The God Who Wasn't There
- 2005
- 1h 2m
Did Jesus exist? This film starts with that question, then goes on to examine Christianity as a whole.Did Jesus exist? This film starts with that question, then goes on to examine Christianity as a whole.Did Jesus exist? This film starts with that question, then goes on to examine Christianity as a whole.
Photos
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (as Reverend Bailey Smith)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBrian Flemming has allowed theatrical screenings to be held by any person or group without the payment of royalties.
- Quotes
Sam Harris: Our religions are the area in which we tolerate dogma with - completely uncritically. Uh, to deny that the Holocaust ever happened or to assert that you know you're in dialogue with extraterrestrials is pretty much synonymous with, with craziness in our culture. And it is so because we, we challenge people when they believe things strongly without evidence, or in, in contradiction to a mountain of evidence, um, except on matters of faith.
- Crazy creditsThe final credits are inter-cut by additional footage of some of the interviewees: Scott Butcher, Richard Carrier, Alan Dundes, Sam Harris, the Mikkelsons, Robert Price, Dr. Sipus, and others.
- ConnectionsEdited from The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1903)
As for his "Christ never walked the earth" thesis, it doesn't get a chance here because Flemming wanders extensively into his own personal issues, and they take over the movie, never getting back on topic. I'm not studying the writings of Saul/Paul to find out how air-tight this all is, but a quick browse of Wikipedia suggests most of these arguments are discredited.
Anti-religious people will want more data. We don't need to be told that religious people are nutty, any more than American Jews need to be told how annoying Christmas music gets by mid-December.
Religious people tend to discount skeptics whose objections to religion are obviously rooted in abusive upbringings. Arguments from such victimized people are dismissed as irrational, and therefore unconvincing.
In the best scene, the Superintendent of Fleming's childhood Christian school rather insightfully confronts the director on his motivations. That seems like the most honest part of the movie, and it was short. If Fleming were a bit more self-aware, he might have a good story in him about his own (past & current) relationship to Christianity, and the abusive institutions that indoctrinated him in his youth.
The bonus interviews are pretty good, tho they don't bolster Fleming's thesis much. Sam Harris is a good spokesperson for the anti- religious POV, and he doesn't go light on those other, non- Christian religions. Harris also has some good (and easily Google'd) interviews on Salon.com , Amazon.com , and Samharris.org .
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Бог, которого не было
- Filming locations
- Pasadena, California, USA(Scenes outside Rose Bowl Stadium)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 2 minutes
- Color