I'm still trying to understand what/ which contradiction the producer of this film is trying to flesh out. I thought the film was supposed to be about analyzing the contradiction between lack/ poverty and organized religion (expressed as Christianity) among African American communities. Instead, this film is more or less about non-Christians criticizing the faith of Black Christians and the reasons why they (non-Christians) believe it's a problem. You'll go around the world and back with this film just to end up at the same question mark you started at. I'll give some credits for the first five minutes. Beyond that, it's a bias smorgasbord of a waste of time. Clearly the producer has an agenda to somehow set black people free by Morpheus's "free your mind" campaign and I assume he suggests doing so by turning to other forms of organized religion also used to indoctrinate and control people (including the religion of logic and science)... An apparent problem as to controlling how one thinks but later contradicts itself by doing that same thing and putting forth no real solutions. To the producer: if your issue is with organized religion (say, in the world) just stick to discussing and researching that topic; if your issue is with Christianity (in general), just stick to that topic; if your issue is with Christianity in the U.S. stick to that; if your issue is with the Black church, stick with that. And if you're going to mix and mesh these topics at lease let your synopsis reflect this. We already have enough hidden agendas.

As a 55yr old White man that has just given up on the idea of Christianity and the bibles God this film helped me a lot. It is very difficult to follow your intellect when you've had this idea in your head since childhood. After I read the Bible all the way through at a young age, I knew it did not make sense and has always puzzled me as to why I "Kept the faith"
I loved the guests that you had in your film, and especially seeing the young people speaking and reasoning as to why they don't get it. I hate to say it, because I'm ok with religion since I believe it does help people, but I think as long as there is Religion, this World will never see peace. I think Religion allows bigotry and judgement, and we as a people (Society) don't need that BS. I really believe that most people who have no Religion in their life have no hidden agenda and can get along with anyone, because there is no Judgement and we just want to live in harmony and have peace for everyone. Not to mention I think I probably give more to the community than most church goers. Loved the film and hope that it is seen by a wide audience. I never thought about the History part of it, and that opened up my eyes a little wider as well. PEACE

Reading some of these reviews is disturbing and makes it clear that you either didn't really watch the (entire) film, or you just didn't "get it". Instead of trying to attack the filmmaker for exposing the genesis of your brainwashing, how about channel that energy to truly introspect and learn from facts. Don't let your white guilt and your sheep mentality discourage others from coming into the light. There is not a single thing in the film that is "wrong", made up, or a lie. The truth is sometimes uncomfortable - deal with it. I think the woman struggling with the crack addiction who claims Christ to be her "lord and savior" was a sad microcosm of our history in this country with Christianity having been given to our enslaved ancestors to teach them to be more easily controlled and better workers, obedient, and unambitious. When given the choice of freeing herself for her (very real) earthly Hell or claiming loyalty to someone she's never met and only heard of, she proudly doubles down on her allegiance to a mythical character from a book she's probably never read. The filmmaker did not make any of this up. These are all historic facts, easily verified with a simple google search. It's ok to be mad. Just keep it to yourself, please! The look of scorn on the women's faces who were asked if the blood shed by our actual ancestors were more or less important than the alleged "blood of christ" shed that supposedly gave us some cheat code on happiness despite the reality that we struggle more than any other group was also a great snippet into the absolute disconnect in our community when it comes to how comprehensively brainwashed we have been and still are almost 400 years later. It was as if they thought the interviewer was an absolute fool. lol When in reality, it was they who were behaving as such. Similarly, I appreciated them highlighting the fact that few people who are fully engulfed in the church actually know about Christianity (or any other religions) and that indeed on average know less about their religion than people who are not religious. Read Animal Farm and ask why the workers were allowed to worship and encouraged to look ahead to a fictional Heaven.
During Slavery when someone suggested running away, s/he was ironically met with terrible scorn and contempt from the other enslaved Africans. This is no different. People are comfortable in their brainwashing and will attack someone who even suggests that bondage is not what God intended for you. God, religion are emotional ideas. They usually don't mix well with logic and reason. The emotional reactions to science and academia in this film illustrate this point.

Three "stars" for postulation of the questions.

First, let me say openly that I came to Christ at 40 - I am 59 today.

I too struggle with the opening questions of filmmaker. But what I believe starts out as an honest framing of set of problems - which are, why does a select community which has a long history of strong faith in Christ continue to struggle with problems such as substance dependence and lack of financial prosperity?

I will not attempt to answer these questions here. Not that The Word of God cannot answer them, but the subjects demands more time than I could give them here - even a documentary - just not this one.

The filmmaker, while his intentions may have been honorable, actually embraces the same one-sided bias and manipulations he accuses - and sadly correctly - that many pastors do, Perhaps on purpose, perhaps subliminally. I will not judge his intentions or his heart as neither of which I could possibly know.

The filmmaker continually brings up 100+ year old references to Christianity and slavery, but not even attempting to separate the what the Word says verses the way the it was twisted and abused to support such evil. He questions believers in physical locations that while likely were real, they also supported his biased one-sided questions in appearance - intending to show the believers as simple, uneducated, and easily manipulated people.

He questions the intelligence and education of church leaders, while never stating his own. By what right, by what intellectual achievement, should we be placing our trust in him, in his positions?

The truth is, education, while important, does not directly relate to the intelligence of a person. "Education" equates to the size of one's tool box. Intelligence, wisdom, reflects on your ability to you use the tools that you have. I will take intelligence and wisdom over education alone every time.

Let me give you examples of just a couple of the above criticisms. The filmmaker interviews someone portrayed as a scientist talking about how we are all created from stardust, the result of stars that exploded millions of years ago. Notice that almost all the atheists - like this one - is interviewed in front of a library, trying to convey intelligence & education. The filmmaker even positions a book with the title "Something from Nothing" clearly visible alongside the scientist.

But does the filmmaker ever ask the scientist where the exploded starts came from? How or who created them? Are we to subliminally accept "something (created) from nothing"? Does that sound like science to you?

Of course not, the filmmakers bias does not allow him to see his own manipulations as he seeks to push his own conclusion during the time in his movie which was meant to be a sincere exploration of the problems.

He interviews atheists promoting their one sided statements and beliefs, expecting us to accept them as facts on face value alone only. Not once does he challenge these views, which he clearly agrees with.

I could go on and on with examples of how biased this movie is, but most thinking people - believers or not - will recognize this to be true.

But with the above said, I want to commend the filmmaker for his opening questions and what I want to believe was with honest intentions. And let me add as Believing Christian, there a number of observations he makes of what is being preached in many churches today I agree with - but due to his lack of understanding of the Bible he attacks what he observes with misguided conclusions.

That is the big irony with most atheists. While correct that many Believers don't read and/or fully understand the Word of God for themselves - nor do they! The hold themselves up as experts in Christianity while they apparently know little about it themselves.

So by all means, make your observations. Frame the problems. But if you really want to solve them, stop blaming belief and believers for them and join with us to fix them.

We believers don't have to agree with you to do that. While atheists don't believe in Christ, we believe that He created them too and that we are all His children. While I don't agree with atheistic positions, Christ compels me to honor their free will as I talk to, work alongside, and even debate them if called upon..

Twelve uneducated men, terrified after seeing their Lord resurrected after being dead for three days, took His simple yet profound message across the know world and changed it FOREVER. This is historical and proven fact.

No degrees, no PHDs, after their names.

Most went to horrible deaths for professing what they knew to be true - would you die for a lie?

They didn't have an easy life; nothing in the Bible implies that I should expect one either - just the opposite.

One last observation. One of the people interviewed stated a long and repeated miss truth - which would be a lie if repeated, knowing it to be false.

Many will say "more wars and deaths were started in the name of religion". Yet history shows the that bloodiest century in all of mankind was the 20th., that more people died in the wars fought in the 20th century than in all the wars fought during the previous centuries combined.

But those wars were waged ALL by non-Christians,, secularists and atheists. All of them.

Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito, Pol Pot - just to name the big names.

I am not making excuses for the crusades. the various Catholic- Protestant wars, centuries of forced conversions, or the twisting of Bible passages to support slavery.

They were crimes, but crimes first foremost AGAINST the Word of God - not because of it.

I’ve been asking these types of questions about Black folks and the Christian Church since I was a child. Religion doesn’t make sense when you look at it logically. Christianity was forced on African Americans to keep enslaved people docile. Why are we still following it hundreds of years later? Why isn’t it helping?
Respect to this brother for approaching this controversial topic. I hope it wakes people up, but you have to be critical of religion in the first place to even here what he’s saying.
Glad to see other Black folks questioning religion.

I was excited when i started watching this for the first 5 minutes so I stopped it and decided to watch it with my wife. About 15 minutes into it however, it was obvious what the director was really trying to say.. which is the white man is the reason why blacks are having such a hard time. Same tune being sung in a different manner.

That same bible the "white" man used back then is still the same one being used all around the world with all races, but I don't see other groups facing the problem that blacks have. The issue is not the white man or the bible, it's the slavery mentality that the black churches continue to preach, which is the opposite of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

...The only reason to watch this—is for the Black Pastor to come from behind tha’ pulpit and start truly teaching. TEACHING. EDUCATING.

Enough with tha’ artistic flow and tons of “heavy huh! and showers of spit”. Just straight wit no chaser...TEACH!!!!!

Pastors now a days couldn’t convert a ‘rock’ with all this ‘milk-based teaching’ and ‘congregational coddling’.

This was so SO sad and the only beautiful moment was the young-lady’s testimony in tha’ cab who was vehement about who she owes her life to. You could see her resilience. She couldn’t have done it without Jesus.

Tha’ rest....well too much to say here...specially sought out confusion.

Good gifts to men: Pastors, Elders... Teachers are failing miserably because they are EXTREMELY out of TOUCH with the current and future state of this generation. Our youth are indeed—being ‘sifted as wheat’.

Today’s pastor has no answer for them. Yet there is one. It is Jesus Christ. You gotta start from top to bottom though.

Start addressing the ignorance (definition of ignorance is ‘not knowing’ it’s not a derogatory word) spoken in this glaring, one-sided documentary.

Yes, I am a Christian. I don’t mind the questions as they should be asked but be fair and have a balanced panel.

Not a ‘Spin’ in a top-heavy direction.

No Sir. No Ma’am. This is straight godless TRASH.

I gave this movie 4-stars because it intelligently addresses the question of whether the Black Christian church is helping or hindering Black progress. It raised a number of interesting issues, like how Christianity has been used to justify and perpetuate slavery. However, the film spends too much time, ridiculing religious traditions and not enough time reviewing solid facts, to justify and support it's claim that religion continues to keep Black Americans in bondage. A more thorough analysis would have reviewed how religion works in conjunction with other institutions, like government and finance, to limit Black political and economic progress. Despite its shortcomings I applaud the film for tackling a controversial subject.