By Denis Grasska | Catholic News Service

SAN DIEGO -- Actress Hayley Orrantia had reasons both professional and personal for joining the cast of "God's Not Dead 2."

In a recent telephone interview with The Southern Cross, San Diego's diocesan newspaper, she admitted that the Christian film represents a change of pace from her current work on the ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs," where she plays the family's rebellious oldest child, Erica.

And she relished the challenge inherent in her first dramatic role in a feature film.

But in addition to offering a chance to stretch herself as an actress, Orrantia said, "God's Not Dead 2" also provided her with "a cool opportunity … as a Christian" to share that aspect of her life with audiences, as well as to participate in a film that addresses the controversial issue of religion in the public square.

The sequel to a 2014 film in which a Christian college student and his atheist professor debate the existence of God, "God's Not Dead 2" is the story of a Christian high school teacher (Melissa Joan Hart) who finds herself on trial for answering a student's (Orrantia) question about similarities between a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and another from Jesus.

Orrantia said that, in the film, neither the teacher nor the student is attempting to indoctrinate the class. Rather, she said, her character is simply making the comparison to help herself understand the lesson.

In the contemporary United States, Orrantia said, "I feel like people are trying to tiptoe around certain subjects to not offend people, and I think that this movie takes one of these subjects that we have to tiptoe around – being religion and how much you can say about it in school -- and tries to bring it to the forefront of everybody's mind."

Orrantia told The Southern Cross that this is an issue that she had "definitely thought about" even before her involvement with the film, which opened in theaters April 1.

Born and raised in Texas, she recalled an occasion during her high school years when there was heated debate over the inclusion of the phrase "One nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

"I remember thinking that that was a little ridiculous," she said of the controversy. For her, she said, it was a question of "where do you draw that line and at what point do you start trying to appease everybody?"

When Orrantia first announced on social media that she would be starring in "God's Not Dead 2," she said, she received "a lot of love" but also "a little bit of hate." She counts herself lucky to have been involved with the film. It was the filmmakers who approached her with the role and, after reading the script and watching the original film, she enthusiastically accepted their offer. The production, she said, was "perfectly timed" between seasons of "The Goldbergs."

Orrantia believes the film may have built-in appeal for many Christian moviegoers. But she suggested that even non-Christians might be interested in seeing a film tackle "a subject that everybody kind of tries to walk on eggshells about."

More than anything, Orrantia said, she hopes that the film "gets people talking."

"I'm really excited for everyone to get a chance to see it," she said.

Grasska is assistant editor of The Southern Cross, newspaper of the Diocese of San Diego.