Neil J. Young is an independent scholar and author of We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics (Oxford). He co-hosts the history podcast Past Present.

Then & Now

God dies, Protestants divide

Last week, God’s Not Dead 2 hit the nation’s movie screens. The sequel to the 2014 sleeper hit tells the story of Grace Wesley, a high school teacher dragged into court for talking about Jesus in her classroom. The movie imagines a hostile government bent on rooting out any trace of religion in public life. As the prosecuting attorney threatens, “We’re going to prove once and for all that God is dead.” The timing of this film’s release may have been intentional.
by Neil J. Young
April 5, 2016