Creation vs. Evolution

In the film, the newspaper reporter, Jim, represents an atheist perspective. He goes to the revival meetings while Falconer preaches in Zenith and writes about them in the newspaper. His article exposes Falconer's revival as ridiculous and purely for entertainment, not religion. Falconer is deeply wounded by this blow and it is Gantry that steps up to salvage her image. He exposes Jim to be an unbeliever and makes a deal to get some airtime on the radio to rebuke the harsh article. As soon as Gantry attacks Jim as an unbeliever, Jim's word is discredited. Gantry's radio time gets great ratings and puts even more force behind Falconer than before.

As soon as Jim is labeled as an unbeliever, his credibility is questioned. At this time, being an atheist is clearly not a justifiable choice. Regardless of the evidence for evolutionism, no one wants to be caught as an unbeliever and face the wrath of God. Gantry's eloquence makes it impossible for anyone to choose this belief. Jim becomes the small minority in the film to disbelieve and question Falconer's revivalism. Even if he hadn't questioned Falconer's revival, he would probably be blamed for the existence of disbelievers: "[f]retful flocks, eager to explain away the straying of their shepherds, blame it all on outsiders, especially the press, a form of scapegoating not unheard of even now"[9]. Ironically, Gantry portrays the press as the problem in Falconer's revival over himself and the many money-hungry participants.