History Main / FantasticReligiousWeirdness

* In an issue of the Creator/DCComics mini-series ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', all the {{Christian|ityIsCatholic}} heroes hold Mass in a church. Naturally, the Celebrant is the exiled [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] Zauriel. One person queries why ComicBook/BlueDevil stands there in flames. Well, he's a good Catholic boy. He's also a Devil standing on sacred ground.

* In the alternate universe of ''ComicBook/{{Marvel 1602}}'', it's even weirder: Thor's human incarnation Donal is a member of UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar, and has to deal with the fact that his own existence contradicts his faith.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Grandville}}'', the inhabitants of a WorldOfFunnyAnimals are Christian, but a version of Christianity that starts with the Flood, and presents Noah as God, releasing the animals onto Earth. It is also a matter of considerable debate what species Jesus was [[spoiler: because the Church is suppressing the evidence that claims he was a member of the human underclass]].

* And then there's the Mexican ''Film/SantaClaus1959'', in which Santa is a demon-battling alien who [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything lives with]] Myth/{{Merlin}} ''and'' [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Hephaestus/Vulcan]], and actually mentions Jesus Christ.
* The Dracula-parody film ''Film/LoveAtFirstBite'' has a scene where a Magen David proves to have no effect on Dracula. Amusingly, the guy wielding the ''Magen David'' only has it because he's a psychiatrist who adopted a Jewish name "for professional reasons."
* Another Dracula parody, ''Film/TheFearlessVampireKillers'', has Shagal, a Jewish vampire who's immune to crucifixes.

* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, the Norse pantheon is real, resulting in some weirdness. Captain America states that Thor doesn't mean anything to him because "there's only one god, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." New York has at least one church that worships the Norse Gods, as seen in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming''.

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' and its prequel series ''Literature/TheBookOfDust'' feature Christianity through a vast Multiverse and how it adapts to world-specific circumstances. For example, in Lyra's world people's souls manifest outwards as animal spirits called daemons. [[spoiler: The church decides to cut children's daemons out, leaving them mindless husks.]]
* ''Fool's War'' by Sarah Zettel is a SpaceOpera where most of the main characters are Muslim. This leads to them asking each other questions like "Which way is Mecca today?" whenever they're on their spaceship and need to pray.
* Creator/CharlesStross deals with future changes to Muslim practices in ''Literature/{{Accelerando}}''. One of the protagonists [[EmancipatedChild emancipates herself]] at the age of twelve via a complicated scheme that involves the relationship between shari'a and modern corporate law--she essentially sells herself into slavery to a computer-run company operated by a blind trust of which she is the sole owner. Her mother attempts to regain guardianship over her, in part by converting to Islam.

* Almost the entire ''Literature/KittyNorville'' series is about the mundane consequences of vampirism and lycanthropy, so this naturally comes up at least a bit. One particularly memorable scene in ''Kitty and the Midnight Hour'' has a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] calling into a talk show for religious advice; apparently devout Catholicism and bursting into flame upon entering holy ground make a bad combination. Kitty's advice to him is to read ''Literature/ParadiseLost'': she argues that Satan's real sin in that book wasn't the rebellion itself, but afterward, when he came to believe that his rebellion put him beyond forgiveness forever. Likewise, supposedly, being a vampire might make existence especially inconvenient for a Catholic, but it doesn't have to mean damnation unless he gives up. Heartwarming.
* The ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series:
** One scene features a priest discussing whether the (intelligent) dragons possess original sin. He comes to the conclusion that since they're not mentioned in the Bible as eating from the Tree, they do not. They're also unrelated to the serpent who tempted Eve because while the serpent was cursed to crawl along the ground, dragons mostly get around by flying through the air.
** It’s occasionally brought up that Temeraire is perplexed by Christianity. One scene mentions that his [[DragonRider captain]] Laurence has given up trying to teach him the Bible because the [[InnocentlyInsensitive naturally curious]] Temeraire keeps asking stunningly blasphemous questions that make Laurence fear divine retribution, and in another Temeraire contemplates how strange it is that Laurence can deny the existence of spirits despite believing in one (the Holy Spirit).
** When the group travels through the Middle East in ''Black Powder War'' they see both people and dragons praying towards Mecca.
** A Buddhist dragon also gets a mention, though her religion is implied rather than stated outright.
* In Creator/PeterFHamilton's sci-fi ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'':
** The souls of the dead come back to possess people. It's a normal part of life (well...death) that any advanced culture has to deal with to grow. One of the first people to be possessed is exorcised by a priest, thus leading you to think it's the usual demonic possession thing, except it turns out it only worked because the possessor was Catholic. It doesn't work if the soul doesn't believe in it.
** The main villain is possessed, but is so evil he in fact steals the abilities of the non-evil possessor while keeping it imprisoned in his mind. He goes on a campaign of galactic destruction thinking he is doing the bidding of the Lightbringer (Satan).

* Creator/HarryTurtledove (who is notably Jewish) has a few examples.
** He wrote a short story, "The R Strain", about the reaction of the Jewish community to the genetic engineering of ruminant pigs, which according to a straightforward interpretation of the rules could be kosher -- but it's not necessarily that simple.
** Turtledove also pulled the same "Eternal Judaism" trope as in the ''Dune'' example above, subtly -- there's a short story about a time traveler from the far future whose home time's way of life is so fundamentally different from ours that he finds everything incomprehensible -- yet upon spotting a menorah in his host's home, casually remarks, "If I saw that in my own time, I'd think you were Jewish".
** ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump'' explores the results of a mash-up of a modern-world AllMythsAreTrue fantasy setting, in which all the magic is religiously based.

* The Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse collection ''Franchise/StarTrek [[Literature/StarfleetCorpsOfEngineers Corps of Engineers]]: Creative Couplings'' by David Mack has a story that involves a Jewish-Klingon wedding. The author apparently found a rabbi who was also a ''Star Trek'' aficionado and asked him how it would probably go down from a ceremonial standpoint, as well as what Klingon foods would be kosher.
* Creator/JoWalton's poem [[https://www.tor.com/2011/04/24/when-we-were-robots-in-egypt/ "When we were robots in Egypt"]] portrays a Passover seder [[ReligiousRobot as reinterpreted by AIs]].
* Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' basically takes the idea that, in a fairy-tale style world where {{Talking Animal}}s are the majority, Jesus would come in the form of an animal (in this case, a lion named Aslan) instead of a human. (Though in this case, he doesn't seem to have been born of a lioness--we see him create the world in ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew.'') At one point we have a horse argue that someone as good as Aslan can't ''really'' be a lion, that that's just a metaphor, only for Aslan to [[RightBehindMe show up]] and gently tease him.
* Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'':
** ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'' has Martians who believe in the Trinity but have not yet learned of the incarnation of Christ (in the series, Earth is under a sort of spiritual quarantine that has prevented news from reaching the other planets). They are also un-Fallen (at least mostly: they do die, though they have no fear of death) and so did not have nor need an Incarnation of their own.
** In ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', it's revealed that Christ's life had profound cosmic consequences: after God became human it meant that all new sentient species from that point on would be human (though possibly of the GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe variety.) Interestingly, however, Perelandra still has to go through its own version of the temptation of Eve[[note]] Forbidden Locations to Sleep Overnight, versus Forbidden Fruit[[/note]], which forms the plot for the novel.
** Lewis also wrote an essay entitled "Religion and Rocketry", which identified a number of theological complications that could arise if man were to discover extraterrestrials, such as whether or not God's plan for human redemption would apply to them, or whether they would even need redemption in the first place. He ultimately comes to the conclusion that it's an interesting subject, but [[MST3KMantra we shouldn't dwell on it too much]] until we actually find aliens.
* In Creator/JamesBlish's classic ''A Case of Conscience'', the Jesuit protagonist concludes that a race of reptilians leading apparently Edenic lives are [[spoiler: of Satanic origin, since they have no concept of God and thus "prove" by their existence that He is unnecessary.]]
* In the prequel book to Creator/JackChalker's ''Literature/SoulRider'' series, as the colonists are settling in on their new planet, the narrator remarks that the Muslim communities had long debates over which way Mecca was, given that, due to the method of travel they used to get there, they didn't even know which way ''Earth'' was. They decided that upward was the best bet. The narrator commented that this put them in agreement with the Christians in the group, and wondered if someday all their children would wind up praying to the gas giant planet that the planet was orbiting. [[spoiler:Which is exactly what happened when the computers running the world ran a conversion program on the entire society to prevent a civil war and decimation of the populace and merged all religions into a single one as part of that change.]]
* The book ''Warp Angel'' by Stuart Hopen features a mercenary who, much to her surprise, falls in love with a rabbi/prominent religious leader who later gets kidnapped and shipped to a hellhole planet. The marriage was already kind of weird for her before that, and later Adam tries to figure out how one keeps kosher on the planet (by eating weeds).
* In F. Paul Wilson's story (later blown up into a novel) "Midnight Mass", it turns out crosses -- ''and only crosses'' -- have power over vampires. The Jewish communities (and presumably other non-Christians, though we only know of this through a Jewish character) are completely overrun.

* Creator/StephenDedman
** "Transit" concerns a group of Muslims from an off-world colony traveling to Earth on ''hajj''. The setting has regular interstellar travel, but places are strictly limited and considerably smaller than the waiting list; there's a lottery to allocate places, but it's implied that the results are not entirely impartial.
** "From Whom All Blessings Flow" has several {{Alternate Histor|y}}ies arguing over which of them has the one true version of Christianity.
* ''Literature/ThisAlienShore'' has an EncyclopediaExposita selection from an apparently updated Bible that compares space travel to the tower of Babel. It states that man turned the skies "black with their arrogance", and that the mutation-triggering Hausman Drive was God's punishment, [[HumanSubspecies dividing humans by species]] as he did by language. Muslims are also required to visit Mecca at least once in their lives, even if they live on a planet that's light-years away. Most sects establish holy sites on their own planets for those who can't afford the trip, but traditionalists must visit Mecca itself, even if they have to sell themselves into IndenturedServitude. Because the traditionalists also can't be ruled by a nonbeliever, they live in their own area on the metroliner, with their own government and their own laws.
* In the novel ''Literature/{{Snare}}'', the Muslim religion was altered for people living on other planets so that "Face Mecca" means "Point To The Stars". The practitioners believe this to be because Mecca is an abstract place in Heaven. The guy who came up with the rule probably did it because figuring out what direction another planet is from a different solar system is hard to do without a degree in astronomy. There is also some discussion on how applicable some rules concerning traditional gender roles are to a race of female-dominated non-humans who express an interest in studying human religion.
* In Creator/PoulAnderson's "Elementary Mistake", a space probe captain feels like praying, "but Mecca was probably in a ridiculous direction."
* In Katherine Kurtz's ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' novels, the very existence of Deryni complicates religious questions.
** Deryni celebrants of the Sacraments can sense the psychic energies and emotions of participants (especially during key points of the Eucharist and the bestowing of Holy Orders). Does that make them higher than other humans on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being Great Chain of Being]]? Were the Deryni persecutions a matter of jealousy as well as fear? (Supported by WordOfGod.)
** Some few Deryni can heal just as Christ is depicted doing in the New Testament. How does that undercut the rationale (such as it is) for persecuting Deryni? Was Christ Deryni?
** Was Camber really a saint? Perhaps a guardian angel? Did he choose to become a saint or an angel in the afterlife? Did his powers and his arcane knowledge permit him to choose that destiny for himself?
* Several stories in the anthology ''Literature/WanderingStars'' touch on the question: does a Jew have to be human? Most notably, Creator/WilliamTenn's "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi".
* Touched upon in the short story "Changes" by Creator/NeilGaiman (from the Smoke and Mirrors anthology) in which a drug intended for cancer treatment has an unexpected side effect... [[EasySexChange nigh-instantaneous and completely reversible gender realignment.]] It's briefly mentioned that the major religions of the world are noted as being about evenly split on whether such a drug is acceptable for treating cancer, though their position on its use as a cure for Gender Identity Disorder goes unrecorded. Then people start using it recreationally...

* ''Literature/TheSparrow'' has Jesuit priests making First Contact on a planet near Alpha Centauri. Although many of their practices are tolerated (in some cases enthusiastically appreciated), the gentle Runa natives get very upset when anybody sings or eats meat; all Masses have to be spoken only, without hymns, and when somebody opens a can of spam the room they're in is evacuated and sealed off. At the very end of the story, you find out why.
* Inverted by a heretical Kzinti sect from Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'' books: traumatized by how their {{Proud Warrior Race|Guy}} keeps getting its ass kicked by PunyHumans, they've concluded that ''God is human'' and on our side. They dress like humans (complete with masks of human skin) in the hope of deceiving our terrifying patron deity long enough to secure some blessings on their race.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, there are several off-hand remarks about vampires working at kosher slaughterhouses. Which is strange because there isn't an actual Judaism in that world. Presumably, there is a religion that has a similar edict about the consumption of blood.

* In the backstory of the ''Literature/StarCarrier'' series Islamic terrorists nuked several major cities around the world, setting off WorldWarIII. In its wake, every faith was required to ratify a pledge called the White Covenant that outlawed many religious practices: ''all'' adherents of ''all'' faiths could believe as they wished so long as that belief did not harm others. Proselytizing, most missionary work and conversion by threat or force were now violations of basic human rights. Naturally this didn't go over well with some, such as the Muslim colonists on Mufrid whom the ''America'' battle group is trying to rescue at least some of in ''Earth Strike'', choosing to GTFO rather than ratify.
* The aforementioned Polish trend is generally based on Christianity, more specifically Catholicism, as Poland is a majority-Catholic nation. (That this trend exists is probably some sort of mix of this in general, the cross-pollination between the litterati and the Catholic intellectual circles, and the fact that such topics were no longer unwelcome after the fall of communism.) Here are some examples:
** In Rafał Dębski's ''Zoroaster'', humanity had spread to the stars and as a result, the Inquisition had to be recreated, because far from Earth and Vatican, there were literally thousands of people declaring themselves the Christ come again and ''someone'' had to go around and either debunk or confirm them. No confirmation ever happened and by the time of the story, the trend is long past.
** The works of Creator/JacekDukaj include aliens spreading the Gospel on their own and leaving human Christians to wonder if they're just the space-age Jew-equivalent in God's plan, the Gospel spreading to the AI as a result of a mad millionaire trying to record a genuine divine revelation, alternate universes where the Christ never died, and so on.
** Wojciech Szyda is another specialist in the genre. Probably the strictest example of this trope in his portfolio is a short story about a starship pilot tasked as an operator of a touring confession booth, who discovers [[CloneJesus a clone of Jesus]] on an abandoned space station.
** Creator/StanislawLem, who predates the above writers by a generation, has also dabbled in the genre. A non-comedic example would be a story of {{religious robot}}s who have decided that the only way to avoid putting their faith to scrutiny, which it will by rational reasoning inevitably fail, is to keep it as a personal belief that is not spread to others. They form a small monastic community.
* At the end of Dani and Eytan Kollin's ''Incorporated World'' series, a rabbi has to deal with the problem of an avatar (an Artificial Intelligence) wanting to convert. It only gets more complicated when humans and avatars start wanting to get married.
* The ''Literature/VenusPrime'' series has Khalid Sayeed, a devout Shiite Muslim who happens to live on Mars. To compensate for the fact that Mecca is on an entirely different planet, he uses a special astrolabe to discern Mecca's location relative to Mars so that he can pray in approximately the right direction.
* Given the subjects of Arthurian legends, where Saints, Paladins, and some Biblical figures (namely Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea) rub elbows with TheFairFolk, wizards, and, in some cases, even pagan deities (e.g. Affalach and his daughter the goddess Modron), works of Arthurian literature tend to play with this. Two of the most notable works that touch on this are ''Merlin'' by Robert de Boron and ''Vita di Merlino''. In the first detailing Merlin's birth, notes that he was born of a human woman raped by a demon (who may or may not be Satan himself), who intended the child to become the Antichrist. However, the woman had the child exorcised and baptized by a priest to undo the demonic influence on Merlin. He kept his magical abilities, thus making him unique as a son of Satan who uses his powers to help people ([[Franchise/{{Hellboy}} Does this sound]] [[OlderThanTheyThink familiar?]]). ''Vita di Merlino'' includes a story in which the wizard is brought before the Pope to be tried for heresy in which Merlin is exonerated. The latter is particularly unique given the debates as to whether to allow for "Natural Magic" (what is today called Science) as an exception in the prohibition of witchcraft that occurred during the medieval era.

* In ''Literature/AWolfInTheSoul'', Holmes makes several attempts to explain Greg's lycanthropy in the context of Jewish mysticism. Dr. Rumu, with her Indian mysticism, oddly seems to have a more thorough grasp of exactly what is going on, but despite this, she is less able to provide a cure.
* In Kameron Hurley's ''Bel Dame Apocrypha'' a Space Diaspora that took place so long ago that the existence of Earth has apparently been forgotten has wrought huge changes on Islam, the dominant religion of the planet it takes place on. There is of course no Mecca or apparently even any memory of it. The least changed faction has added a sixth prayer time but the really changed culture is that of the nation of Nasheen which is an Islamic ''matriarchy''.
* "Rome, Sweet Rome" is a science fiction story based on a ''Popular Mechanics'' article questioning whether or not a US Marine Expeditionary Unit could single-handedly conquer the Roman Empire. Besides the usual TimeTravelTropes, it also explores the implications of sending Christians back to before the birth of Christ.
* ''Rogue Emperor'' by Crawford Kilian features a modern-day sect of religious fundamentalists who take over an alternate Rome at around 100 AD. Being both anti-semitic and not particularly historically literate, they persecute the Jews and also go looking for early Roman Christians -- a highly counterproductive course of action, as the Christians still identify as Jews. While pretending to work for them, the protagonist takes on the assignment of finding the Christians, and tracks down Mark (the gospel writer), who refuses to believe that the cultists would honor him, as they ''murdered his grandchildren''.
* In [[Creator/PoulAnderson Winston P. Sanders]]' novella ''The Word To Space'', the SETI Project finally made contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. Initially they were ecstatic -- but then they discovered the extraterrestrials were the equivalent of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons, who saw making contact as a way to spread the Word and send Earth the equivalent of ''The Watchtower'' or ''ComicBook/ChickTracts''. The story dealt with the consequences of this bizarre dogmatic extraterrestrial religion making converts on Earth and the way they ignored all polite Earth requests that we'd quite like to get to know about you, your planet, its people, its science, etc., if you could throttle back on the word of God a bit, please. A Jesuit priest is brought in to consult and sets off a chain of events that results in Holy War at their end and the collapse of their theocracy.[[note]]Enabling the scientists to finally talk about the really interesting stuff. [[/note]]

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': ''Flag in Exile'' mentions that the Manticoran military doesn't have a Chaplains' Corps because of the sheer diversity of belief systems. Manticoran warships do have nondenominational chapels aboard but any services are done by lay leaders. This is contrasted with the Grayson Space Navy: the Graysons are mostly members of a Christian offshoot sect called the Church of Humanity Unchained (akin to fundamentalist Mormons with bits of conservative Islam for flavor) and their ships do carry chaplains. When women were allowed to enlist in the GSN due to manpower needs after Grayson allied with Manticore, they were only allowed to serve on the biggest ships because only superdreadnoughts had room for separate men's and women's quarters.
* ''Literature/JillKismet'': Jill is Catholic, but as a hunter, she is barred from Confession and Communion for trafficking with the supernatural and the sin of murder repeated every night. By special dispensation, she can still be buried in consecrated ground, however (assuming there's enough of her left to bury). Church tradition also holds that hunters cannot go to heaven for the same reason, [[spoiler:but given that her deceased mentor Mikhail appears as an angel warrior at the climax of ''Angel Town'', the dogma can be assumed to be wrong]].
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Various supernatural characters refer to the Abrahamic God as "the White God", and the series derives some amusing moments from the backgrounds of the Knights of the Cross, a trio of {{Paladin}}s in all but name who wield swords forged with nails from the Crucifixion laid into the hilt. Michael Carpenter is Catholic, but Sanya is agnostic and [[spoiler:Waldo Butters]] is ''Jewish''. (This is largely explained by the Knights being more a matter of good intent than of a specific faith.) See also comments from a local Catholic priest about Harry, whose faith is in magic itself rather than any deity, needing holy water by the gallon for some incidents.
** It's also stated that any symbol of faith can repel a vampire -- Harry himself uses his pentacle since that's a symbol of his faith in magic.
* The ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' novels never really address religious issues directly ([[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything despite a lot of Christian subtext in the last book]]), but for what it's worth, WordOfGod says that she imagines that Hogwarts has hosted students of just about every religion except Wicca, simply because that idea of magic(k) is so different from the series'.
* ''Literature/TheApocalypseDoor'' has Peter Crossman, an [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot ex-CIA commando-turned-Catholic special operations priest]] (a Knight Templar who is not, ironically enough, a KnightTemplar), ambushed in a bar by a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot car-stealing, sexy redheaded "fun nun with the gun"]] who forces him to both break his cover and do nothing to defend himself by approaching him for confession. He later attempts to administer the Last Rites[[note]]Which require him to anoint the forehead, lips, eyes, ears, heart, and hands with chrism.[[/note]] to a dead body, only to discover [[spoiler: that the entire front half of its head has been sliced off. He anoints the side of his head on the temporal bone, "that being the nearest spot that remained," and the voice box in lieu of his lips, and just has to skip the eyes altogether.]] Later, while waiting in a bar to meet a contact, he realizes that he hasn't celebrated Mass that day, so he orders a glass of wine and takes a bowl of oyster crackers.
* ''Eifelheim'' by Creator/MichaelFlynn explores how late medieval Catholics deal with {{insectoid aliens}} who crash-land near their small German village. He cites theologians such as Augustine saying mythic creatures like dog-headed men, if they existed, would have souls and be capable of receiving baptism to argue it wouldn't be something they couldn't handle. After determining that the aliens are rational, the priest engages in debate with them about religion and other things. Some of the aliens end up converting.
* Jo Walton's ''Thessaly'' trilogy (''The Just City,'' ''The Philosopher Kings,'' and ''Necessity'') explore a setting in which the goddess Athena uses time travel, magic, and robots to create something resembling Plato's Republic thousands of years in the past (ItMakesSenseInContext), including some Christian characters' reactions to finding themselves living well before the birth of Christ.

* In ''Literature/{{Everworld}},'' the main characters are TrappedInAnotherWorld where AllMythsAreTrue. April is a devout Catholic who at one point insists that the "gods" around her don't deserve that title, though she does have some internal struggles at times. Jalil, meanwhile, is an atheist determined to figure out how all this supernatural nonsense actually ''works.''
* In ''Literature/TheColdMoons'', the badgers have an AnimalReligion that takes influence from Abrahamic religions. They seemingly understand the story of Adam and Eve as it's mentioned that {{God}} (called "Logos") cursed earth due to man's disobedience, but how this all relates to badgers is unspecified. Badgers believe that ''all'' animals (including humans) have souls and that they'll all live together peacefully in [[{{Heaven}} Asgard]] when they die.

* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': Pope Urban VIII has to decide whether [[TemporalParadox papal infallibility still applies when the pope in question will now never be born]].
* A plot element in the SF short story "The Dead Man's Coffee" by John Possidente is a dispute within a Muslim-dominated space colony over whether humans genetically engineered to be capable of photosynthesis are allowed to do so during Ramadan.
* ''Literature/WearingTheCape'': [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening Breakthroughs]] can have essentially any power, and since their powers are based on [[PersonalityPowers their own beliefs and reaction to their trauma]], it's not particularly uncommon for those powers to be religiously themed. The Middle East got carved up by a new Caliphate when a terrorist became the "Sword of the Faith," a ten-foot-tall angel wielding a flaming sword. In most of the world, religious Breakthroughs are seen as no different from other delusional Breakthroughs, though in Japan most people have largely accepted that magic is real, and ancient ''kami'' roam the land once more (the government still insists they're just delusional). In the West, it's mentioned that the Catholic Church investigates any claim of a divine miracle ''very'' closely, as Breakthrough powers are not considered miracles but it's difficult to conclusively prove that one wasn't involved.
* In ''Literature/Metro2033'', the question of "what does Jehovah say on the issue of [[NuclearNasty headless mutants]]" is used as an ArmorPiercingQuestion against an obnoxious Jehovah's Witness.
* In ''Literature/CastleFederation'', there is a planet which evolved a sect of Christianity [[spoiler:in which women chose their husband as their God-given right and that choice is formalized by the woman having sex with the man.]] It causes some problems when it clashes with more liberated mindsets.
* Harlan Ellison's story ''Literature/ImLookingForKadak'' describes the problem of finding a tenth man to make up a sufficient number for a Jewish service -- especially being a blue, eleven-armed inhabitant of the asteroid Zsouchmuhn -- "Ha! I'm a Jew."[[/folder]]

** [[BigBad The Source]] once tries to enter a church, but it turns out that those gargoyles actually ''do'' protect against evil spirits--one begins to snarl and creates a sort of magical barrier that weakens him.

* The ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' book on the Lancea Sanctum (a generally Abrahamic Covenant that believes the centurion Longinus was turned into a vampire when the blood of Christ dripped onto his lips and was taught that vampires are commanded by God to harrow sinners) goes into detail about how the various creeds mesh together on the vampiric condition and the mortal faith of their practitioners (for instance, how a Muslim vampire effectively fasts during Ramadan when he's ''in a coma'' from sunup to sundown).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' is often cursory as well but it has some fairly well-developed religions. In any case, religion is usually just another facet of local custom.

* In a ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein'' article in ''Pyramid'' magazine, "Concerning the [[GenieInABottle Djinn]]", Creator/PhilMasters briefly looks at what it means to be a powerful spirit being and a devout Muslim, and the same ideas were later re-used in the same author's ''[[http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/ottoman/ GURPS Castle Falkenstein: The Ottoman Empire]]''. Essentially, the Djinn have their own mosques, hidden underground, because attending a human mosque is liable to be disruptive to proceedings (they generally turn invisible when making the hajj). Though funnily enough, these ideas all come more or less directly from genuine Muslim folklore.
** Non-Muslim Djinn are repelled by Muslim prayers. While this certainly applies to evil Djinn (except the powerful Ifrit, who revel in blasphemy) it doesn't ''only'' apply to them -- it's compared to how some European Faeries are repelled by symbols of Christianity, regardless of their morality. The in-universe authors aren't sure if Christian symbols affect djinn since the underlying mechanisms of all this aren't understood.
* The second edition of ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' abandons the {{Masquerade}}-focused world of the first edition in favor of a world where the pantheons have always been known to the world, but not necessarily prominent. As a result, a lot of syncretism happens, but it's not treated as a huge deal. A parishioner may go to church on Sunday, but might offer a sacrifice to a Yoruba deity for good luck or order a taurobolium during an OB-GYN appointment. That said, the Abrahamic figures have gone from being heavily implied to not exist -- since Satan is no longer actually Pan while YHVH and his angels aren't heavily implied to be the Titan Aten and his spawn -- to having their status go unmentioned.

* Rivet City in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has a Catholic church dedicated to St. Monica, a ghoul who is apparently the patron saint of the Wasteland.

* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', [[http://www.kevinandkell.com/2000/kk1224.html everyone sees Jesus as their own species]].
* ''Calamities of Nature'' [[http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=109 notes]] that being gay and Catholic is easier than being a vampire and a Jehovah's Witness.

* The sapient robots in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' are trying to understand religion, and have selected "radical agnostic" [[ChaoticGood Max Post]] as spiritual advisor for his lack of bias and dedication to critical thinking. Other than that, the only real weirdness we see from them on the subject is [[CloudCuckooLander Dvorak]]'s theory of "Omniquantism": If God is truly all-powerful, then all religions can be true simultaneously. [[LogicBomb Thinking about it too hard causes one in three robots to crash]] (the other two probably dismiss it as nonsense).
* A [[http://rickgriffinstudios.com/comic-post/the-storyboard-026/ one-off gag strip]] of ''Webcomic/AAndHClub'' has the devoutly Christian Eliza in front of a portrait of Jesus as a lion, while Hilde points out that, historically, he was a ram; a FunnyAnimal version of the difference between the traditional Western portrayal and contemporary descriptions, combined with a riff on the Lamb of God/Lion of Judah symbolism.

* ''Roleplay/ScaryNewsOutOfTokyo3'': It turns out [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Second Impact]] had a pretty drastic effect on a number of real-world religions (and cults). Some have died out completely; others, like (for example) Scientology, no longer exist in their original form.

* The [[Website/{{Cracked}} Cracked.com]] article '[[http://www.cracked.com/article_19853_5-light-hearted-movies-with-dark-moral-implications.html 5 Light-Hearted Movies With Dark Moral Implications]]' raised the issue of religion in the Franchise/HarryPotter universe: Regular religions exist there, and the characters are shown celebrating Christmas, so how does a world of magic and undead interact with people's belief in Christianity or other religions? Especially given that wizards can do magic akin to several miracles [[NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus Jesus is said to have done]]. (The article neglects the fact that Christmas is often still celebrated as a secular holiday by non-Christians, especially in a Christian country like Scotland.)
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3004 SCP-3004 ("Imago")]]. It's a completely insane cicada god worshipped by a now-extinct Irish druidic cult that has come to believe it is the Judeo-Christian God. It warps Christian ceremonies into a ReligionOfEvil involving BodyHorror, self-mutilation, and {{Animalistic Abomination}}s. It doesn't understand what its followers really want or believe or the harm it causes and worse, it is breaking through into our reality; the Foundation's contingency is to use amnesia agents and Thaumiel-level [=SCPs=] to erase Christianity from the historical record in an attempt to starve it. It's the HijackedByJesus trope {{Inverted|Trope}} and played for all the cosmic and religious horror it can be.
* In ''WebOriginal/SeventeenThousandSevenHundredSeventySix'', religion as a whole became a dying concept after humanity achieved immortality. The few remaining believers struggle to reconcile their current situation with the promise of an afterlife for them. Some even start to believe their current situation ''is'' the afterlife.

* ''Literature/MagicMetahumansMartiansAndMushroomCloudsAnAlternateColdWar'': The restored prevalence of magic leads to the renewal of and increase in pagan worship, while also causing more mainstream religions to come more under the influence of their respective occult beliefs (Kabbalist Judaism, Enochian Christianity, Sufi Islam, etc.).

** Fairies are often forcibly baptised into the church, despite their lack of understanding of Christianity. Indeed they seem to struggle with the idea that all humans are not Christians. Fairies particularly like and respect saints, who they regard as great magical beings who can be invoked for greater power.

This can be TruthInTelevision. Conferences of real Muslims have grappled with the question of how to pray toward Mecca five times a day while orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes. And just how do you determine when Shabbat begins and ends in places that experience polar night and midnight sun?, For that matter, can the faithful be expected to fast from sunup to sundown in such locations?[[note]]Muslims in polar communities have the choice of keeping to the local schedule or following the sunrise and sunset times of Mecca during Ramadan. Some muftis have also opined that Muslims can fast for an arbitrary 12-hour period, like 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; this solution is common in Britain.[[/note]] Do particular transgenic foods meet Islam's dietary laws? And now that lab-grown meat is just over the horizon, would a beef burger grown in a petri dish be kosher (which demands meat be slaughtered a particular way)? Or acceptable to Hindus (who don't eat beef)? Or Jains (who regard slaughtering animals as always wrong)?

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', Thor saves the life of a Christian priest, and assures him that although he (Thor) is real, so is a god superior to Thor whom the Thunder God explicitly identifies as the Christian God. (It's never made clear which sect the priest is, nor is the question of Jesus addressed.)

** By the 23rd century, the most popular religion in [[TheAlliance TeTO]] space are the Church of the Cosmic Spirit, a dualistic faith which believes in a Spirit of Light responsible for all good in the universe, and an opposing Spirit of Darkness responsible for all evil, with major important and influential historical figures of all species believed to be avatars of one or the other. Reincarnation is also a major aspect as well.

* In the French comedy ''Dracula and Son'' (''Dracula père et fils'') a crossed hammer and sickle deters vampires just as well as a crucifix. But the former are easier to find in socialist Romania.

** One scene features a priest discussing whether the (intelligent) dragons possess original sin. He comes to the conclusion that since they're not mentioned in the Bible as eating from the Tree, they do not. They're also unrelated to the serpent who tempted Eve, because while the serpent was cursed to crawl along the ground, dragons mostly get around by flying through the air.

* The Fremen in ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' are the descendants of Muslims who were relocated, apparently forcibly, to alien planets. Ten thousand years later, they are ''still'' bitter about being denied the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). ''Literature/ChapterhouseDune'' then goes on to reveal that Judaism is still alive and kicking after 25,000 years, and introduces the reader to at least one group of Jews that's had to make only minor accommodations to their faith. This is in contrast to just about every other Dune religion, which are all mishmashes of other ones (Buddislam, Navachristianity, etc.), because Jews are just that cool.

** ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump'' explores the results of a mash up of a modern-world AllMythsAreTrue fantasy setting, in which all the magic is religiously-based.
* The inhabitants of the Colony, the national-level WorthyOpponent in ''Literature/TheGeneral'' series, are Muslims. They dealt with the Mecca problem by bringing a fragment of the Kaaba with them (Mecca itself was apparently destroyed in a war just before they left) and substituting their original landing site for prayer and pilgrimage purposes. Of course the whole point of this is just to keep the 'Fifth Century Byzantium [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!!!]]' setting as much as possible, so it's brushed over pretty quickly.

** ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'' has Martians which believe in the Trinity but have not yet learned of the incarnation of Christ (in the series, Earth is under a sort of spiritual quarantine that has prevented news from reaching the other planets). They are also un-Fallen (at least mostly: they do die, though they have no fear of death) and so did not have nor need an Incarnation of their own.

* In ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' the existence of angels, demons and fairies (not to mention heaven, hell and faerie) are all apparently well-established historical facts, although only fairies are shown to definitely exist. The book's footnotes allude to religion's reaction to this alternate history:

* In the backstory of the ''Literature/StarCarrier'' series Islamic terrorists nuked several major cities around the world, setting off WorldWarIII. In its wake every faith was required to ratify a pledge called the White Covenant that outlawed many religious practices: ''all'' adherents of ''all'' faiths could believe as they wished so long as that belief did not harm others. Proselytizing, most missionary work, and conversion by threat or force were now violations of basic human rights. Naturally this didn't go over well with some, such as the Muslim colonists on Mufrid whom the ''America'' battle group is trying to rescue at least some of in ''Earth Strike'', choosing to GTFO rather than ratify.

* At the end of Dani and Eytan Kollin's ''Incorporated World'' series a rabbi has to deal with the problem of an avatar (an Artificial Intelligence) wanting to convert. It only gets more complicated when humans and avatars start wanting to get married.

* Given the subjects of Arthurian legends, where Saints, Paladins and some Biblical figures (namely Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea) rub elbows with TheFairFolk, wizards, and, in some cases, even pagan deities (e.g. Affalach and his daughter the goddess Modron), works of Arthurian literature tend to play with this. Two of the most notable works that touch on this are ''Merlin'' by Robert de Boron and ''Vita di Merlino''. In the first detailing Merlin's birth, notes that he was born of a human woman raped by a demon (who may or may not be Satan himself), who intended the child to become the Antichrist. However, the woman had the child exorcised and baptized by a priest to undo the demonic influence on Merlin. He kept his magical abilities, thus making him unique as a son of Satan who uses his powers to help people ([[Franchise/{{Hellboy}} Does this sound]] [[OlderThanTheyThink familiar?]]). ''Vita di Merlino'' includes a story in which the wizard is brought before the Pope to be tried for heresy in which Merlin is exonerated. The latter is particularly unique given the debates as to whether to allow for "Natural Magic" (what is today called Science) as an exception in the prohibition of witchcraft that occurred during the medieval era.

* In ''Literature/AWolfInTheSoul'', Holmes makes several attempts to explain Greg's lycanthropy in the context of Jewish mysticism. Dr. Rumu, with her Indian mysticism, oddly seems to have a more thorough grasp of exactly what is going on, but despite this she is less able to provide a cure.
* In Kameron Hurley's ''Bel Dame Apocrypha'' a Space Diaspora that taken place so long ago that the existence of Earth has apparently been forgotten has wrought huge changes on Islam, the dominant religion of the planet it takes place on. There is of course no Mecca or apparently even any memory of it. The least changed faction has added a sixth prayer time but the really changed culture is that of the nation of Nasheen which is an Islamic ''matriarchy''.

* In [[Creator/PoulAnderson Winston P. Sanders]]' novella ''The Word To Space'', the SETI Project finally made contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. Initially they were ecstatic -- but then they discovered the extraterrestrials were the equivalent of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons, who saw making contact as a way to spread the Word and send Earth the equivalent of ''The Watchtower'' or ''ComicBook/ChickTracts''. The story dealt with the consequences of this bizarre dogmatic extraterrestrial religion making converts on Earth and the way they ignored all polite Earth requests that we'd quite like to get to know about you, your planet, its people, its science, etc., if you could throttle back on the word of God a bit, please. A Jesuit priest is brought in to consult, and sets off a chain of events which results in Holy War at their end and the collapse of their theocracy.[[note]]Enabling the scientists to finally talk about the really interesting stuff. [[/note]]
* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': Everything from Greek mythology exists and has been transplanted into the Western world. Chiron gives something of a throwaway line suggesting that the Big-G God may exist beyond the Olympians, but we're basically told not to worry about it to much. Later, a corrupt preacher in the Underworld is implied to be unable to see the place as it really is.

* ''Literature/JillKismet'': Jill is Catholic, but as a hunter she is barred from Confession and Communion for trafficking with the supernatural and the sin of murder repeated every night. By special dispensation she can still be buried in consecrated ground, however (assuming there's enough of her left to bury). Church tradition also holds that hunters cannot go to heaven for the same reason, [[spoiler:but given that her deceased mentor Mikhail appears as an angel warrior at the climax of ''Angel Town'', the dogma can be assumed to be wrong]].

** It's also stated that any symbol of faith can repel a vampire -- Harry himself uses his pentacle, since that's a symbol of his faith in magic.

* The ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'' trilogy and its live-action adaptation ''Series/AlteredCarbon'' talk about Neo-Catholics, a futuristic revision of the old faith that, among other things, believes that a use of the "Cortical Stack" (a BodyBackupDrive and BodySurf technology that is omnipresent in the setting) means a violation of the soul (to explain: people resurrected with the Stack are TheSoulless, who have forfeited their chance at eternal glory or judgment), and because of this those who practice the faith have given orders to not have their Stacks re-spun no matter what (essentially a futuristic "Do Not Resuscitate"). [[spoiler:This becomes a very important plot point in the first book of the series.]]
* ''Literature/TheWandering'' has some aliens from two different worlds discover that the only way to salvation is through Jesus, and that Jesus' death on the cross was for ''all creation, including them.''

* In ''Literature/TheColdMoons'', the badgers have an AnimalReligion which takes influence from Abrahamic religions. They seemingly understand the story of Adam and Eve as it's mentioned that {{God}} (called "Logos") cursed earth due to man's disobedience, but how this all relates fo badgers is unspecified. Badgers believe that ''all'' animals (including humans) have souls and that they'll all live together peacefully in [[{{Heaven}} Asgard]] when they die.

* ''Literature/WearingTheCape'': [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening Breakthroughs]] can have essentially any power, and since their powers are based on [[PersonalityPowers their own beliefs and reaction to their trauma]], it's not particularly uncommon for those powers to be religiously themed. The Middle East got carved up by a new Caliphate when a terrorist became the "Sword of the Faith," a ten foot-tall angel wielding a flaming sword. In most of the world, religious Breakthroughs are seen as no different from other delusional Breakthroughs, though in Japan most of the people have largely accepted that magic is real, and ancient ''kami'' roam the land once more (the government still insists they're just delusional). In the West, it's mentioned that the Catholic Church investigates any claim of a divine miracle ''very'' closely, as Breakthrough powers are not considered miracles but it's difficult to conclusively prove that one wasn't involved.

* In ''Literature/CastleFederation'', there is a planet which evolved a sect of Christanity [[spoiler:in which women chose their husband as their God-given right and that choice is formalized by the woman having sex with the man.]] It causes some problems when it clashes more liberated mindsets.

** The Mexican Day of the Dead has been given a twist due to stacks. While the vast majority of people are too poor to buy a new sleeve when they die, families often rent sleeves so that their dead loved ones can visit. Detective Ortega spins up her grandmother for the celebration, which freaks out her family because they are all Neo-Catholics and didn't realize grandmother had removed her coding before she died. It didn't help that she was spun up in a male Neo-Nazi sleeve covered in white-supremacist tattoos.

'''George''': I think you'd be hard pressed to find a religion that doesn't frown on it.

* A mild version occurs early in ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}.'' Piper isn't very religious, but she wonders if the revelation that she's [[WitchSpecies a witch]] means that she's evil in some way. She spends a whole episode psyching herself up to walk into a church, and is relieved when she doesn't suddenly burst into flames or something.

* The ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' book on the Lancea Sanctum (a generally Abrahamic Covenant that believes the centurion Longinus was turned into a vampire when the blood of Christ dripped onto his lips, and was taught that vampires are commanded by God to harrow sinners) goes into detail about how the various creeds mesh together on the vampiric condition and the mortal faith of their practitioners (for instance, how a Muslim vampire effectively fasts during Ramadan when he's ''in a coma'' from sunup to sundown).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' is often cursory as well but it has some fairly well developed religions. In any case religion is usually just another facet of local custom.

* ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' gives a brief rundown on how various religions deal with "ghosts" and [=AI=]s. Broadly speaking, they tend to be "humanocentric" but not "bio-chauvinist" (that is, they don't see [=AI=]s as people, but accept brain uploads as being the same person, more or less), although there are lots of exceptions, and several fringe sects such as Christian Hyperevolutionism.

** Non-Muslim Djinn are repelled by Muslim prayers. While this certainly applies to evil Djinn (except the powerful Ifrit, who revel in blasphemy) it doesn't ''only'' apply to them -- it's compared to how some European Faeries are repelled by symbols of Christianity, regardless of their morality. The in-universe authors aren't sure if Christian symbols affect djinn, since the underlying mechanisms of all this aren't understood.

* There's one arc of ''Webcomic/GetMedieval'' that culminates in a group of characters, including medieval Christian Sir Gerard, spending some time on the moon, and Gerard at one point thinks, "No wonder it's taking Jesus 1400 years to return. He's got quite a tour to make." Similarly, when the other characters reveal their HumanAlien origins, he doesn't question why they look just like humans because "God made mankind in his own image. Why would he make other planets differently?" And in the same arc, one of the HumanAliens who's converted to Islam stops for a moment to pray while they're on the moon and faces towards Earth, since that's where Mecca is.

* The world of ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' is full of odd creatures and {{transhuman}}s who practice religions, and religious scholars have apparently put in a lot of thought in how the religious rules apply to their unusual circumstances. The most prominent example is Nick, whose [[BrainInAJar brain was extracted from his body]] and [[SentientVehicle integrated into a helicopter]]. He still considers himself Jewish, and has installed a mezuzah on his cabin doorway.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3004 SCP-3004 ("Imago")]]. It's a completely insane cicada god worshipped by a now-extinct Irish druidic cult that has come to believe it is the Judeo-Christian God. It warps Christian ceremonies into a ReligionOfEvil involving BodyHorror, self-mutilation and {{Animalistic Abomination}}s. It doesn't understand what its followers really want or believe or the harm it causes and worse, it is breaking through into our reality; the Foundation's contingency is to use amnesia agents and Thaumiel-level [=SCPs=] to erase Christianity from the historical record in an attempt to starve it. It's the HijackedByJesus trope {{Inverted|Trope}} and played for all the cosmic and religious horror it can be.

** The major post-Deluge branches of Christianity in America are the Reconstructionist Christians (who are the result of remaining Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and some Protestants [[InterfaithSmoothie mixing together]]) and the Southron Church of Christ (which combines numerous Protestant denominations together along with Confederate nostalgia).

** Lego was misremembered for a time as a religion based on "the Master Builders", until archaeologists finally uncovered evidence proving what it really was.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Dr. Zoidberg, who himself carries many stereotypical Jewish mannerisms, is in one episode refused entrance to a "Bot-Mitzvah", run by Jewish ''[[ReligiousRobot robots]]'', due to being shellfish and thus not kosher. WordOfGod says that his entire race converted to something akin to 20th century East Coast America middle class moderate/reform Judaism because it suited them... [[RuleOfFunny and because it's funny.]]

* The question is OlderThanTheyThink. One Medieval Theologian on being asked about how TheFairFolk fit in, replied simply that it was probably better to wait until they knew they existed. Creator/CSLewis noticed this in his book ''Literature/TheDiscardedImage'' (an overview of Medieval beliefs for use in understanding Medieval literature). The book devotes a whole chapter to TheFairFolk. Creator/JRRTolkien, on the other hand, in part wrote his mythology specifically to fit elves into the picture. In one essay he commented "God is the Lord of Angels, of Men -- and yes, of Elves". One interpretation is that Tolkien's Elves are meant to represent an Unfallen humanity; this is what Mankind would be if they had never been cast out of Eden -- Eden in this case being the Undying Lands, which the Elves can leave by choice but can always return to.

* The Chacham Tzvi once wrote a responsa on whether or not a {{Golem}}, which resembles a human but does not have a human soul, could be counted in a minyan (a gathering of ten Jews for prayer). This may actually become a relevant issue if we ever manage to make RidiculouslyHumanRobots... The plain answer is "no".

* ''Epistola de Cynocephalis'', by the 9th century churchman Rimbert, is an essay pondering whether the dog-headed men (of travelers' tall tales, believed widely throughout Europe) have souls and should be baptized. [[http://m-francis.livejournal.com/78828.html As you can see, the concept of interaction of aliens and religion]] is OlderThanPrint.

In the simplest form of this trope, the setting makes religiously forbidden things harder to avoid, or mandatory things harder to do. Maybe it's impossible for Jewish vampires to keep kosher without starving.[[note]]This is probably true unless [[VegetarianVampire they can live on fish blood, which is permitted according to the Talmud.]] However, ''Pikuach nefesh'' refers to a concept in Jewish religious law where certain prohibited behaviors are permissible if they preserve a life. Ergo, a vampire would be allowed to consume non-kosher blood because it was required for their survival, so long as no one was murdered to get the blood... Although at least one rabbi, asked the question, replied that he didn't think pikuach nefesh would apply to the undead, [[ExactWords as it specifically refers to the preservation of life]][[/note]] A group of Muslims on a GenerationShip is likely to have trouble making a pilgrimage to UsefulNotes/{{Mecca}}.[[note]]While Muslims are only required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca ''if they are capable of doing so'', don't expect this distinction to be brought up in fiction because that takes away the drama.[[/note]] (It's also possible in principle for a setting to make religion ''easier'',[[note]]For instance, a planet with an orbital period of 354.37 Earth days, were it to exist, would synchronize with the Islamic lunar calendar, potentially making fasting during Ramadan much easier — particularly if it falls in local winter in the planet's habitable regions. Another example is that many rabbis say that in vitro meat — even if it is derived from pig cells — is kosher[[/note]] but that's less likely to happen as it fails to follow the RuleOfDrama, although it might be used for world-building or a one off-gag[[note]]Like having a Hindu Brahmin chowing down on a lab-grown hamburger or [[JewsLoveToArgue a Jewish family arguing]] whether it's OK to have a lab-grown ham for Shabbat dinner[[/note]].)

* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'', Beni, when confronted by the newly resurrected Imhotep, pulls out several holy symbols that he apparently wears on a chain around his neck -- on the eminently practical grounds that ''one of them'' has to work -- displaying each and saying a prayer in the appropriate language to try to ward him off. First, he pulls out a crucifix, then a [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Crescent]], then a ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} taijitu]]'', and finally, a Star of David. Only the Star of David and a Hebrew prayer averts Beni's imminent demise -- but only because Imhotep recognizes Hebrew as [[Literature/BookOfExodus "the language of the slaves"]], and thinks Beni will be useful in this regard.

** In ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', it's revealed that Christ's life had profound cosmic consequences: after God became human it meant that all new sentient species from that point on would be human (though possibly of the GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe variety.) Interestingly, however, Perelandra still has to go through its own version of the temptation of Eve[[note]]Forbidden Locations to Sleep Overnight, versus Forbidden Fruit[[/note]], which forms the plot for the novel.

* In [[Creator/PoulAnderson Winston P. Sanders]]' novella ''The Word To Space'', the SETI Project finally made contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. Initially they were ecstatic - but then they discovered the extraterrestrials were the equivalent of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons, who saw making contact as a way to spread the Word and send Earth the equivalent of ''The Watchtower'' or ''ComicBook/ChickTracts''. The story dealt with the consequences of this bizarre dogmatic extraterrestrial religion making converts on Earth and the way they ignored all polite Earth requests that we'd quite like to get to know about you, your planet, its people, its science, etc., if you could throttle back on the word of God a bit, please. A Jesuit priest is brought in to consult, and sets off a chain of events which results in Holy War at their end and the collapse of their theocracy.[[note]]Enabling the scientists to finally talk about the really interesting stuff. [[/note]]

** It's also stated that any symbol of faith can repel a vampire-Harry himself uses his pentacle, since that's a symbol of his faith in magic.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' drew a number of plots from the cultural conflict between the deeply religious Bajorans and the secular-humanist (and often outspokenly atheist) Federation. This is exacerbated by the fact that the Bajorans turned out in the pilot to have bee" n mythologizing {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s for tens of thousands of years: SinisterMinister Winn Adami's first appearance has her arguing with Keiko O'Brien over teaching the secular view of the wormhole and its inhabitants, as opposed to the religious traditions (an obvious {{allegory}} for teaching evolution versus creationism). The comparison immediately gets deconstructed when it turns out that outside her extremely conservative faction the rest of the clergy think the two perspectives amount to saying the same thing in different words; the show would later go on to show that their religion is ''accurate'' in every way it was testable.

* The second edition of ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' abandons the {{Masquerade}}-focused world of the first edition in favor of a world where the pantheons have always been known to the world, but not necessarily prominent. As a result, a lot of syncretism happens, but it's not treated as a huge deal. A parishioner may go to church on Sunday, but might offer a sacrifice to a Yoruba deity for good luck or order a taurobolium during an OB-GYN appointment. That said, the Abrahamic figures have gone from being heavily implied to not exist-since Satan is no longer actually Pan while YHVH and his angels aren't heavily implied to be the Titan Aten and his spawn-to having their status go unmentioned.

* Harlan Ellison story ''Literature/ImLookingForKadak'' describes the problem of finding a tenth man to make up a sufficient number for a Jewish service- especially being a blue, eleven-armed inhabitant of the asteroid Zsouchmuhn- "Ha! I'm a Jew."[[/folder]]

** Likewise, his Star of David is show to work against all vampires ''except'' for Mitchell, since George implicitly trusts him.

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* Trying to accommodate Santa-focused Christmas stories to the more Christian version of the holiday can produce strange results. For example, ''WesternAnimation/ThePolarExpress'' seemed to portray Santa ''as'' Jesus.
[[/folder]]

-->-- The CharacterBlog of '''[[http://zerhakker.livejournal.com Nick Zerhakker]]''', sentient Jewish helicopter from ''Webcomic/SkinHorse''

The tenets of a real-world religion can interact...oddly with fantasy or futuristic settings.

* The classic era story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric "The Curse of Fenric"]] contains a species of mutant humans from the far future known as "Haemovores" who feed on the blood of other species. Although they at first appear to be repelled by standard holy symbols, this is in fact revealed not to be the case - what repels them is actually the wielder's ''faith''. A reverend whose faith has been destroyed by witnessing the horrors of war is unable to repel the Haemovores with his Bible, but a Russian soldier successfully repels them with his Red Star badge and his faith in Communism. Ace can also repel them because she has complete and unwavering faith in the Doctor, which becomes an important plot point in the final episode when he needs to weaken her faith in him so that he can beat Fenric.

* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, the Norse pantheon is real, resulting in some weirdness. Captain America states that Thor doesn't mean anything to him because "there's only one god, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." It helps that the Asgardians are SufficientlyAdvancedAliens and lack real miraculous powers. That being said, New York has at least one church that worships the Norse Gods, as seen in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming''.

In the simplest form of this trope, the setting makes religiously forbidden things harder to avoid, or mandatory things harder to do. Maybe it's impossible for Jewish vampires to keep kosher without starving.[[note]]This is probably true unless [[VegetarianVampire they can live on fish blood, which is permitted according to the Talmud.]] However, ''Pikuach nefesh'' refers to a concept in Jewish religious law where certain prohibited behaviors are permissible if they preserve a life. Ergo, a vampire would be allowed to consume non-kosher blood because it was required for their survival, so long as no one was murdered to get the blood... Although at least one rabbi, asked the question, replied that he didn't think pikuach nefesh would apply to the undead, [[ExactWords as it specifically refers to the preservation of life]][[/note]] A group of Muslims on a GenerationShip is likely to have trouble making a pilgrimage to UsefulNotes/{{Mecca}}.[[note]]While Muslims are only required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca ''if they are capable of doing so'', don't expect this distinction to be brought up in fiction because that takes away the drama.[[/note]] (It's also possible in principle for a setting to make religion ''easier'',[[note]]For instance, a planet with an orbital period of 354.37 Earth days, were it to exist, would synchronize with the Islamic lunar calendar, potentially making fasting during Ramadan much easier — particularly if it falls in local winter in the planet's habitable regions. Another example is that many rabbis say that in vitro meat — even if it is derived from pig cells — is kosher[[/note]] but that's less likely to happen as it fails to follow the RuleOfDrama, although it might be used for world-building or a one off-gag[[note]]Like having a Hindu Brahmin chowing down on a lab-grown hamburger or [[JewsLoveToArgue a Jewish family arguing]] whether it's OK to have a lab-grown ham for Shabbos dinner[[/note]].)

* In an issue of the Creator/DCComics mini-series ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', all the {{Christian|ityIsCatholic}} heroes hold Mass in a church. Naturally the Celebrant is the exiled [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] Zauriel. One person queries why ComicBook/BlueDevil stands there in flames. Well, he's a good Catholic boy. He's also a Devil standing on sacred ground.

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] are vulnerable to the symbols of all faiths -- so long as the bearer of the symbol's faith is strong. {{Dracula}} himself was once burned by a faithful Jew's Star of David medallion.[[note]]It was [[ComicBook/KittyPryde Kitty Pryde]]'s. Kitty first tried to subdue him with a cross, but it didn't work for her. Wolverine, (apparently an atheist at the time, or at the very least not a believing Christian) also tried to make a cross with his claws as was similarly laughed off by Dracula. It only worked for Nightcrawler, since he is a practicing Christian.[[/note]] Another time, a vampire {{mook|s}} was instakilled by ComicBook/TheMightyThor's hammer. (He's a ''god'', remember?)

* ''Fanfic/{{Goldstein}}'' is a ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic where [[OCStandIn minor character Anthony Goldstein]] is an Orthodox Jewish Muggle-born, and explores how that would work. Chapter two is basically just the family's rabbi examining all the arguments for or against him going to [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]] at all. (Conclusion: since suppressing magic could make him a PersonOfMassDestruction, attending is required under the principle that protecting lives overrides most commandments.)

* Trying to accommodate Santa-focused Christmas stories to the more Christian version of the holiday can lead to strangeness. For example, ''WesternAnimation/ThePolarExpress'' seemed to portray Santa ''as'' Jesus.

* The Dracula-parody film ''Film/LoveAtFirstBite'' has a scene where a Magen David proves to have no effect on Dracula. Amusingly, the guy wielding the Magen David only has it because he's a psychiatrist who adopted a Jewish name "for professional reasons."

* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'', Beni, when confronted by the newly resurrected Imhotep, pulls out a ''lot'' of holy symbols that he apparently wears on a chain around his neck -- on the eminently practical grounds that ''one of them'' has to work -- displaying each and saying a prayer in the appropriate language to try to ward him off. Only the Star of David and a Jewish prayer averts Beni's imminent demise -- but only because Imhotep recognizes Hebrew as "the language of the slaves", and thinks Beni will be useful in this regard.
* Interestingly, Islam in the "[[Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick Riddickverse]]" seems to have adapted fairly well to interstellar colonization. Hajj is made to the planet New Mecca, and when pilgrims pray, they face straight up, toward the stars.

* In ''[[Literature/ThePrometheanAge Blood and Iron]]'' by Creator/ElizabethBear, fae who existed before the coming of Christ are not bound by Christian tradition, while those born afterwards are (and thus, for example, reflexively flinch whenever the name of God is spoken).

There can also be interactions between religion and fantasy that are more complex. The discovery of fantastic elements can lead to crises of faith (or it [[NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus may not for no apparent reason]]), or conversely make the elements of that faith more relevant.[[note]]If you find that you've become a vampire/werewolf, make friends with a rabbi immediately.[[/note]] And that's not even getting into the situations where the approach to the religion is ''[[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy part]]'' [[AMythologyIsTrue of]] what makes the setting fantastical...

This can be TruthInTelevision. Conferences of real Muslims have grappled with the question of how to pray toward Mecca five times a day while orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes. And just how do you determine when Shabbas begins and ends in places that experience polar night and midnight sun or, for that matter, can the faithful be expected to fast from sun up to sun down in such locations?[[note]]Muslims in polar communities have the choice of keeping to the local schedule or following the sunrise and sunset times of Mecca during Ramadan. Some muftis have also opined that Muslims can fast for an arbitrary 12-hour period, like 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; this solution is common in Britain.[[/note]] Do particular transgenic foods meet Islam's dietary laws? And now that lab-grown meat is just over the horizon, would a beef burger grown in a petri dish be kosher (which demands meat be slaughtered a particular way)? Or acceptable to Hindus (who don't eat beef)? Or Jains (who regard slaughtering animals as always wrong)?

* [[https://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2008/04/17/evil-monkey%e2%80%99s-guide-to-kosher-imaginary-animals/ This blog post]] considers the kosher status of various imaginary creatures.
* Similarly, [[https://twitter.com/i/moments/952892571419922434?lang=en this Twitter thread]] by a rabbi debates the status of various fantasy and SciFi creatures. [[Film/TheLastJedi Porgs]] are definitely not kosher, dragons should not start fires on the Sabbath, and vampires should probably not be invited into shul. Also, Literature/BabaYaga's house has chicken feet and a gizzard (if a mortar and pestle count), which makes it technically kosher!
* Would the consequences of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ still apply to extraterrestrials whose species did not originate from Earth and did not descend from Adam? According to both the LDS church and the Jesuits, yes. [[http://www.adequacy.org/public/stories/2001.7.18.112022.112.html This spoof article]] uses the opposite assumption in an attempt to "scripturally prove" the existence of extraterrestrial life. Apparently the reason why the Second Coming hasn't happened yet is that Jesus is busy dying and being resurrected on all the other planets in the universe.
* The Catholic Church has debated the idea of extraterrestrial life, and one conclusion they have reached is that not all alien races might be Fallen as humanity is -- which also implies they wouldn't have had a Messiah either as they wouldn't have needed saving in the first place (or possibly that they might have had a different Messiah, and thus live by different rules. Since these would still be from God they would be no less valid than ours. This is bound to get interesting should contact ever happen.)\\
\\
An official statement of the Vatican can basically be boiled down to, "There is no current proof of whether or not alien life exists, but the Bible does not strictly speak against it, so it's still possible. Should we encounter alien life in the future and they wish to join the Church, we will gladly offer them baptism." Cue outrage and hate from various other denominations and "more orthodox" Catholic parishes.

* There has been [[http://www.mujahideenryder.net/2007/11/26/islam-and-mermaids/ some debate]] about whether or not eating mermaids is acceptable under Islam. Given that nearly all mythological portrayals of mermaids portray them as sapient (not to mention quite vengeful), the answer is very likely to be a resounding no.

* UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics are [[{{Woolseyism}} used]] in Japanese translations of ''Literature/TheBible'' and rarely in ''Literature/TheQuran.''

* [[http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2008/04/17/evil-monkey’s-guide-to-kosher-imaginary-animals/ This blog post]] considers the kosher status of various imaginary creatures.

* In Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata'', the wiping out of 5/6 of humanity leads the Roman Catholic Church not only to allow priests and nuns to marry but to allow polygamy.

** In ''Perelandra'', it's revealed that Christ's life had profound cosmic consequences: after God became human it meant that all new sentient species from that point on would be human (though possibly of the GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe variety.) Interestingly, however, Perelandra still has to go through its own version of the temptation of Eve, which forms the plot for the novel.
** The previous book, ''Out of the Silent Planet'', has Martians which believe in the Trinity but have not yet learned of the incarnation of Christ (in the series, Earth is under a sort of spiritual quarantine that has prevented news from reaching the other planets). They are also un-Fallen (at least mostly: they do die, though they have no fear of death) and so did not have nor need an Incarnation of their own.

[[/folder]]

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' drew a number of plots from the cultural conflict between the deeply religious Bajorans and the secular-humanist (and often outspokenly atheist) Federation. This is exacerbated by the fact that the Bajorans turned out in the pilot to have been mythologizing {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s for tens of thousands of years: SinisterMinister Winn Adami's first appearance has her arguing with Keiko O'Brien over teaching the secular view of the wormhole and its inhabitants, as opposed to the religious traditions (an obvious {{allegory}} for teaching evolution versus creationism). The comparison immediately gets deconstructed when it turns out that outside her extremely conservative faction the rest of the clergy think the two perspectives amount to saying the same thing in different words; the show would later go on to show that their religion is ''accurate'' in every way it was testable.

* Harlan Ellison story ''Literature/ImLookingForKadak'' describes the problem of finding a tenth man to make up a sufficient number for Jewish service- being a blue, eleven-armed inhabitant of the asteroid Zsouchmuhn- "Ha! I'm a Jew." [[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Catholic author and apologist Jimmy Akin has a weekly podcast titled [[https://sqpn.com/category/podcasts/akin/ Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World]], in which he and his producer discuss paranormal, supernatural, and other such strange topics "from the twin perspectives of faith and reason".

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Catholic author and apologist Jimmy Akin has a weekly podcast titled [[https://sqpn.com/category/podcasts/akin/ Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World]], in which he and his producer discuss paranormal, supernatural, and other such strange topics "from the twin perspectives of faith and reason".
[[/folder]]

In the simplest form of this trope, the setting makes religiously forbidden things harder to avoid, or mandatory things harder to do. Maybe it's impossible for Jewish vampires to keep kosher without starving.[[note]]This is probably true unless [[VegetarianVampire they can live on fish blood, which is permitted according to the Talmud.]] However, ''Pikuach nefesh'' refers to a concept in Jewish religious law where certain prohibited behaviors are permissible if they preserve a life. Ergo, a vampire would be allowed to consume non-kosher blood because it was required for their survival, so long as no one was murdered to get the blood.[[/note]] A group of Muslims on a GenerationShip is likely to have trouble making a pilgrimage to UsefulNotes/{{Mecca}}.[[note]]While Muslims are only required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca ''if they are capable of doing so'', don't expect this distinction to be brought up in fiction because that takes away the drama.[[/note]] (It's also possible in principle for a setting to make religion ''easier'',[[note]]For instance, a planet with an orbital period of 354.37 Earth days, were it to exist, would synchronize with the Islamic lunar calendar, potentially making fasting during Ramadan much easier — particularly if it falls in local winter in the planet's habitable regions. Another example is that many rabbis say that in vitro meat — even if it is derived from pig cells — is kosher[[/note]] but that's less likely to happen as it fails to follow the RuleOfDrama, although it might be used for world-building or a one off-gag[[note]]Like having a Hindu Brahmin chowing down on a lab-grown hamburger or [[JewsLoveToArgue a Jewish family arguing]] whether it's OK to have a lab-grown ham for Shabbos dinner[[/note]].)

* A [[http://rickgriffinstudios.com/comic-post/the-storyboard-026/ one-off gag strip]] of ''Webcomic/A&HClub'' has the devoutly Christian Eliza in front of a portrait of Jesus as a lion, while Hilde points out that, historically, he was a ram; a FunnyAnimal version of the accuracy of the traditional Western portrayal combined with a riff on the Lamb of God/Lion of Judah symbolism.

--> Captain America: Met [[{{ComicBook/Thor}} two]] [[{{ComicBook/Thor}} gods]], still a Christian\\

* In a ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein'' article in ''Pyramid'' magazine, "Concerning the [[GenieInABottle Djinn]]", Creator/PhilMasters briefly looks at what it means to be a powerful spirit being and a devout Muslim, and the same ideas were later re-used in the same author's ''[[http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/ottoman/ GURPS Castle Falkenstein: The Ottoman Empire]]''. Essentially, the djinn have their own mosques, hidden underground, because attending a human mosque is liable to be disruptive to proceedings (they generally turn invisible when making the hajj). Though funnily enough, these ideas all come more or less directly from genuine Muslim folklore.
** Non-Muslim djinn are repelled by Muslim prayers. While this certainly applies to evil djinn, it doesn't ''only'' apply to them -- it's compared to how some Faeries are repelled by symbols of Christianity, regardless of their morality. The in-universe authors aren't sure if Christian symbols affect djinn, since the underlying mechanisms of all this aren't understood.

** Non-Muslim djinn are repelled by Muslim prayers. While this certainly applies to evil djinn, it doesn't ''only'' apply to them -- it's compared to how some Faeries are repelled by symbols of Christianity, regardless of their morality. The in-universe authors aren't sure if Christian symbols affect djinn.