring film that makes for a

good evening out as well as a thought provoking one. For as the movie points out repeatedly,

40 million Christians do not vote and 15 million Christians aren't even registered to vote.