History Main / HollywoodAtheist

* To Virmir and his OppositeSexClone from the ''Virmir World'' stories (by the creator of ''Webcomic/CrimsonFlag'' and ''Webcomic/RainBurn'') are [[SmugSuper arrogant jerkass wizards]] who claim that so-called deities are just powerful spellcasters with a superiority complex. However, they aren't jerkasses ''because'' they're atheists – they're unapologetically bad people in general, and happen to be atheists, not in small part because being super powerful and narcissistic themselves, they know very well what they are talking about.

* Cleveland Junior from ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''. In the episode "Hurricane" he says that he doesn't believe in God, but doesn't consider himself an atheist, since he thinks that atheism is just another religious belief. This is forgotten in season three where he explicitly refers to himself as an atheist.

* Dexter Morgan from ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', a vigilante serial killer traumatized as a child by witnessing the murder of his mother. In ''[[Literature/{{Dexter}} Darkly Dreaming Dexter]]'', the novel on which the show is based, his brother Brian is also an atheist for the same reason, though it is also implied (at least in the series) that, rather than actively disbelieving in a god, Dexter simply has no ''use'' for religion/the concept of a god (this is sometimes called "apatheism"). In a later season, he starts to explore the idea more after pursuing a serial killer whose inspiration is the Book of Revelation, becoming impressed by a reformed murderer-turned-minister called Brother Sam, but still never fully becomes religious that we see.

** ''Anime/TheRebirthOfBuddha'': When Sayako is taken to Tokuzo Kanemoto's spirit trial when the man's ghost tried to pull her into the way of a moving train (the same way he took his own life). When the three judges lambast Kanemoto for taking his own life and for writing derisive articles about God and the Spirit World, he argues that religion is a tool used to manipulate the weak, that everything ends after death, and if God really existed, He would save him from dying. After hearing enough of his case, the judges unanimously deem him a "pathetic materialist" and send him to Hell.

** At least in UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|of Comic Books}}, he is definitely not a religious practitioner. When asked by Dr. Leslie Thompkins if he ever prayed, he replied "No. Not since ''that night''."

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** An [[MindScrew interesting]] take on atheism in a world where most of the gods are flat-out ''evil.'' Or, well, they used to. There used to be more chaos gods, including Necoho who was the God of ''Atheism''. This was in a world where GodsNeedPrayerBadly. So the more you prayed to him, the weaker he got, and the less you worshiped, the stronger he got. He would also try to destroy/wreck the other Chaos Gods' plans, and hoped to destroy all gods, including himself. This fell out of favor with the writers. He only actually appeared in the story once, in an RPG adventure; a few authors just enjoy name dropping him as an obscure call-back.
** The single group that would seem most like they would be atheists- but aren't- are the [[MachineWorship Tech Priests.]] They believe that the greatest show of their love is to cut off bits of their bodies and replace them with machinery. However, they do this because they worship a being they call the Machine God, or the Omnissiah (who is all but stated to be the C'tan Void Dragon, one of the eldest forms of life in ''existence'', locked up on Mars by the GodEmperor).
** The Tau are atheists, but believe in something they call the Greater Good. They do believe in their own intellectual superiority, but they are also cut off from a realm of existence called the Warp, which is where and how the various gods of the 40K-verse work their power. Thus tales of possession and the horrors faced by psykers get nothing but disbelief from them, they refer to Chaos armies as madmen (which, while technically true, leaves out the very important fact that they're ''divine-powered'' madmen), and believe manifesting Daemons to be yet another form of alien resistant to the concept of the Greater Good. A Tau fleet pulled into a warp rift in one story was rescued by what is, by all appearances, a minor god embodying their Greater Good philosophy; they still have no idea what to make of it.
** In a twist of supreme irony, the man who would become the (literal) GodEmperor of Mankind was very much an atheist, as demonstrated in "The Last Church", where he argues with the last priest left on Earth about the merits of faith, using only examples like UsefulNotes/TheCrusades and other religious massacres to make his point. It was so poorly argued that the uneducated drunk of a priest ''verbally destroyed him'' and deconstructed his entire grand ambition; it's currently the page quote for GodEmperor. One of his sons betrayed him precisely because his SpaceMarines worshiped him as a god, when he thought rational thought should replace faith. The Emperor was aware of the ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve nature of his universe, and wanted to make everyone atheists in order to weaken the gods (which was doomed to fail since Gods in his setting don't feed on faith, but emotion, so unless everyone dies or becomes as emotionless as the Necrons, it won't work out). Oddly enough, faith in the Emperor happens to be a potent weapon against Chaos.

* Averted by ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', who has explained that she doesn't believe in God because she hasn't seen any evidence, but at the same time hasn't seen any evidence disproving God either. She simply believes you should treat people the way you want to be treated and believe what makes you feel best. This only plays in one or two episodes, so it isn't a big facet of the show. Though Jane suggests that Daria just doesn't want to believe in a higher power because if one exists, it means that there's an actual predestined reason why the two of them are outcasts and idiots run the world,and [[YouCantFightFate there's nothing they can do to change it]]. [[MadeMyselfSad She then admits that's horribly depressing]].

* Averted by ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', who has explained that she doesn't believe in God because she hasn't seen any evidence, but at the same time hasn't seen any evidence disproving God either. She simply believes you should treat people the way you want to be treated and believe what makes you feel best. This only plays in one or two episodes, so it isn't a big facet of the show. Though Jane suggests that Daria just doesn't want to believe in a higher power because if one exists, it means that there's an actual predestined reason why the two of them are outcasts and idiots run the world, and there's nothing they can do to change it. [[MadeMyselfSad She then admits that's horribly depressing]].

* Averted by ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'', who has explained that she doesn't believe in God because she hasn't seen any evidence, but at the same time hasn't seen any evidence disproving God either. She simply believes you should treat people the way you want to be treated and believe what makes you feel best. This only plays in one or two episodes, so it isn't a big facet of the show. Though Jane suggests that Daria just doesn't want to believe in a higher power because if one exists, it means that there's an actual predestined reason why the two of them are outcasts and idiots run the world, and nothing they do can change that. [[MadeMyselfSad She then admits that's horribly depressing]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]", the Chancellor (and by extension the State) are pretty extreme examples, given that they not only declare that God does not exist, they also run a murderous totalitarian dictatorship which [[IllegalReligion outlaws religion entirely]], along with killing anyone whom they deem "obsolete" (people who believe in God presumably are included) especially in contrast with the saintly Christian character Wordsworth. Given that this was made in the Cold War era, it may have been a TakeThat regarding the officially atheist communist states, who persecuted religious people... and everyone else who didn't obey them. They even claim that the State has ''proven'' that he doesn't exist. They don't say ''how'' they did that, but presumably few people are going to argue with them. Naturally, Wordsworth denies that they can prove such a thing (at this point, he's been sentenced to death anyway).

** Played straight with Mirror Eleya, whose objection mirrors one raised by some Bajorans in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' regarding the Cardassian occupation of Bajor (they tended to be [[PathOfInspiration Pah-Wraith cultists]], but Mirror Eleya is a straight atheist). She briefly gets in an argument with Prime Eleya's operations officer/boyfriend Reshek Gaarra on the subject but Prime Eleya tells her to can it.

* ''Series/Lucifer2016'': Quite un-ironically discussed when Chloe, during a conversation with Lucifer, admits to not being a Christian but insists she isn't an atheist, as "she stills believes there is good and evil". Note that Chloe herself actually counts as a FlatEarthAtheist, as she lives in a world where God is real and she's actually talking to Lucifer himself. It's implied [[YourMindMakesItReal her sheer strength of disbelief]] actively ''counters'' [[AntiMagic divine attributes]], as she's repeatedly displayed as being immune to Lucifer's inherent CharmPerson properties. [[spoiler:At one point, she actually manages to wound him by shooting him, when he had previously been established as ImmuneToBullets.]]

* ''Series/FellowTravelers'': Hawkins Fuller seems to be an atheist based on his comment that he doesn't vote because he believes it's pointless, and then adds, "And I feel pretty much the same way about God." When Tim Laughlin discloses that he stopped attending mass at church, Hawk replies, "Well, that's progress." He later asserts that "Hell's a fantasy, [[AffectionateNickname Skippy]]. So is heaven, the Trinity, democracy, and the holy war against communism. Grand ideas that just get people killed."

* ''{{Series/MASH}}'': Corporal Klinger at first seems to be a Catholic. Several seasons in Father Mulcahy catches Klinger praying. Mulcahey questions him, asking why he would do this, being an atheist. Klinger responds, "Gave it up for Lent." In other episodes, indications that he's a Muslim appear, for instance referring to Allah or saying he prayed that Allah would help Mulcahy. In any case, he is always positively, if pretty eccentric.

* ''{{Series/MASH}}'': Corporal Klinger at first seems to be a Catholic. Several seasons in Father Mulcahey catches Klinger praying. Mulcahey questions him, asking why he would do this, being an atheist. Klinger responds, "Gave it up for Lent." In other episodes, indications that he's a Muslim appear, for instance referring to Allah or saying he prayed that Allah would help Mulcahy. In any case, he is always positively, if pretty eccentric.

** Interestingly enough, he wasn't an atheist in the earlier seasons. In fact, when Peter claims that he's a god and causes plagues to reign down on his family, Brian points out the exact reason to him:

* Atheists only seem to have arguments against their culture's predominant religion. In the real world this is most often UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}, and to a lesser extent, its brethren UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} and UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}. They'll have nothing to say about other spiritualities, especially eastern religions like UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}}, UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} and Jainism, which they may even view positively in contrast. This does happen in real life, but usually revolves more about the philosophical and political contents of those religions rather than belief in them -- otherwise, obviously, it would not be atheism. (Even then, note that at least some sects of all the four religions mentioned actually enforce atheism or are compatible with it — they might not feature belief in god(s), only in other mystic elements like reincarnation, karma and Tao.)

* Atheists only seem to have arguments against their culture's predominant religion. In the real world this is most often UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}, and to a lesser extent, its brethren UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} and UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}. They'll have nothing to say about other spiritualities — they may even view them positively in contrast. (Note, however, that some Eastern religions like UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}}, UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} and Jainism have sects which actually enforce atheism or are at least compatible with it — they might not feature belief in god(s), only in other elements of their cosmology like reincarnation, karma and Tao.)

* ''Film/TheMarksman'': After burying Jackson, Jim is initially upset when Miguel mentions Jackson is in heaven, saying it's just something people made up to feel better. Miguel's mother died in the film earlier, so he's upset by this. Jim takes Miguel to a Catholic church so his mother can have a funeral in contrition. He's shown as bitter about losing his wife before as well.