Why Is Christian Propaganda So Corny? 

CASETiFY's Clear Cases are available at casetify.com/! Go to www.casetify.com/nickisnotgreen today to get 15% off your order!

no one has ever walked up to me sarcastically slow clapping & now I feel like I've never had a full college experience 😔

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed” - Albert Einstein

For a TikTok, a kid asked his mom if she’d kill him if God commanded her to. She said “he wouldn’t ask me that.” To which he responded with “what if he did?” And she said “Well if god commands me to then I would” BROOOO????? This shit scares me. All logic goes out the window

Prince of Egypt is legitimately a work of art, I'm not Christian anymore but I would still watch the hell out of that movie.

The fact that some people feel God is the only thing stopping them from not doing horrible things is terrifying

“No reason to be moral”. It’s called empathy? Knowing your actions or words could hurt other people should be enough to prevent you from doing those things. Why do you need the threat of hell or the reward of heaven to be a good person? That’s like people who only follow the law because of the punishment not because those things are wrong and bad to do.

I love how the girl in God's not Dead says "I refuse you to go up against this professor in his own classroom" like it's his lair and he has special lair attacks.

The God’s not Dead section reminded me a lot of how my old pastor would talk about college as a whole. He’d talk at length about these “godless professors brainwashing people”. It’s so obvious that a lot of pastors and folks who make these films have never been to a regular college.

“How can you hate someone who doesn’t exist” Dude I hate so many fictional characters that is not an argument.

my brother had a shirt that said “jesus christ” instead of the cocacola logo and the tagline was “eternally refreshing” and i thought it was the hardest shirt in existence

my ethics professor in college taught the "morality is impossible without God" nonsense, he then sued the school for telling him to respect trans students, he also compared gay marriage to "marrying the family dog"

My cousin, at 18, was in a car accident with a few of his friends. A couple died instantly, the driver was fine, and my cousin suffered for most of a day before dying, and at his funeral, the pastor for his church actually pulled the "his suffering was a gift, so he had time to ask for forgiveness" thing.

Her: “I have Cancer” Him: “Grow up “ Me: Dude, her Cancer is literally maturing.

i think my favorite part about God's Not Dead is how clear it is that the writers never stepped outside their Christian bubble, nor their White bubble like the Chinese guy and his dad speak in Chinese over the phone...but one guy is speaking Mandarin and the other's speaking Cantonese. it's hysterical!

No joke, we had this poster in my Christian high school that had a list of every mainstream band and their Christian Alternatives. I used it to discover better artists because I’d only known the Christain artists.

For the mustard seed thing it's like a metaphor cuz mustard seeds are tiny but turn into a huge plant. It's about like growing your faith basically. (I almost became a nun. Now Im trans and I smoke weed.)

Philosophy professor in God's Not Dead: Sign this athiest paper or you FAIL! My actual philosophy professor: tbh guys I'm a bit hungover and my wife is leaving me so we're just gonna watch some star trek episodes and chill

I straight up had a shirt that looked like it said twilight on it but it actually said jesus is thelight instead lmao

The goal of the movie wasn't ever about convincing someone, it was about catering to Christians - making them feel good.

10:26 I think the most unrealistic thing about God's Not Dead is that there would still be students attending class at that point. You know a few people would've gone to the dept chair to complain about how their class has gone so far off the rails. Probably at least a few of them wouldn't have shown up after the first day. And there probably would be one kid that would've interjected in the middle of the whole "God's Not Dead" speech and talk about how this is not what they signed up for.

8:21 my fav movie detail is that the costuming folks couldn’t be bothered to dress the Muslim leading lady in appropriately modest clothing or even wrap her headscarf correctly!!! really cements the idea that her identity & culture is nothing but a plot device that can be removed when convenient 🤩 edit: spelling

in high school my brother got caught with weed and my parents forced us to start going to church to try and "save" him, we went every sunday and it got to the point where our parents were making us go on mission trips and all kinds of crazy jesus stuff. at some point the church approached me and they asked me to play drums in the church band - my mom was there and basically forced me to agree to it. I had to bring my own personal drum set every sunday which meant waking up early to pack all of my gear and having to stay late to put it all back up. basically I was doing this for free and thought the rest of the band was also doing it for the "charity" of church or whatever. This was absolutely not the case. the rest of the band including the backup singers were ALL getting paid to be there, and from what i had learned it was quite a decent amount (would have been a good amount for a young man like myself in my mid-late teens), I had asked them before i accepted the offer to play in the band if there would be any pay and the pastor LIED TO MY FACE and told me that everyone was doing it for the love of god. you can imagine my anger when I found out that they were literally taking advantage me, a young teen. I remember the day that I quit I walked up to the pastor and told him how i felt so betrayed that the other members were getting paid and he made up some story trying to gaslight me that I specifically said i didnt want the money or something (absolute bullshit, ive always been money motivated). and at that point i just left and never came back. The whole ordeal backfired on my parents tremendously, it turned me into an atheist lol. Organized religion did damage to my emotional and psychological health that Im pretty sure is irreparable.

As a Christian myself, yeah you nailed it on the head. Religion wasn’t meant to be sold and while their actually is a lot of good Christian media most of it isn’t advertised as Christianity media, most of it isn’t insanely popular, and most of it isn’t considered “Christian enough” to pass because not every line is about god. For example, the song “praying hands” by Ty Brassel is about how he went from selling drugs in the trap to a Christian rapper, but i was asked to turn it off it at my youth group. It’s mildly ironic. also, the Bible is rated R in many places and XXX in several, and considering it talks about incest-prostitution and infant genocide in several places, I don’t see how explicit music is the bane of Christ.

Grew up baptist. Raised by parents "called by god" to homeschool, church 3 times a week, woke up early to read Bible verses before breakfast. Immediately put all that behind me when I moved out at 18, but this video has really taken me back because a lot of this media was literally all I had growing up. I'm gay and living an amazing life on my own terms now, but I wish I could be doing that and also be a Christian like I was raised. It's such a shame I had to choose. I'm sure not every church is like that but the one I was raised in was extremely controlling.

The funniest part about God is Not Dead, which you touched on, is the fact that the main character isn't arguing with an atheist the whole time. He's arguing with a Christian who's pissed off at God. The premise of the movie literally can't get off the ground bc it's actually just two christians arguing with each other.

“There’s a god in that classroom, and I’m him.” Hardest line ever dropped tho.

As a Muslim, this is one of the most American moments of all time.

Josh could have solved this issue by going to the admin of the school and saying “this is against my religious freedom” then he would have been fine

It's been 10+ years and I still walk around the house in panic thinking my whole family has been raptured but me cause I don't believe everything anymore. Religious trauma runs deep

as a christian , sometimes i see christian propaganda and see christian’s talk and i’m blown away like what r y’all doing?

Even though I am a Christian, I feel horrible for people with religious trauma and I am sorry that so many Christians are homophobic, misogynistic, and closed-minded. This video was really interesting to watch and I am so sorry that nick had a bad experience with religion.

This video hits hard. I was a church kid, went to Bible camp, had all the knockoff logo shirts, spent basically all my free time in middle and high school at church. While I do have some good memories, looking back now, it’s total brain washing and very culty. I have zero regrets about leaving Christianity.

so i went to a catholic middle school, and we'd have religion class every day. i was one of the teacher's favorites, because i was really invested and usually asking questions and trying to debate him on tougher points. i'll never forget one day, toward the end of the year in eighth grade, he called me over to his desk and said "hey i've got this movie i was thinking of showing the class, i think you'll enjoy it," and he pulled out god's not dead. i guess my face screwed up or something, because he went "oh have you seen it?" and i told him that i had heard from friends that it was really corny and mischaracterizing and propaganda-y, so he said "okay. i trust you. we won't watch it then." and he gave me the dvd and told me to throw it in the trash. so i threw it out, and uh yeah we never watched god's not dead anyways love u mr. i

ever since i got sent to rehab (at 16) my parents have ramped up the christianity tenfold. as a queer, mentally ill person, the religious trauma is strong when my mom tells me “god is punishing you for what you did” like no i’m dealing with withdrawals from addiction. Anyways loved this video I really feel like you’ve found your niche

i remember watching "god's not dead" in catechism in primary school. that movie made me question why i was a christian... im an atheist now

I had a Christian friend in high school who was pretty cool but one morning she all of a sudden started following me around the school while constantly asking if I owned a Bible because she "just wanted me to be saved." We didn't talk much after that because that creeped me the fuck out.

The fact a large chunk of twenty one pilot’s songs are about religious trauma and struggling with faith makes Nick having a twenty one pilots phase even funnier

I was homeschooled in middle school and high school, and my mom sat me down, forced me to watch God's Not Dead and told me that this is what it would be like if I went to high school or college. Like that a teacher would fail me if I proclaimed my faith. Even when she said that, I had a hunch it wasn't really going to happen - shocker I was right.

I grew up growing to an Assemblies of God church, and whilst I was not necessarily super devout (especially once I reached my teens), I DID have a strong belief in God and for a long time even after I stopped really going to church, I had this weird superiority complex about being "pure". Turns out I'm just asexual

as someone w religious trauma (I was raised roman catholic) this was very comforting and healing, thank you

Throughout high school, I worked as a hostess in a restaurant in Malibu. The owners were a deeply religious Christian couple and were friends with David AR White, the founder of PureFlix. He was beginning to divorce his wife and came in on a date. They sat at the table for nearly 5 hours (We had a 2hr limit) and engaged in some heavy PDA. I always remember that when I see ads for PureFlix stuff.

I just HAVE to point out that the guy playing the atheist Professor is in fact the same guy who played Leonidas' best friend in Meet the Spartans, the 300 Spartans parody Usually actors playing in those awful religious films are religious themselves but this guy played a guy with heavy homoerotic undertones next to a known porn star and i just find it funny

I first learned about God's Not Dead after I suddenly received three texts all saying "God's Not Dead" in close succession of each other from two siblings and my stepmom. It was very ominous at the time, especially since by that time I'm pretty sure I recently stopped being Christian (and I've still never explicitly told any of them). TURNS OUT THEY APPARENTLY TELL THE AUDIENCE TO TEXT THAT PHRASE AT THE END OF THE MOVIE.

My favorite "Christian movie" is The Prince of Egypt. It's actually a really good animated film. Even tho it's basically Bible Fanfiction, it's better than a lot of Disney movies from that era.

As a former church-person myself it was a real embarrassing blast from the past to see all those dumb shirts, we really thought we were doing something there

fun fact: my college was actually mentioned in the credits of God's Not Dead. long before i went there, but my parents pointed it out when we watched it

The biggest thing I don’t get is why Josh Whedon’s character didn’t just drop the class. It has been so long since I’ve seen the movie, but like he could have dropped the class, taken it with a different professor or transferred a credit from community college.

Gods not dead is great as a comedy, but that’s not what it was intended to be.. it was intended to be serious.. Which makes it even funnier in a way

i remember watching god’s not dead when i was younger, like 11, because it was on netflix and for some reason, my interest was peaked. after, i was filled with so much fear and anxiety that because my family didn’t go to church, we would all die. after seeing the ending scene with the professor, i spiraled into a panic and cried to my grandmother (who was, and still is, an avid church go-er) about how scared i was that this was what was going to happen to my family and i will never forget her saying, “god doesn’t work like that, ever. unless it’s for people who have done biblical wrongs like denounce him like murder, hate his message, and actively go against the bible” and i remember that pushed me away from everything relating to christian faith.

my first college roommate listened to christian music every night. they just are not good. the only word they know is "jesus" and can only come up with one sentence per song

as someone who isnt rlly a christian but knows a lot of them and sometimes goes to church, like 90% of christians are super nice, just a lot of people dont know that because actually nice christians dont constantly talk about god and how youre going to hell if you dont believe in him. its just a situation where the small minority of terrible people are much louder then the giant portion of christians that are really just nice people, and its kind of sad to see that a lot of people dont realize that. it also makes it a lot worse that that small portion of bad people in christianity can ruin it for a lot of other people, and i feel especially awful for people with religious trauma and that sort of thing

I remember watching God's Not Dead with my youth group some years ago and I was so moved by the end that i actually texted my friends that God wasn't dead. Hands down cringiest shit I've ever done and I am so thankful that not a single one of them acknowledged it

When you realize how much time Josh spent making custom power point animations for his presentation, you begin to realize his girlfriend had a point.

I'm so glad somebody else finally said it! Growing up in an intensely Christian family made a huge impact on how I perceived the world and in becoming an adult I found that a lot of the Christian (I guess we can call it proproganda) didn't make a lot of sense to me and most often gave me severe anxiety about doing normal things like watching a tv show or meditating. I still believe in God and I read the bible but upon doing my own comb through, I saw that a lot of what was being fed to me through Christianity was purely opinion based and not coming directly from the bible itself. As an adult, I've separated myself from the Christian atmosphere and in doing so have reached a place where I have a better handle on my God-fearing tendencies and have found a way to stand comfortably in my belief without feeling like I have no individual identity. I agree that the movie God's Not Dead didn't do much to give real/good arguments for either side which would have made for an even more interesting film. It lacked the follow through and the actual desire to have a discussion about it and fell into the area of playing out (i don't want to sound harsh) the ego driven or self comforting idea of winning an argument without actually putting in the effort to have a good defense in the first place. There's so many different ways to express why you believe in God that don't poke at an unbeliever and argue about the philosophies of humans. It just left a lot to be desired.

I'll never forget the morning I was getting ready for church while listening to Lecrae, and my dad came into my room ready to yell at me for listening to rap until I opened the cd case and showed him the lyrics 🤣

As someone still trapped in the church this video was very cathartic for me, so thank you for that

I was not allowed to go to church (banned by my mom) after I started having panic attacks at age 5, sobbing inconsolably, throwing up, etc. because my entire family was going to go to Hell because my older brother was born out of wedlock and my dad is an atheist etc. We lived across the street from the church in a tiny town and I was allowed to go there by myself all the time until that point. My mom says she was so scared of how brainwashed I was that it was what made her officially leave religion altogether (I'm surprised she was still clinging on at that point because she also said she was forced to stand in front of the church she had grown up in and say that she regretted having my brother because she wasn't married yet, then they forced her to marry my dad who was cheating on her the whole time, and then when my brother was diagnosed with Autism they told her it was because he was conceived out of wedlock and God was punishing both her and him for it) I was then raised athiest but at age 15 I got really into Christian Punk Rock, not in a religious way I just really liked the early 2000's style and the lyrics that were emo but not in a way that would get me in trouble at school for writing them in the margins of my work. I liked to play a game called "Is he talking about God or his girlfriend" with my friends, where I would read out lyrics out of context, and the dirtier they sounded the more likely it was to be about God ("I want to be inside you" and "You make me feel like an exploding star" type stuff. whaaat that's not dirty he means Jesus) Tangentially related I discovered Christian Punk Rock because I was obsessed with Power Rangers at age 15 and in the sound track of Power Rangers Ninja Storm there is two songs by Relient K so I then painstakingly ripped every Relient K song one at a time off youtube to put on my ipod lmao

as a pastors kid i wasn’t allowed to watch a lot of movies/tv or listen to “worldly” music so yeah christian music had a huge influence on me and ngl bands like underoath, family force 5, relient k, hawk nelson & flyleaf i still love to this day lmao

if i got hit by a car, survived, and then had a bunch of christians standing over me trying to convert me, then i certainly would wish that i had died

bro I was just going through your acc to find something I hadn't watched yet and you posted this. gods on my side fr 😫😫😫

the pipeline from Christian rock to twenty one pilots is not talked about enough omg

As a Christian who loves to connect with church history and the best parts of our faith, I’m repulsed by a lot of our contemporary Christian culture; it’s often shallow and naïve.

As a slavic catholic, I'm kinda jealous of the American christian experience with all the instruments and singers and lights. What we have is one dude playing the organ, one person playing the guitar if we're feeling especially fancy, and songs with tones so high that they will make your throat bleed unless you sing that way naturally xd

I went to a Christian school starting in 2016-2021. At that point I was DEEP in the closet and the fact that I went there during the election made the conservativism really ramp up. Needless to say it was very anxiety inducing and actually attempted a few times and ended up going to rehab at 18, never finishing high school. I'm 20 now and working on getting my diploma and it's crazy to look back and see how many things there were that I thought was normal but totally wasn't (ex. Going to chapel every week, having a devotion/prayer at the beginning of every class, etc.) Religion can be great for some people, and horrible for others. I wish more Christians recognized that

We showed God's Not Dead at our church for free once and sold concessions for a youth group fundraiser. I worked popcorn for a very long time without eating anything and I passed out, so my dad took me home but I didn't get any of the fundraiser money because I didn't finish my concessions shift. My dad said it was a stupid movie and he thanked me for passing out so he didn't have to sit through it

I thought it was funny that the professor wasn't even an atheist. What a strange choice to use him as the vehicle for "arguments" against god. I also watched God's Not Dead 2 in theaters on a field trip for my Christian High school and was laughing almost the whole way through. I was the only atheist amongst all my peers and was flabbergasted by how they made the antagonist an atheist who was evil...because he's an atheist. It was so goofy, lopsided, and lacked substance just like the first. I'm glad some of my classmates saw that it was ridiculous and unfair.

also i remember always feeling this rush during “worship” services and everyone made me believe it was “the holy spirit” when i’ve come to realize it’s just a rush of serotonin & dopamine going through your body….

Thank you for mentioning this! It's a similar concept as the reason why Conservative art isn't usually that good. There's a huge lack of depth since the only apparent reason for the art itself is to spread propaganda or to negate another party's propaganda. This causes the art to be shallow, low effort, and frankly shit lol I've heard a lot of awful Christian music that has kindergarten level lyrics and chords, yet adults will say these songs are so good and deep. It's not deep at all. There's no nuance at all. There's no commentary on anything in it. It feels empty, like its missing something, unless you already hold the beliefs it's trying to further. To an outsider, there's little to no substance to this type of conservative or Christian art most of the time

I love when you talk about your experience with religion! I just left christianity a year or two ago and it's so nice hearing perspectives of other people who had a similar experience that I did.

I don't think God's Not Dead was made to sway people into belief but to validate American "persecution" of Christianity. Which is also silly

ex-chrisitan here. i became an athiest about a month ago. thinking back on it, it feels like a cult. i once saw a sign for a local church saying "the bigger you make god, the smaller your problems become." im i the only one that thinks that sounds like a cult?? and the way they tell you that if you stop believing in god, you will go to hell is just gross. i wouldve been an athiest way sooner if i wasnt scared to. im glad i broke free from the cycle.

i grew up catholic and i’ve always wondered why christian kids seem so ‘obsessed' with jesus. like we use the same scripture, have the same holidays etc... but i don’t know any catholic that talks about god or jesus outside of a religious context lol. so getting a window into this world was very informative. thank you!!

It’s just so funny bc it feels like nobody in the making of this movie ever went to college

Let’s not forget that the Muslim girl was covering her whole ass face while wearing a SHORT SLEEVE SHIRT!

We watched God’s Not Dead in my sixth form religious studies class. As a Christian i just cringed the whole time and felt like everyone around me was staring at me. It’s so weird how backwards some of us were brought up so as soon as we have freedom we just completely rebel to the most extreme

Give Faith+1 a listen! Their best song is "Start Pleasing Jesus" "I want to get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus. I want to feel his salvation all over my face…" That really spoke to me. Cartman is such a good, wholesome child of faith.

My Christianity relationship is strange with me being Native American and growing up on a reservation. It certainly was a source of hope for a lot of people needing it. Then I remember being weirded out by a missionaries kid and how he was forbidden from POKEMON because it was "satanic" 😂 I started questioning everything since then.

As someone who is still a very devout Christian, I always enjoy videos like these because it can really help me to just see all the silly stuff in the Christian community and reflect on my time as a "Jesus freak" too. One game for you tho is the Bible Game. It came out on PS2 and the OG Xbox and it is an experience. Definitely recommend having 3 other friends around to play it cause it's pretty goofy 😂

i went to grand canyon university, a private christian university, because it was the only school offering a substance abuse and addiction counseling program which is what i wanted to do (based on things i’ve been through in my own personal life) & i would get in so many fights w my theology teacher (it was required for EVERYONE to take not only theology 101 but also christian worldview which was not “worldview” at all it was just about how western christianity is above all other religions pretty much) bc i would challenge a lot of the ideas and ask questions bc what they said wouldn’t make any sense & he would never actually answer my questions he’d just dance around them and get annoyed anytime i’d raise my hand lmao EDIT: btw i grew up as a pastors kid so i have pretty extensive knowledge on christianity & it’s beliefs so i didn’t just challenge the ideas based on ignorance

as an ex-Christian, it was horrible being forced to succumb to all of my moms christian radio stations... but lemme tell yall.. skillet is still a number one favorite that stays on all my playlists

dude the first time somebody dropped me a “god’s not dead” text back in the day, I legit thought I was getting a sort of veiled threat or something lmao

Bruh I watched Gods not Dead with my christian family and when the credits rolled my dad said "That movie was ass, sorry" 🤣😂🤣

Oh my gosh, THANK YOU!! I happened upon this video after thinking a lot about christianity-based medical malpractice that happened to me last week, so seeing another ex-christian person with similar church experiences (at least seemingly) is reassuring

It physically hurts how much I relate to your childhood in Christianity 💀

I love reformed church kids meming on the church as adults. An iconic genre.

As an ex Christian freak I relate to this so much and I rewatched my old fav Christian movies and that shit was so cringe I can’t believe 12 year old me thought those were the best

37:39 - I must be ex-Christian because the joke “Those guys are obsessed with mustard seeds” really got me 😂

Made the difficult decision to walk away from the church last year. All the hypocrisies as well as seeing how they warped my brother left me disillusioned.

As a 30 yr old black woman let's just say I've seen alot. Thank you Nick for your commentary on hip hop. You're what an ally is supposed to be. Great vid 🙂❤

Crazy how big you've become! Respect, you really deserve it!

this is honestly one of the best videos you've ever put out. the balance between laughing at corny shit, genuine experience and reflection, respectful and well thought out but still entertaining criticism on the film and other content, how consumerism impacts Christianity, and just actually exploring the nuances of Christian propoganda. I watch everything you put out but I really really enjoyed this

I went to see God’s Not Dead with my friend (not for religious reasons) and we were laughing so hard and the only other people in there besides us were nuns :/

at a really young age, my dad heard me sing the word bitch bc of the alanis morisette song playing on the radio, and then my entire childhood we only had the christian radio stations playing in the car. lots of rebecca st james, newsboys, dctalk. it was helpful when asking for CDs by relient k, superchick, and paramore bc they were more mainstream but still publicly talked about being christian so i could say they were a christian band 😂 it’s been an interesting process deconstructing from christianity

I was a christian during 2001-2011 and relate to this so much. More into the hardcore/metal music scene then like norma jean, the chariot, demon hunter. My partner had a lego/let go shirt and the letters “let go” were made of Lego blocks 😂 I’m so glad I’m out of that now. Still dealing with trauma from those days. My experience with church was it did more harm than good.

i really like when nick snot makes videos abt his personal experience tied into pop culture, that’s the part of nicki snot green that hits

The greatest “christian” art is that by Sufjan Stevens. I put it in quotations because it doesn’t fall under the traditional use of that label upon art. As a queer christian man his art is a true reflection of his self and life experiences, and it was a good bridge in me accepting music with christian influences and themes (such as TPAB) after I fell out of religion. As far as best purely christian art, many orthodox hims do go hard and/or be bangers.

2 sentence love story: "i have cancer," "GROW UP AMY."

My mustache tickled and came in less than a minute the whole time I watched. 10/10 video, would watch again any time.

I went to a Catholic school from kindergarten through 8th grade (somehow came out of that an atheist) and we had "religion class". My 7th/8th grade religion teacher had us do something called "Christian ear snacks" (I shit you not) and fill out worksheets on Christian songs we heard. He also kept pushing us to listen to Lecrae. That class still feels like a fever dream