History Main / Naytheist

* ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' gives us an extreme example in Tanya Degurechaff: in her previous life as a salaryman, she seriously dissed God when He talked to her in the moments before her death, refusing to address Him as anything other than "Being X". This pisses God off enough that, in her new life as a magical soldier in an alternate version of WWI-era Germany, she is forced to pray to Him to keep her SuperPrototype magical gem from killing her.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', it's entirely possible to play a Cleric or other class with access to divine magic who doesn't follow a specific deity, but instead believes fervently in an abstract principle, philosophy, or code of honor. Thus the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms feature clerics of Kossuth, the Elemental Lord of Fire who doesn't care that he doubles as a deity (Kossuth along with the other elemental deities in later editions is revealed to be a Primordial, an elemental being with godlike levels of power but explicitly not a deity), or in the TabletopGame/DarkSun setting you can simply be a cleric of Fire itself. There are even classes that bypass the gods entirely: the Archivist from ''Heroes of Horror'' is an occult scholar who can cast divine spells from prayerbooks like a more conventional wizard learns spells from tomes. Ur-Priests, on the other hand, despise deities and use their abilities (usually granted to them by demons) to steal divine power from the gods as they work to destroy them. It goes without [[EvilerThanThou saying that]] [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil gods don't]] [[EnemyMine like them]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards very much]].

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', it's entirely possible to play a Cleric or other class with access to divine magic who doesn't follow a specific deity, but instead believes fervently in an abstract principle, philosophy, or code of honor. Thus the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms feature clerics of Kossuth, the Elemental Lord of Fire who doesn't care that he doubles as a deity, or in the TabletopGame/DarkSun setting you can simply be a cleric of Fire itself. There are even classes that bypass the gods entirely: the Archivist from ''Heroes of Horror'' is an occult scholar who can cast divine spells from prayerbooks like a more conventional wizard learns spells from tomes. Ur-Priests, on the other hand, despise deities and use their abilities (usually granted to them by demons) to steal divine power from the gods as they work to destroy them. It goes without [[EvilerThanThou saying that]] [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil gods don't]] [[EnemyMine like them]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards very much]].

* Rick in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' has moved into this territory ever since he asked God for a sign and next thing you know, his son gets shot.

* Pretty much the same can be said of Jesse Custer of ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', except that he knows first hand that the Devil is dead and that he's being hunted by the guy that killed him.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13983150/1/The-Way-Truth-and-Light The Way, Truth, and Light]]'': Ritsuka Fujimaru manages to summon Jesus himself as a Servant. Though Olga Marie Animusphere acknowledges he is real and undoubtably powerful, she refuses to worship him, saying several Heroic Spirits can do his miracles on some level. She is also pissed at him for [[ThouShaltNotKill refusing to help kill their enemies]] and for saying he will not help anyone who doesn't worship him and God.

* In ''Dagger-Star'' by Elizabeth Vaughan, Red Gloves follows the teachings of The Twelve, who basically say do good deeds and solve problems on your own instead of wasting time calling on the lazy gods for aid. In The Twelve's backstory, they prayed to the gods to cure a town of plague, but the gods did not respond, so they instead managed to cure it on their own.

*** Koomi of Smale is another philosopher who has studied the gods, and was the first person to theorise that GodsNeedPrayerBadly, something the gods of the Discworld ''really'' don't want their worshippers to know. He also said that there is almost certainly a Supreme Being, but that it's probably best not to attract this Being's attention.

* Zakath from ''Literature/TheMalloreon'', who admits that while he acknowledges the ''existence'' of the gods, he still can't accept that they play any sort of role in the world. He's basically got the right end of the stick on the gods; Aldur and [=UL=] are the only ones who still interact with their followers to any degree anymore, and even they don't really get involved unless they ''must'' (Aldur to get Belgarath, Belgarion, and Silk away from Vorduvai, and [=UL=] to tell Relg to stop being a [[JerkAss troublemaker]] and go with the companions.) He's ''seriously wrong'' about the [[ThePowersThatBe Prophecies]] not having any real impact, though. The gods left ''deliberately'' because if they'd stayed, they'd have had to confront Torak, and that would have risked destroying the world, thereby fucking up the Prophecies on a horrific scale.

* ''Literature/TheRifter'': John (the incarnation of the Rifter) is something of a nay-theist ''god''. He [[StopWorshippingMe doesn't want people worshiping him]], is skeptical about the value of worship and faith in general and isn't convinced that the creator god Parfir is looking after people.

* Rick in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' has moved into this territory ever since he asked God for a sign and next thing you know his son gets shot.
* Series/XenaWarriorPrincess is a perfect example. She knows only too well that the gods exist, but she despises them for their arrogance toward humanity. Far from worshiping them, her approach to them varies from deliberately ignoring them to actively working towards their destruction. [[Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys Hercules]] is very similar, though the situation is more complicated since he's, you know, related to them.

** Most of the [[CatFolk leonin]] of Theros are nay-theists, having had experienced the tyranny of the archon Agnomakhos. As the block goes on, the rest of Theros also become nay-theists themselves, as support for the gods drops away ''sharply''. After the end of ''Journey into Nyx'' [[spoiler:and the death of Elspeth]], Ajani Goldmane [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/ajanis-vengeance-2014-07-23 decides to take up arms against the gods of Theros]].

** ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'': The second edition has Frohrn the Slayer, chieftain of the Gwydrae, the nomad tribe living the wasteland outside the Desoleum Hive, who hates all forms of religion and spirituality, seeing them as a threat to his people's traditional way of life. The chieftain is notorious for his exceptional cruelty towards representatives of the Ecclesiarchy, but on the other hand, he has no mercy for Chaos cultists fleeing from Imperial persecution and trying to hide in the desert.

* Dracula from the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series clearly believes in God... and hates his guts. [[spoiler:As the story goes, he was off in the Crusades doing work for God, his wife dies of illness, and so he became a vampire in opposition to God's cruel betrayal of his devotion]]. And then, because that knife hadn't been twisted enough, [[spoiler: Dracula fell in love with a human woman, Lisa, and had a son, Alucard. Because he couldn't be allowed to experience happiness, the Inquisition found his wife, declared her a witch and burned her at the stake. Dracula's incredible anger at this resulted in him denouncing religion forevermore.]]

* Keqing from ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' looks down on how her citizens look up and depend on their god, Rex Lapis' guidance every year. She advocates the citizens to start taking care of themselves, proclaiming that the age of Archons is past and it is now the age of humanity. [[spoiler:Rex Lapis himself secretly approves of her disapproval and gives the ultimate test on whether the city of Liyue is ready to set sail on their own without needing his guidance. He's pleased that they do, and can now rest and relax in his mortal form as Zhongli.]] The whole thing is also {{deconstructed|Trope}} following the conclusion of Liyue's chapter. Gods have a much bigger scope of duty than mortals can comprehend, often working from behind the scenes. Upon finding out just how much their late god has worked for the sake of Liyue, Keqing has a newfound respect for Rex Lapis, to the point of collecting his merchandise in secret.

** The Asura regard divine being as parts of the Eternal Alchemy, a system wherein all living creatures, spirits, and even magic itself is working towards some greater purpose. They do not regard the Alchemy as worthy of worship either, instead of viewing it as the ultimate science to be unraveled and understood.

* Susano in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', as part of a general ScrewDestiny attitude, thinks the gods are tormenting him for their amusement and tell them to stop dogging his footsteps - all the while the benevolent goddess Amaterasu, in wolf form, is keeping an eye on him and continually yanking his tail out of the fire. Sometimes literally.

* Occurs regularly in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games, and depending on the path you take the PlayerCharacter is often one. To start with, you beat on (and then enslave) various gods out of world history. Lucifer is often an ally (of convenience or genuine). It snowballs from there, with any path other than the Lawful leading you into direct opposition to God or His angels in multiple titles. Even the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series touches on it, since you can [[spoiler:punch Philemon (one of two confirmed true gods in the world) right in the face]] at the end of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin''.
** This is subverted depending on your games' ending. If you choose to go [[OrderVsChaos Law or Chaos]], then your character follows God or Lucifer and thus ceases to be a non-believer. If you choose the Neutral Path, however, the games end with you defying and, most of the time, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beating the crap out of both]].

* In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', when the spaceship appeared about the medieval planet; a CargoCult did ''not'' form. In fact, the people who thought it might be a deity were ''offended'' that such deity would stoop to physical form. "It would be no better than a demon."

** Girard Draketooth's illusory message to Soon Kim states that he thinks Soon is stupid for worshipping the Twelve Southern Gods, calling them a "glorified petting zoo" (as they're directly based on the animals of the Chinese Zodiac). This is despite the fact that the he knows full well that the Southern (as well as Northern and Western) Gods exist and they were responsible for creating the Snarl, which Draketooth and Soon are on a mission to destroy in the first place.

** The Emperor, like in canon, knows that the Chaos Gods exist, but he also knows that they are utter ''bastards'', and wants to turn his Imperium from the worship of any god, including himself. He claims that he wants the Imperium to be built on rationality and reason instead of religion, but keep in mind that he is also a raging narcisist who often has to stop himself from accidentally calling himself a god. His attitude is more or less "No gods but me... [[VerbalBackspace And I'm not a god!]]"

* Seto Kaiba of ''Anime/YuGiOh'' is an excellent example of this trope in the original Japanese. Unlike in the dub, he doesn't dispute the existence of the supernatural, rather he doesn't care about it. Being a reincarnation of an Egyptian priest is irrelevant to him because he only cares about the future. And though he seems to treat the Egyptian God Cards as genuine deities, his arguably biggest SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome comes when he ''[[ScrewDestiny literally changes destiny]]'' by ''sacrificing'' his God card in order to summon Blue Eyes. The sheer audacity to offer a God as a tribute to his favorite card leaves everyone in the audience absolutely stunned. He later tells Ishizu that everyone has something they believe in even more strongly than gods.

* In the "Shades of the Unsung" side-story of ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureauTheOtherSideOfTheSpectrum'', one character, a grumpy old earth pony stallion named Rockwell, states that even before Equus' corruption and turn towards fascism (as well as xenocide) he never held a very flattering opinion of Celestia, accusing her of blatantly favoring the unicorns over the others and of being blind to "how rotten her little ponies can be".
* Izuku in ''Fanfic/BlessedWithAHerosHeart'' adopts this attitude towards both Aqua and Eris and their respective churches. Aqua constantly complains about Izuku not worshipping or pampering her despite not doing anything to help him (like she's supposed to), while hearing about the FantasticRacism towards demi-human races quickly sours his opinion about Eris.

* Feraligatr of ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonCrystal'' is portrayed as one of these, fighting for his team rather than the gods established back in ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed''.

* ''Franchise/{{Drakengard}}'' features a religion whose followers are mainly EvilEmpire knights with a Global-Suicide agenda, their high priestess is a demonically possessed little girl, and their "gods" are reality-warping nightmares that appear as giant, winged babies, and mommies. With teeth. This has naturally prompted a resistance movement called the Union that vows to oppose the Empire and its twisted religion, even if they have to recruit {{Sociopathic Hero}}es like Caim and people like Arioch and Leonard, who [[ChildEater loves kids]] and [[PedophilePriest loves kids]], respectively. ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard 2}}'' confirms that these "gods" are false deities from another world, who overthrew the equally false religion of the Dragon Gods. This means that ''VideoGame/NieR'''s world and Emil's ultimate weapon may be mankind's only hope, which is to say that mankind is ''fucked''.

* ''Franchise/{{Drakengard}}'' features a religion whose followers are mainly EvilEmpire knights with a Global-Suicide agenda, their high priestess is a demonically possessed little girl, and their "gods" are reality-warping nightmares that appear as giant, winged babies, and mommies. With teeth. This has naturally prompted a resistance movement called the Union that vows to oppose the Empire and its twisted religion, even if they have to recruit {{Sociopathic Hero}}es like Caim and people like Arioch and Leonard, who [[ChildEater loves kids]] and [[PedophilePriest loves kids]], respectively. ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard 2}}'' confirms that these "gods" are false deities from another world, who overthrew the equally false religion of the Dragon Gods. This means that [[VideoGame/NieR Nier]]'s world and Emil's ultimate weapon may be mankind's only hope, which is to say that mankind is ''fucked''.
** The introduction to Nier Automata says this in a nutshell:

** This is taken UpToEleven once they find out that [[spoiler: Chuck is God]]; and to an especially RageAgainstTheHeavens level by the Season 14 finale, where [[spoiler: Chuck reveals that he just thinks of them all as his CosmicPlaythings, and enjoys their protracted suffering like his favorite TV show.]]

** The extinct [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]] played this trope UpToEleven. While they acknowledged the existence of some of the entities that the other races considered "gods" ([[OurGodsAreDifferent Aedra, Daedra, etc.]]), the Dwemer refused to ''accept'' their divinity. They were said to especially despise the Daedra, mocking and scorning the "foolish" rituals of their followers (primarily their greatest rivals in Morrowind, the Chimer). They would even summon Daedra [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu specifically to test their divinity]]. The science and reason-focused Dwemer even extended this skepticism to ''reality'' itself, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality refuting anything as truly "real"]]. It is implied that this belief is a core element of how [[{{Magitek}} their technology]] functions. They devised technology that [[RealityWarper ignored the laws of reality or outright manipulated the tonal architecture of the Earth-Bones]] (the spirits of creation who gave their lives to set up the laws of nature and physics) simply through [[TheDeterminator sheer refusal to accept physical and magical limitations]]. The Dwemer would all [[RiddleForTheAges disappear entirely]] from any known plane of existence after discovering and tampering with the [[CosmicKeystone heart]] of the [[GodIsDead "dead" god]], Lorkhan.

* Keqing from ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' looks down on how her citizens look up and depend on their god, Rex Lapis' guidance every year. She advocates the citizen to start taking care of themselves, proclaiming that the age of Archons is past and it is now the age of humanity. [[spoiler:Rex Lapis himself secretly approves of her disapproval and gives the ultimate test on whether the city of Liyue is ready to set sail on their own without needing his guidance. He's pleased that they do, and can now rest and relax in his mortal form as Zhongli.]] The whole thing is also Deconstructed following the conclusion of Liyue's chapter. Gods have a much bigger scope of duty than mortals can comprehend, often working from behind the scenes. Upon finding out just how much their late god has worked for the sake of Liyue, Keqing has a newfound respect for Rex Lapis, to the point of collecting his merchandise in secret.

--->'''Roy''': Well, this is kind of awkward to say, given where I am, but I've never been all that religious. I mean, I guess my mom raised me to worship the Northern Gods, but I always just figured that as long as I didn't actively offend any of them, they'd leave me alone.
*** In a much later strip, after the revelation at the Godsmoot, he confides to his sister that one of the only things he agrees with his father about is that the gods are just fancy alien wizards who "found a way to crowdsource their magic" but that the fact that they are powerful does not mean that they should be treated with special deference; if they can judge mortals based upon the mortals' actions, then mortals should be treating the gods according to their actions.

** Girard Draketooth's illusory message to Soon Kim states that he thinks Soon is stupid for worshipping the Eastern Gods, calling them a "glorified petting zoo". This is despite the fact that the he knows full well that the Eastern Gods exist and they were responsible for creating the Snarl, which they are on a mission to destroy in the first place.

-->'''Emperor:''' I am like a glorious golden god... Except I am not.

-->'''Luthor''': In a cosmos like ours -- if you accept the "[[Comicbook/GreenLantern Big Hand theory]]" of the universe's origin -- deciding on atheism isn't a ''logical'' choice. It's an ''ethical'' one. If there is a God if he turns out to be ... [[GreatGazoo a little man in a bowler hat]] or something, do I at least get to put forth my case? Do I get to argue?

** It turns out that this is why [[spoiler:Thor was unworthy of Mjolnir for a time; Fury's confirmation that "Gorr was right" when tapping Uatu's knowledge led Thor to believe that he no longer deserved it because he has come to agree with Gorr that no god is worthy]].

-->'''Captain America''': Met two gods. Still a Christian.\\

** The ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'' novel ''Avatar'' introduces a Bajoran minority religion, Ohalavaru, that believes the Prophets (the SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who are known in the setting's present-day to live in the wormhole in the Bajoran system) are powerful beings, but not gods, and have a symbiotic relationship with the Bajoran people. The mainstream church persecuted them as heretics.

* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'': Lieutenant Commander Tem Inasi, science officer of the USS ''Enterprise''-F, is a Bajoran who doesn't worship the Prophets. That they ''exist'' is indisputable, but she prefers the Federation's take on it, that they're just SufficientlyAdvancedAliens like Q.
* The Khalai and Nerazim Protoss attitude towards the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Xel-naga]] in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}''. Specifically, they are misotheists. They are very aware that their creator gods exist...and hate them. With very good reason: their ancestors were genetically modified by the Xel-naga, to be used as slaves. The weird bit is that the Protoss ''behave'' exactly like {{Church Militant}}s in every respect. The Khalai are fanatically devoted to Aiur, their homeworld. The Nerazim have a similar devotion to the Void.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* A handful of real-life schools of thought follow these principles to varying degrees.
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism Apatheism]] views the existence of divine entities as irrelevant. Gods may exist or they may not, but this isn't an important issue and it isn't really worth thinking about.
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism Misotheism]] is the belief that God or gods exist, but that they are evil or at least adversarial beings. Thus, a misotheist believes that divine entities are real but actively rejects them.
[[/folder]]

* Essentially applies in the ''Series/DoctorWho''/''Series/V2009'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6841579/1/A-Special-Prescription A Special Prescription]]"; the Doctor observes that the Vs (real name the Valasars) abandoned belief in their gods after his first confrontation with them because it was easier to believe in nothing than believe in the Doctor, even as he remained a figure of fear in their mythology.

** It turns out that this is why [[spoiler:Thor is unworthy of Mjolnir. He no longer believes he deserves it because he has come to agree with Gorr. He believes no god is worthy.]]

The technical term for this position is [[https://web.archive.org/web/20201231160001/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alatrism alatrism]] if the person believes in but does not worship God(s), and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism misotheism]] for the stronger version where the person believes in but also hates God(s). Of course, it's likely a misotheist would also be an alatrist, since it's hard to imagine someone worshiping a god or gods which they hated (at least voluntarily). For media portrayals of atheists as misotheists (among other misconceptions), see HollywoodAtheist.

*** 'Charcoal' Abraxas is an Ephebian philosopher and agnostic, and the first person to actually discover that GodsNeedPrayerBadly, something the gods of the Discworld ''really'' don't want their worshippers to know. He has been struck by lightning at least 15 times (often on sunny cloudless days). He takes the view that the gods' existence is not a valid philosophical reason to believe in them. He also believes that the gods like seeing an atheist around because "it gives them something to aim at".