There are certainly levels of religious beliefs.  At the top of the food chain you probably have The Fanatics who would just as soon slit your throat than hear a divergent opinion, followed the devout who live and breathe their faith but at least aren’t dangerous.  The Believers are next and probably go to church every Saturday or Sunday and can quote a lot of the scriptures with a fairly clear understanding, followed by The Sometimers who believe in God, and only go to church every once-in-a while when it’s convenient, rarely missing Christmas and Easter.  The Skeptic believes that God is a probability, but have their doubts about religion, while The Agnostic believes that something is a possibility, but pretty much discounts religion completely.  The Atheist believes that there is no possibility of a God and naturally, religion means nothing to individuals with these beliefs, and then you have what Filmmaker Brian Flemming is, which is something that I’m not sure there is a category for.  Mr. Flemming has created an engaging, albeit slanted (extreme understatement) documentary called ‘The God Who Wasn’t There’.  He tells of how he was once a devout, verse spouting Christian but has since seen the errors of his ways, and now seems to be devoting his life to debunking the existence of Jesus Christ.  My problem with his film, and this keeps me from recommending it, is that this man has obviously gone through some serious change, and has made a very personal film, but not one single time did he discuss with us what happened in his life to bring about this change.  This I found extremely frustrating.

Flemming begins his story with a basic discussion of how it was believed that the sun revolved around the earth, which is of course incorrect.  Thus, perhaps other things are incorrect as well.  He has some on the spot interviews with a few Christians who spout out love for Jesus, then intersperses that with shots of a few lunatics such as

Manson, and Koresch.  Now in all defense of Christianity, those were crazy people.  It’s a bit disingenuous to bring up Charles Manson and shout ‘This is what Christianity has done’, when there are plenty of horrific events that were perpetrated by plenty of sick people that had nothing to do religion.  Plus, I’m fairly certain that most Christians haven’t started cults and set their compounds on fire in the name of God.

Flemming does supply some interesting academic evidence in comparing the life of Jesus with fictional characters such as Oedipus and Osiris whose life and trajectory do bear an eerily similar resemblance to that of Jesus Christ.  He also interviews various academic experts and writers who eloquently discuss the subject as well, albeit they all support Flemming’s points of contention.  However he never discusses with us how he came to this crossroad in his life and why it has become so important to him.  He mentions on numerous occasions of the Bible’s disdain for homosexuality, and of course this is not an exaggeration, as the Bible, heck, the Torah, and the Koran both have a high disdain for homosexuality.  Or at least in their original incarnations.  There is revisionist Judaism and modern Christian beliefs which do allow some leeway for homosexuality, which is another thing that Flemming rails on he presents the argument that modern Christianity has no place and is out of step with the words that are actually written in the Bible.  And on this point he would be correct.

Personally, I’ve never seen the point in arguing religion.  Say if you are a man of science and do not believe in God and I’m a devout in my beliefs then what kind of discussion are we going to have?  The man of science would ask the man of God question like the one’s Flemming asked Ronald Sipus, head master of the Village Christian School that Flemming attended as child.  ‘Have you seen God?’  Of course he hasn’t.  ‘Then how do you know He exists?’ because the non-believer has a fairly impenetrable argument.  Can anyone prove the existence of Noah’s Arc?  There seems to be undeniable scientific proof that the earth is way over 10,000 year old and blaming dinosaur bones on Satan, though possibly true, isn’t very good science.  There have been doctrines written by scientific legends for ages disputing the existence of God.  To which a believer will ultimately rely on Faith, and are comfortable with the certain knowledge that God is real.  And as it was noted, that ends the argument.  Faith is cannot be debated.  All of this cannot be debated. 

Just as Ronald Sipus is unwilling to even entertain the thought that there is no God, and has dedicated his life to teaching generations of children what Flemming calls myths and fairy tales, Flemming is equally convinced that there is a no God in his short, and abrupt documentary, and is dedicating his life to the deconstruction of Jesus Christ.  I’d just like to know why.