God’s Not Dead 4: Powerful Screen Time for Busy Parents

Why 'God's Not Dead: We the People' Is Different

If faith-based films only speak to people already sitting in a pew, then why did a movie about homeschooling families fighting government overreach land at the exact moment when the Attorney General of the United States was directing the FBI to investigate parents at school board meetings? Democrats, Republicans, lawyers, military families, all showing up to the same meetings, signing the same petitions, recalling the same board members. The thing that united them wasn't faith. It was the feeling that someone had decided they no longer had a say in their own child's life. And that's exactly what 'God's Not Dead: We the People' focuses on.

The Government Comes Knocking in 'God's Not Dead: We the People'

Picture this: a social services representative comes to observe a homeschool learning day. She then gives a paper to Mrs. McKinley showing that the homeschool is not adequately teaching the children, sounds crazy for teaching the Bible, and threatens the family with fines and jail time if they don't rectify their educational standards to meet public school standards.

Reverend Hill, played by David White, is the lead character fighting in Washington, D.C. The whole movie goes through the importance of taking a stand for your faith, for your children, for what you believe in, and to not let the government tell you what to do.

There's a touching scene where the son of the McKinley family offers his dad the money he saved to buy his first car. He says, "Here, I can ride my bike a little longer. This will help you if we have to pay fines or anything like that." Mr. McKinley says he's never been more proud of his son, but tells him to keep his money. It's moments like that that really show children what it means to put somebody else above yourself.

Freedom Looks Different for Everyone in This Film

Another thing this film does very well is it gets the perspective of freedom from people of different backgrounds. You have characters that came from places with no freedom:

A man named Martin explains how homeschooling in China is illegal, and the only way for families to homeschool their children is to go underground, at great risk to those families

A woman named Aisha converts from Muslim to Christianity, her father kicks her out of their home, and she's left alone with no family. We see her grappling with that decision throughout the film, and her father trying to reconcile with it as well

'God's Not Dead: We the People' Gives Single Parents Their Moment

The biggest thing I love about this movie is how it shows that not only can a mom and dad fight for homeschool freedom, but single parents should too. There's a young mom named Taylor Hayes who is homeschooling her young son. There's a surprise about her situation that explains why she's a single mom. She leaves a very prominent, high-paying job in order to be home for her son because of the trauma he's going through emotionally, which then affects his academics. And when she finally announces her background, it's a shocker. I would have never guessed it.

There's also a powerful scene where Daryl Smith, portrayed by Isaiah Washington, is asking an education expert questions about their curriculum. He asks, "Will parents be able to opt out of your program?" Mr. Willoughby replies, "I would encourage all states to require participation without exception." Daryl Smith asks, "What gives them the right?" Mr. Willoughby replies, "Once the state determines what children ought to know, it's imperative that all children know it, because the children belong to all of us."

The movie has a great cast that brings this story to life. Jeanine Pirro, who was a former Fox News contributor on 'The Five,' plays a liberal judge who thinks homeschooling is racist and privileged. Antonio Sabato Jr. plays the dad, Mr. McKinley.

The Cost of Standing Up

I'm always taken back to my days at CBS when I see this movie. CBS had a commissary where everybody could eat. When you walked in, the chefs would greet you, the 'The Price is Right' models were around, the cash register was ringing, people were talking. The place was always bustling.

Me and one of the cashiers, her name was Gia, had a little tiny crush on Antonio Sabato Jr. When I would go have lunch, I would make sure to sit at the same end table closest to the register. Every time Antonio Sabato Jr. walked in, Gia and I would make eye contact and start giggling. We were like two little school girls cracking up. Every time I walked in, Gia and I would ask each other, "Hey, have you seen Antonio today?"

I'm sharing this story because Antonio Sabato Jr. actually became blacklisted in Hollywood once he took a stand and showed support for President Trump during the 2016 campaign. Even knowing the risk he was taking, he believed in standing up for his faith.

Freedom Isn't Convenient

There's a line in this movie from a previous 'God's Not Dead' movie: "America is a country so blessed that to whom much is given, much will be required." That's something worth noting because we're all busy. We never have enough time. And the families in this film make the time to fight for what's important to them.

You can see how inconvenient it is, especially for the single mom who ends up losing her job because she takes so much time off to care for her son. That's a big, heavy lesson to take away because in today's society we're so apathetic. People just don't want to be inconvenienced to fight for things that matter. But you and I know that anything worth having, family, freedom, and so on, is worth fighting for. That's what this movie relays to the audience.

The Day 2,000 People Said No

As a private homeschool family, I take this movie to heart. We're an advocacy family in the state of California. Every year, our family travels to the state capitol with other homeschool families and we visit all 120 offices to share the benefits of homeschooling and why we love it the way it is. We also take the time to visit our legislators at their local district offices. Yeah, it takes time out of our schedule, but it's so worth it. We don't want to just give lip service.

On April 25th, 2018, I traveled to Sacramento with a friend so our voices could be heard at an education committee hearing regarding new legislation being proposed to regulate private homeschooling. When we first arrived, there weren't very many people in line. We thought, "Is this it?" And then as the day progressed, that changed. Over 2,000 homeschoolers had lined up to say they did not support these bills. It ended up being one of the longest education committee hearings any legislator had ever seen. All of us came together and made our voices heard.

Be the Change Your Kids See

The reason I share this is so that you understand that you are a role model for your children. If we want to see change, we need to be the change. And the only way to do that is to model it for them so they can see it themselves. Otherwise, who is going to teach them?

Never give up, even when it seems like everyone and everything around you is against you. You may be standing up for more people than you realize.

What's Coming Next Week

We will continue this theme next week because I've got a movie about a boy who had nothing. No family, no home, no reason to trust anyone, and a whale that felt exactly the same way. And what happened after the movie was over changed things for a real animal and proved that kids can move mountains when they decide something matters.

Thanks for listening. Have a great rest of your week. Remember, your values matter and your TV should too. Take care.