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. Because Ms. Wesley (Hart) had the temerity, the gall, nay the malicious, impudent daring to draw parallels to Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus Christ, the public school, teachers union, local government, and the ACLU are all out for blood. Will Ms. 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. 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. His ability to manipulate his audience to well up in a flurry of sanctimonious pride and self-adulation is not to be underestimated. 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. Also as far as acting goes, returning cast member Paul Kwo is given much more to do than be a walking Asian stereotype. 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. 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.

Yet what the movie gets wrong, it gets very wrong; starting with it's representation of a legal system gone rogue. 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. Much like the film's predecessor, God's Not Dead 2 isn't based on any specific case of religious persecution. 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. In a side story, returning character, actual producer and Keystone Kops impersonator David A.R. White has to turn in three years worth of notes on his sermons to the government because of...reasons. 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.

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. 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. Despite Christianity being the largest religious doctrine in the world, Christians are harassed, discriminated against and oppressed in many places all over the world. And yes it does sometimes happen in the good 'ol US of A though despite some limitations you can still express your religion at home, school, work, church, billboards, park benches, television, radio, magazines and newspapers. Why cheapen a very real problem with a false conceit? Especially one even committed Atheists and the ACLU would side with the plaintiff.

Thankfully the main takeaway in God's Not Dead 2 is something most people can get behind; we shouldn't stifle religion nor any exchange of ideas or perspectives, even in something as revered (or in this case vilified) as the hallowed halls of a public school. That message is certainly a cut above God's Not Dead's (2014) all Atheists are whining children who never got what they wanted for Christmas. With a door wide open for yet another sequel to this drivel, I honestly would rather hear the rabble in Inherit the Wind (1960) sing "Give Me That Old Time Religion" in a loop for two hours.

It must greatly frustrate the religious right when they are routinely (and unfairly) portrayed in major films as fanatical, sanctimonious, comical, backwoods hicks. Well, "God's Not Dead 2" is clearly their revenge. In this movie, ACLU lawyers are all sneering, oily, evil Simon Legrees. School board characters are all smug, administrative wonks who readily conspire to persecute the sweet, perky teacher. The faces of anti-religion protesters are contorted into manic, rabid, drooling hatred. And mainstream media are all resolutely against God.

There are only black hats and white hats in this film. (Or should I say halos and horns.) No quarter is given to the many nuances or complexities of this issue. Which is a shame. It's a serious subject and deserves better. But the producer and director had no interest in any of that.

Clearly, this film is unapologetically one-sided. Conservative Christians feel embattled and marginalized in an increasingly secular world in which they are repeatedly losing watershed court cases. They haven't had much to cheer about recently and this film hits back at that "unfair", "Godless" world. Consequently, Evangelicals will absolutely love this film. All others will likely never see it unless they're dragged to the theatre and handcuffed to their seat.

As a Christian, I quite enjoyed the discussion of historical Jesus from the researchers/authors who played themselves in the film. What's more, GND2 is cinematically well crafted. But it take's more than just dreamily uttering the name of "Jesus" to make a good film. GND2 quickly deteriorates into a two hour sermon from the pulpit.

Oh, and BTW, it should come as no surprise that Pat Boone still can't act... and neither can Robin Givens.

"God's Not Dead 2" (PG, 2:01) is a fantasy – and I am NOT (repeat, NOT) referring to the religious beliefs at the film's core. At the Movie Fan Community Facebook Page, we conscientiously avoid taking sides when it comes to religion, politics, or controversial social issues. We simply evaluate movies on their own individual merits. Before "God's Not Dead 2", we previously reviewed about a dozen faith-based movies since starting this page in January 2015 – and we've reviewed the majority of them positively (e.g. "The Young Messiah", "Risen" and "Do You Believe?") and, although we didn't review it, we also saw the original "God's Not Dead". This sequel stands as one of the most unrealistic faith-based films we have ever seen (and, again, we are not referring to the film's biblical message). Our staff includes a former high school history teacher and an attorney. We think you'll find this review to be an objective and well-informed critique and a fair evaluation of this particular movie's own plusses and minuses.

While certainly very much in the spirit of its predecessor, "God's Not Dead 2" features an entirely new plot, but brings back some of the same characters from the 2014 original. Reverend Dave (David A. R. White) and Reverend Jude (Benjamin Onyango) reunite at Reverend Dave's church, while Chinese college student, Martin Yip (Paul Kwo) and blogger Amy Ryan (Trisha LaFache) each continue the respective faith journeys they began when each became Christians in the first film, plus the Christian rock band "Newsboys" again has a couple scenes. Other minor cast members worthy of note include "Duck Dynasty" cast member Sadie Robertson in her first feature film and the late Fred Thompson in a scene which marks his final on-screen role. Of course, as interesting as all that is, the main point of this movie is a second attempt by Pure Flix Entertainment, their go-to writing team of Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, and returning director Harold Cronk to prove to Movie Fans that God is not dead.

This time around, instead of in a college classroom, issues of faith come up in a high school classroom and the main debate is not between an atheist professor and his student, but between lawyers in an Arkansas courtroom. The trouble starts when public school history student Brooke Thawley (Hayley Orrantia) asks her teacher, committed Christian Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart), a question about Jesus' teachings as they relate to the Civil Rights Movement and Grace answers Brooke by quoting a passage from the New Testament. The phrasing of the question and the answer both sound purely academic in nature, but the principal (Robin Givens) and Brooke's parents (Carey Scott and Maria Canals-Barrera) are very upset and Grace soon finds herself appearing before the local school board.

Grace refuses to apologize for the way she answered Brooke's question, so the board lets the case go to court. Brooke's parents are represented by ACLU attorney Pete Kane (Ray Wise) who professes to hate everything Grace stands for. Grace's attorney, Tom Endler (Jesse Metcalfe) is a non-Christian "low man on the totem pole" provided by Grace's teacher's union. Tom is determined to win his case and Grace's grandfather (Pat Boone), whom she cares for in her home, encourages her, but she's afraid that she'll lose everything is she loses her court case. Reverend Dave ends up on the jury, blogger Amy Ryan's interest is peaked and this situation has a big impact on Brooke's life as well. Plus, the whole nation seems to be watching to see whether the name of Jesus will be barred from the classroom. Tom has to establish that Grace's classroom discussion with Brooke was historical and, therefore, academic in nature. He decides that the best way to prove his case is to prove Jesus' existence as an actual historical figure. As part of his case, he calls witnesses who include famous real-life atheists-turned-Christian authors Lee Strobel and J. Warner Wallace. Then, this young lawyer pulls a couple late trial tricks that are shocking to see the judge (Ernie Hudson) allow and to see opposing counsel not fight against harder.

"God's Not Dead 2" is well-acted and mostly well-directed, but it buries its own message underneath a pile of implausible plot points and dialog. The script imagines a world in which the mere mention of Jesus' name in a public school classroom could get a teacher fired and her teaching certificate revoked. Although some recent court decisions have gone against the Christian perspective on certain issues, the country that this film portrays simply does not exist. Nor does a courtroom exist in which the types of legal arguments and tactics that we see in this film could be employed. This movie furthers its fantasy by filling its world with non-Christians who are always bad people – uncaring parents, angry protesters, stupid judges and evil lawyers – even casting a man who once played the devil in a TV series as the plaintiff's attorney – and having him glower in the courtroom scenes as if he really were Satan himself.

Those stereotypes represent the exception rather than the rule in real life and they're insulting – both to those who aren't Christians, and to those who are, but also have friends and acquaintances beyond the walls of their church. One-dimensional characters do this film no favors, nor does the script jumping back and forth between trying to prove that God is alive and that a teacher should be able to speak Jesus' name in an academic context, but actually proving neither. The more our staff members discussed this movie, the more we became concerned about the blood pressure of the lawyer on our staff. Furthermore, the movie ends with a post-credits scene setting up another sequel. We hope #3 improves on #2's fallacious story. "D"