Review of The Case for Christ

** out of five stars

Currently available on video

by Walter G. Tarrow

“The Case for Christ” is a drama from Pure Flix Entertainment based on the book by Pastor Lee Strobel, former investigative journalist who professed to be an atheist until his wife decided to go to church. He then sets out to use his investigative powers to prove her wrong and refute the existence of the very foundation of Christianity, the Resurrection of Jesus.

Meanwhile, he is assigned by his boss to investigate a cop shooting. That investigation is meant to parallel his research into the Resurrection. Actually, his journalistic integrity is far more evident there than in his building his case against Christianity.

Christianity, all religions, by definition, intrinsically, rely on a leap of faith. Belief where there exists no proofs, no observable, measurable, repeatable evidence.

Science and mathematics rely on proofs. Experimentation repeating the findings of others under controlled conditions to test theory, to question beliefs, to disprove the null hypothesis.

In a very real way, religion is the antithesis of science.

As such, any attempt to “prove” religious beliefs is a fallacy. In the modern vernacular, fake news. If the bases of beliefs come down to leaps of faith, then scientific inquiry, proofs, are invalid. In other words, you can’t prove Christianity with facts because Christianity, as does all religion, has, at its core, belief without facts, that leap of faith. That powerful, omnipotent, omniscient leap.

A third approach, investigative journalism, is the process by which reporters deeply research a single topic typically with the intent to expose wrongdoing through the analysis of documents, public records and interviews with witnesses and experts. Driving the investigation is the belief that some startling reveal will bring the bad people into the light.

By dramatizing his story, the filmmakers’ intentions are to give us insight into the inner workings that brought him to join his wife in her beliefs. And they fail miserably. We get knee jerk reactions and superficiality.

The film is extremely simplistic in its delivery. All in one liners, quick takes and white washed. Christians are shown as universally kind and understanding while Lee is portrayed as an angry, combative, non-believer who seeks solace in drink.

There is an absolutely ridiculous plot device where Lee squirrels himself in the basement of the news building with a wallboard posted with countless pieces of information much like that of a procedural crime drama. But, following along with his investigation, we see him spend only moments with a few experts. A minute or two with the psychiatrist Faye Dunaway, who tells him that he has daddy issues and that mass hysteria is impossible. A minute or two with a priest who tells him to stare into the eyes of a replica of the shroud. And a minute or two with a doctor who tells him that Jesus had to have died on the cross.

Ultimately all evidence he gathers, according to the laws of evidence, is two-thousand-year-old hearsay, based solely on witness testimony without any observable, measurable, repeatable data. In other words, unscientific.

The acting is competent. The storytelling is straightforward. But it plays like a throwback to the TV movie of the week without substance but with a MESSAGE.

The Case for Christ is finally, when all is said and done, a story, not of a man seeking the truth, but of a man taking a leap of faith for family. Not an atheist being converted but a closeted Christian coming out, despite any facts, but maybe with a verdict from his jury, to acknowledge his faith.

The fact is Christians will see this movie as proof that they are right and atheists are wrong. Atheists needn’t bother.

The truth is facts don’t matter when it comes to beliefs. Should they?