God’s Not Dead 2

Starring Melissa Joan Hart, Jesse Metcalfe
Run time: 121 minutes
In theaters: April 1
Rated: PG

You don’t have to watch the 6 o’clock news every night to know that the Christian faith is under siege. The culture war to expunge all things Christian from public schools began decades ago, but is reaching a fever pitch in our time.

Two years ago, God’s Not Dead featured actor Kevin Sorbo as a college professor who demanded that his students admit God doesn’t exist. The screenplay was based, in part, on actual events. The film was a blockbuster, grossing $63 million on a $2 million production budget.

This time, Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clarissa Explains It All) stars as high school teacher Grace Wesley who quotes Jesus in response to a student’s question about the link between Jesus’ admonition to love our enemies and Martin Luther King Jr.’s commitment to political change through non-violence.

After another student texts his parents about Grace’s response quoting Jesus, she is subsequently suspended. Grace refuses to cut a deal to keep her faith out of the classroom, sparking a lawsuit from the ACLU and a student’s parents. The resulting trial tests the historicity of Jesus Christ himself.

The film weaves several absorbing storylines together, including an Asian student’s conversion to Christianity and a pastor’s decision not to give the government his sermons (which, by the way, likely sets up the plot for God’s Not Dead 3).

The screenplay draws from a long list of real legal battles over religious liberty, all of which are listed in the credits — including a number of cases over the Health and Human Services contraception mandate. (Click for related story in this issue.)

God’s Not Dead 2 is as compelling as it is timely. With the nation divided over the appointment of our next Supreme Court justice — not to mention the next president — this film’s timing couldn’t be more opportune.

PATRICK NOVECOSKY is Legatus magazine’s editor-in-chief.

Click for the official website.