Propaganda Films and Hate Speech

[Rev. Rye]

That's the thing about atheism, unlike Christianity, it's not a belief system in and of itself. It's merely a facet of one (one that can be a part of belief systems ranging from communism to Objectivism to secular humanism). The success of those religious films relies on a sort of cultural signalling impulse that's endemic in Evangelical Christianity, something that atheists tend to lack. Christians (at least the type who are the audience of this sort of film) latch onto a film like Old-Fashioned or War Room simply because it reflects (or more accurately, preaches) the sort of worldview they want to push, regardless of said film's actual quality. All such a film needs to get noticed is a sort of preachiness and the right distributor (or a positive shout-out from the Dove Foundation). If we were to make an atheistic counterpoint to said films, let's be realistic: you'd look at the reviews (and Rotten Tomatoes score if applicable) before you'd consider bothering to watch it, wouldn't you?

TL;DR: If you don't plan to suspend your critical thought and fall into cultural groupthink like them, you can't expect to sustain an equal and opposite reaction to those films.

That's why I'm asking the question-is that an appropriate response or should a different approach be taken? Or none at all? But I would think the counterpoint films would have to be aimed at theists and expose them to thinking 'hey, maybe we're not the only ones with good ideas' or 'I guess those people don't deserve to fall into lava while we ascend into the sky'. Rational skeptics don't need their own films for that purpose, we're well-informed enough about this shit and don't need to be convinced that we're on the business end of the theists' sword. But given we can put more thought, creativity and style into even lower-budget things because we have more reason to care and more desire to convey a message clearly and consistently, surely an effort could be made if only experimentally.

The more open-minded probably don't need it. The less open-minded won't even bother to listen.