GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST Stars Want You to Vote — Here’s Why
Movieguide® Contributor
GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST stars David A.R. White and Scott Baio told Movieguide® all about the movie’s powerful message before its release on Sept. 12.
“We hadn’t even planned on making a second one…but with every [one], it seems the way our country goes and the way our culture moves, a GOD’S NOT DEAD movie kind of just lands right in the middle of that to open up conversations, to kind of bring to light different things that most people don’t talk about,” said White, who plays Pastor David Hill in the movie, “and other films don’t show and so we feel a little bit of a call to continue to make these when it’s put upon us, and that’s where GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST came from.”
IN GOD WE TRUST is the GOD’S NOT DEAD franchise’s fifth installment. The movie started development three years ago, and its makers didn’t know its release would align perfectly with the elections.
Baio, who plays Wesley in the movie, told Movieguide®, “David called me and said that you know we’ve got this role and GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST coming out September 12th, and I read the script and…I’m a very politically minded guy, and I just love the fact that David was doing this kind of story about politicians wanting to take God out of everything, and we were talking about that briefly how they want government to become God, and I don’t subscribe to that. I know millions of other Americans don’t as well, and then David told me a statistic that just blew my mind is that 40 million Christians don’t vote, and I was like, well if I can help in any way get some of those people to get out and vote, I’m happy to jump on board.”
White’s desire for the movie is that audiences enjoy the underdog theme but take away its message of hope and understand the importance of voting.
Movieguide®’s +4 review of the movie reads:
Pastor David Hill of the GOD’S NOT DEAD franchise is back, in a new story titled IN GOD WE TRUST. Everywhere Pastor Hill turns, it seems like God and Christianity are being erased and replaced by hostile, godless, immoral values. When a candidate dies unexpectedly, Reverend David decides to run for Congress against Peter Kane. Kane is a died-in-the-wool atheist fundamentalist. He wants to totally erase God and Christian, biblical values from America. Meanwhile, the local women’s shelter is losing government funding merely because some of the women started a Bible study.
GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST is a well-crafted movie that’s consistently enjoyable, well-acted and suspenseful. David A.R. White and Ray Wise do wonderful jobs opposing one another. They are ably supported by the rest of the cast, which includes Dean Cain and Isaiah Washington. GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST has a strong Christian, biblical, moral worldview. It stresses the importance of God and Christianity in our culture, politics and daily lives. The movie gives parents a chance to discuss God and political issues with their older children.
Crosswalk notes the movie spins a “fresh perspective” on politics. In the movie, Hill’s manager encourages him to do a negative campaign to get attention. But as a pastor, he knows that’s not the way to go and sticks to his Biblical principles.
“There’s a great line in the movie that…says, ‘You guys were angry when they eliminated prayer in school. Imagine how angry you’re going to be when they take God, you know, off of our dollar, off of our money,’” White said. “It’s ‘In God we trust’ for a reason. Our country was built on the biblical principles.”
In the movie, Baio plays the “brash” and “rude” campaign manager for Peter Kane, the man running for Congress against David.
“It’s just a fun role to play,” Baio said, “and I just had a good time. I got to work with Ray Wise whom everybody knows, and…the movies are a lot of different pieces of a puzzle, and I was just one of the pieces of a puzzle, and I was happy to…finish the puzzle.”
“Not every movie that comes down the pipe is a faith-based movie, but you know I have a 16-year-old daughter. She’s a good Christian girl, and my choice now would be to do more movies like this because, at a certain point in your life, your priorities change…The reason I want to do movies like this is because I want my daughter and David’s children, children that I know, to grow up in the country that I grew up in, and I feel like it’s not even close to the country that we all grew up in,” the HAPPY DAYS star said.
GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST came out Sept. 12. White asks that interested viewers buy a ticket and watch the movies in theaters because, like voting promotes victory for a side, buying a ticket promotes a positive, faith-based message that will reach more people.
“If the audience doesn’t come the same way as an election, you know, the outcome is not the same and so, you know, cast your vote for the movie first. Show up on that opening weekend,” he says. “It’s so important and then, you know, at the end of the movie there’s a QR code to register to vote for all those people who are not registered to vote and I would say just register to vote and vote you know come November 5th.”
“Just have your voice, because if you don’t do it somebody else will and you’re not going to like what they’re doing,” he said. “We need to stand up. Send the message to Washington. Tell them you’re not ready to give that power up.”
“You have the power to change things. Not me, not him. You. In God we trust and without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure,” he said.
“GOD’S NOT DEAD: IN GOD WE TRUST serves as a bold reminder that complacency can erode our liberties, freedom, and faith when we fail to actively defend and uphold them,” said producer Michael Scott in a statement. “If we truly believe in a faithful God who is ‘good all the time,’ we must be willing to speak out and stand firm in out beliefs, even in the face of great risks and opposition.”
