God's Not Dead: In God We Trust

God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust, released in theaters in September 2024, is the fifth movie in the God’s Not Dead franchise and was written by Tommy Blaze (who has a small role) and directed by Vance Null, who edited the first movie. Though filmed in South Carolina, the movie is set in Arkansas and centers upon Pastor Dave Hill (played by David A. R. White), who became the franchise’s main character with the third movie. The plot revolves around Hill’s run for office against Peter Kane (Ray Wise, who previously appeared in God’s Not Dead 2), a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who wants to stamp out religion in the public square. As with the other movies in the series, the Christian band Newsboys provides much of the soundtrack.

The movie begins with news of the death of U.S. Representative Rick West of Arkansas six weeks before election day. His opponent, Peter Kane, a state senator, privately celebrates the death of West, saying to his campaign staff that it “may allow us to catch up with the rest of the modern world,” with a focus upon “enlightenment, reason, and reshaping our nation’s core.” Pastor Dave Hill has just learned that a women’s shelter his church operates was denied federal funding for hosting a Bible study when Congressman Daryl Smith (Isaiah Washington) decides to recruit Hill to run for the seat. Smith recruits Lottie Jay (Samaire Armstrong) to be Hill’s campaign manager. (She had previously been in a relationship with Kane’s campaign manager, John Wesley, played by Scott Baio, who had mentored and then exploited her, and she had a child by Wesley, unbeknownst to him.) She tells Hill that “there’s nothing you can do as a pastor that can’t be undone by a politician.” After sleeping on it, he agrees to undertake the candidacy.

In an appearance on Mike Huckabee’s television show (with the former Arkansas governor playing himself, as he did in God’s Not Dead 2), Hill ridicules the idea of a separation of church and state. Kane subsequently depicts Hill as an extremist and insists that the country should be run by “scholars and academics.” However, determined to beat John Wesley, Lottie Jay arranges a deal with real estate developer Marc Shelley (Dean Cain, from the first movie in the series), who agrees to fund Hill’s entire campaign, and Hill’s own brand of retail politics starts to cut into Kane’s lead. Kane thus agrees to a debate, which ends up centering upon “self-reliance versus government dependence” and the role of Christianity in national culture. Jay receives information that Kane had bribed a judge years before; Hill refuses to take part in its release, but Marc Shelley does, embarrassing the campaign, as the information, planted by Kane’s staff, was false.

The board of the St. Jude Church notes to suspend Hill; at the same time, the women’s shelter has also been shut down. Hill wants to withdraw from the race, but Congressman Smith urges Hill to remain, and although Jay planned to resign, she returns for the final days of the campaign at Hill’s urging. In the final debate, Hill condemns the socialism of China, North Korea, and Europe while stating that “we cannot remove God from the fabric of our country without risk of collapse,” and Hill delivers an impassioned speech urging Christians to vote. He ends up winning the election and is able to use leftover campaign money from Marc Shelley to build a new women’s shelter.

The movie, which was released in 1,392 theaters, grossed just over $3.2 million worldwide during its theatrical run. Like God’s Not Dead 2, this movie was released in an election year in which evangelical Christians were supporting Donald Trump, and many of those involved in the film explicitly promoted it as a call to become involved in electoral politics. (Text preceding the end credits states, “40 Million Christians Don’t Vote. 15 Million Aren’t Even Registered. Let Your Voice Be Heard.”) Actor and Trump supporter Scott Baio, in an interview with Daniel Blackaby of the Collision, said, “Hopefully we can reach some of those people [Christian non-voters]. If you want to effect change, you’ve got to get off your butt and vote.” Answers in Genesis, a fundamentalist organization founded to promote Young Earth Creationism, regarded the movie as a political call to arms, with reviewer Rob Webb writing that “it’s time for the ‘sleeping giant’ to wake up! Who’s the sleeping giant? It’s the church!” Likewise, Paul Asay of Plugged In, an online publication of Focus on the Family, embraced the movie’s central premise: “Christians should take their faith into the public and political sphere.”

Blackaby, however, in a review separate from his interview with Baio, described the movie as “unlikely to satisfy anyone beyond those desiring the cheap dopamine jolt of seeing their political ideologies or religious beliefs affirmed.” Collin Garbarino of WORLD magazine criticized the movie from a biblical perspective, writing that the film exhibited good production values and enough self-awareness to “keep the mood from slipping too deeply into melodrama,” but that it also “preys on Christian fears of persecution,” presenting a worldview in which “the gospel promised political success.” Garbarino finds it unbelievable “that a politician in Arkansas, where the story is set, would call Christianity a superstition during an election cycle,” and notes the inconsistency of Pastor Dave being motivated to run due to the loss of federal funding for a women’s shelter but later giving speeches about limiting government spending: “It’s an unwitting commentary on current Republican policies that demand fiscal restraint, unless it’s for pet projects dear to the political right.”

For additional information:
Asay, Paul. Review of God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust. Plugged In. https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/gods-not-dead-in-god-we-trust-2024/ (accessed April 15, 2025).

Blackaby, Daniel. “‘God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust’: An Interview with Actor Scott Baio.” Collision, September 9, 2024. https://thecollision.org/gods-not-dead-in-god-we-trust-an-interview-with-actor-scott-baio/ (accessed April 15, 2025).

———. “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust (Christian Movie Review).” Collision, September 9, 2024. https://thecollision.org/gods-not-dead-in-god-we-trust-christian-movie-review/ (accessed April 15, 2025).

Danny, Olivia. “A Review of God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust.” Liberty Champion, November 12, 2024. https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2024/11/a-review-of-gods-not-dead-in-god-we-trust/ (accessed April 15, 2025).

Garbarino, Collin. Review of God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust. WORLD, October 1, 2024. https://wng.org/articles/gods-not-dead-in-god-we-trust-1725763097 (accessed April 15, 2025).

“God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust.” Internet Movie Database. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32356994/ (accessed April 15, 2025).

Holmes, Joseph. “The Squandering of ‘God’s Not Dead.’” Christianity Today, September 12, 2024. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/squandering-of-gods-not-dead-in-god-we-trust/ (accessed April 15, 2025).

Webb, Rob. “Movie Review—God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust.” Answers in Genesis, September 7, 2024. https://answersingenesis.org/reviews/movies/gods-not-dead-in-god-we-trust/ (accessed April 15, 2025).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas