“We think it will do very well. Of course, this is always up to the Lord. Any statement we make right now could be incredibly foolish by Monday morning.”
—Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman

Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman are the co-writers of Pure Flix's newest film, “God's Not Dead 2,” which opens in theaters on April 1. They talked with the Register on March 31, a day before the official opening, and they backed up their optimistic prediction with facts: The film is testing well with market research groups, with over 90% of viewers saying that they like it even more than their earlier project, the 2014 release, “God's Not Dead.” And while “God's Not Dead” opened two years ago on 780 screens across America, the sequel will open on 2,400 screens—evidence that theater owners anticipate that the film will be a box office success.

“God's Not Dead 2” tells the story of beloved teacher of the year Grace Wesley (played by Melissa Joan Hart), who teaches history at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. Grace's love of teaching, her love of life, and her love of people all come from the same place: her love of Christ. Grace is teaching a history lesson about Dr. King and Ghandi when a student poses a question about Jesus—and Grace's honest answer lands her in big trouble with the school's principal and the district superintendent. An atheist attorney from the civil liberties association joins in a complaint against her, threatening to end her teaching career and expel God from the classroom once and for all.

A Mission to Combat Secularization

What led Solomon and Konzelman, both Catholics, to embark on this project? “We learned,” they said, “that 65% of believing college students—those who enter college with a firm faith—come out as atheists.” There is indoctrination going on in the university environment, a deliberate effort on the part of atheistic faculty to challenge the faith of their students.

The writers cited recent illustrations such as the case of John McAdams, a professor at the Jesuit-run Marquette University, who is facing suspension and possible firing. His offense? McAdams defended a student who tried to defend man-woman marriage, but who was shut down by a leftist teaching assistant. Solomon and Konzelman expressed concern, too, about Catholic universities such as Georgetown, where Planned Parenthood director Cecile Richards has been invited to speak, and Notre Dame, which has announced their intent to present the prestigious Laetare Medal to pro-abortion Vice President Joe Biden.

“We talked with so many teachers,” Solomon and Konzelman revealed, “and especially in public schools, it's so cut-and-dry; teachers may not mention the name of Jesus.” The whole idea of separating the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith is an area of law, they said, which has not yet been litigated.  “There's so much persecution of Christians,” they said, that in researching the film, “we could pretty much pick whatever apple we wanted out of the basket, and it would be a good story.”

Faith for the Future

If “God's Not Dead 2” does as well as its co-writers expect, they have big plans for their future. They've almost finished the script for “God's Not Dead 3.” After that, they intend to tell the story of Abby Johnson, the former abortion clinic manager turned pro-life advocate whose story is recounted in the best-selling book Unplanned. “The Lord has put on our hearts through prayer and revelation,” they told the Register, “that he wants us to separate ourselves from the people we're doing business with now. He's going to raise us up, increase the amount of product we put out. In prayer, we asked how he was going to do this; but the answer that came back was simply, 'I'm God.'”

Every few days, Solomon and Konzelman reported, their faith in God's steadfast guidance is strengthened by an apparent miracle. A funder came out of nowhere to help finance their future projects. Just as they struggled to organize, they were introduced to an experienced administrator from one of the world's largest film studios who wanted to give up his lucrative career to help them. After their credit card was stolen, they encountered a credit company agent in India who has just seen their first film, “God's Not Dead.” In a nation where only 3% of the population are Catholic, the agent was a Catholic; and he reported that the film had greatly influenced not only him, but his entire village as well.

“God's Not Dead 2” is rated PG (for thematic elements). It will have audiences standing unashamedly and firmly in their faith during a time when it seems increasingly unfavorable and divisive to do so. In a story that could easily be pulled from today's headlines, it's good to remember some things will always remain the same:  “God IS Surely Alive!”