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| 11 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1611031924013360600 |
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| 14 | [[quoteright:247:[[Webcomic/DarwinCarmichaelIsGoingToHell https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2009_05_19_040dawkinscultpart22_3.jpeg]]]] |
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| 16 | ->''"It was all very well going on about pure logic and how the universe was ruled by logic and the harmony of numbers, but the plain fact of the matter was that the Disc was manifestly traversing space on the back of a giant turtle and the gods had a habit of going round to atheists' houses and smashing their windows."'' |
| 17 | -->-- ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'' by Creator/TerryPratchett |
| 18 | |
| 19 | UsefulNotes/{{Atheism}} in a clockwork universe ostensibly overseen by a completely non-interventionist divinity is one thing, but what about a world that's practically the playground of the mythic forces that created it? |
| 20 | |
| 21 | While some authors do this as an honest philosophical exercise, it's almost always PlayedForLaughs. A self-styled hardline atheist that just happens to live in a high fantasy setting brimming with both [[FantasyPantheon huge pantheons of gods]] rampaging around the landscape constantly causing all sorts of things to happen, and the worshipers that pray to (and immediately hear back from) said pantheons of rampaging deities. Maybe they don't believe in the gods at all and are totally nuts, maybe they're completely in denial about the existence of gods, or maybe they're feigning disbelief in hopes of ending their worship and bringing about some kind of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Götterdämmerung]] or whatever. Sometimes the character ''himself'' is a god (typically a loony one). Sometimes this is a direct attempt to discredit science by comparing it to religion: instead of using the scientific method, as a scientist does, the strawman atheist relies himself on a devout faith -- in this case a faith that "[[StrawVulcan science]]" holds all the answers, despite obvious proof to the contrary. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | The trope can be justified in some ways. It's relatively common to have a character who openly acknowledges the existence of beings of great power, but refuses to accept their divinity (either because he believes them to be {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s using technological trickery, or because he differentiates between a "real" god and a supernatural being that is merely ''very powerful''). For instance, in Franchise/TheDCU (see below) there's no ''practical'' difference between, say, angels and alien energy beings. The main difference often comes down to whether or not the subject in question has deep personal implications, like an afterlife. On the other hand, in a world where magic is commonly known to be real, it becomes a lot easier for con artists to pull the wool over the eyes of innocents, so a skeptic to differentiate between "real" magic and "fake" magic can come in handy. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | After a certain point, however, it can devolve into semantics, and you can start to wonder what exactly a character defines a god or magic ''as'', especially considering some of the entities they encounter are even ''more'' powerful than most gods of myth. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | A subtrope of this is the atheist who's plucked out of the normal world and forced to acknowledge the existence of the supernatural, usually only accepting it after something wildly impossible is done to them (like being turned into a dragon and back in Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' or having the flesh burned off his bones and regrown in Niven and Pournelle's ''Literature/InfernoLarryNivenAndJerryPournelle'' -- even then, it took a long time for the protagonist to drop the idea that it was a theme park for sadistic {{sufficiently advanced alien}}s). |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Compare with AgentScully; MagicVersusScience; SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic; NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus; and NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus. See also CrossoverCosmology and NegativeContinuity for two possible justifications, along with GodTest. Sometimes one too many strange things happening will lead these characters into GivingUpOnLogic. If the character does believe in certain fantastical aspects of their world but rejects others for no adequate reason, then you are dealing with ArbitrarySkepticism. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Don't confuse this with the NayTheist, who ''knows'' supernatural forces exist, but refuses to obey or worship them, often thinking that they should mind their own business and leave mortals alone. Also compare EskimosArentReal, which is when a character does not believe in something that everyone else believes, but may in fact have never seen it. The trope also applies to other examples which aren't specifically atheism, but irrational disbelief in some things (such as ghosts) where incontrovertible proof exists of them being real. This also does not relate to atheists literally believing that the Earth is flat. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | ---- |
| 34 | !!Example subpages |
| 35 | [[index]] |
| 36 | * [[FlatEarthAtheist/ComicBooks Comic Books]] |
| 37 | * FlatEarthAtheist/{{Literature}} |
| 38 | * FlatEarthAtheist/LiveActionTV |
| 39 | * FlatEarthAtheist/TabletopGames |
| 40 | * FlatEarthAtheist/VideoGames |
| 41 | * FlatEarthAtheist/WesternAnimation |
| 42 | [[/index]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | !!Other examples: |
| 45 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 48 | * Deishuu Kaiki in ''Literature/{{Bakemonogatari}}'' is a very odd example in that he might actually be ''right.'' Throughout the story, monsters, spirits and ghosts plague characters as metaphors for their emotional and psychological issues. They're very much there in that you see them damage things and affect the real world and such. However, Kaiki doesn't believe that any of them exist even as he speaks with them, considering them hallucinations and lies. Normally he'd come off as crazy, but there's actual support for this viewpoint in the story. For example, he sets a magic bee on the main character's little sister that gives her a burning fever, which an expert says is a magic disease that caused a plague long ago. However, Kaiki has actually researched said plague only to find absolutely no evidence of its existence nor the people it supposedly destroyed. The bee? He actually just hypnotized her [[YourMindMakesItReal and gave her a fever like that.]] The bee doesn't actually exist. [[spoiler:The whole worldbuilding in the series is based on the dual nature of the supernatural: it is real, as in it's not just in people's heads, and it is fake, as in it requires people's heads to exist. Oddities find it hard to exist on the South Pole for example. Thus both believing in it and disbelieving in it are completely legitimate viewpoints, and your own interaction with the oddities will be determined by that.]] |
| 49 | * In ''Manga/BlackButler'' Ciel makes [[DealWithTheDevil a contract with a demon]], promising his soul to said demon. He is not unaware of this fact. Yet, in the anime version, somewhere between dealings with soul collecting {{Shinigami}} and psycho {{fallen angel}}s, he, while ''sitting next the demon he sold his soul to'', claims that he '''doesn't believe in souls'''. And although he doesn't go so far in the manga, he does regularly express disbelief when confronted with the supernatural, dismissing ghosts and curses even after encountering the real thing. |
| 50 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': PlayedForLaughs in the first chapter when Karin states that despite seeing ghosts [[ImplausibleDeniability she does not believe in them]]. The ghosts give up haunting her because they feel so rejected by her cold dismissal. |
| 51 | * The plot of ''Manga/{{Dandadan}}'' kicks off because Ayase believes in ghosts, Okarun believes in aliens, and neither of them believes the other. Both are real, of course. |
| 52 | * ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': |
| 53 | ** Despite being groomed to be a cult leader since he was born, Doma believes that there is nothing after death, and when one dies, they simply 'return to the ground.' He considers religion to be a waste of time, which proves awkward given that he's an immortal, centuries-old demon. |
| 54 | ** Not as much as Doma, but Muzan in his tremendous egocentrism has rebuked Kagaya's notion that someday karma will catch up to his evil deeds by gloating about his very long life. He lived for more than a thousand years without ever seeing God or Buddah thus Muzan rationalizes there's either no such thing as divinity or that his actions are actually ''supported by higher powers'', somehow. |
| 55 | * Mr. Satan/Hercule of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' was completely oblivious that the superpowered main characters were stronger than him, thinking it all to be a trick (he doesn't appear to have done the research on Roshi, Tien, and Goku, all of whom were champions of previous editions of the World Martial Arts Tournament that Mr. Satan rose to fame by winning) and later on a dream. Toward the end of the Cell saga, he seems to be trying to convince himself that it's not real. After the Cell saga, it becomes a {{Kayfabe}} put up by Goku and his fellows. Mr. Satan ends up bribing Android 18 to throw a fight against him so as to maintain the illusion that he's the strongest. By the end of the series, with, among other things, holding the leash of an ice cream-loving EldritchAbomination and his beloved daughter marrying the strongest man on the planet, he's fully in the know but helps maintain the {{Masquerade}} so as to keep the general population blissfully unaware of the constant danger they're usually in. |
| 56 | ** WordOfGod states a lot of his initial dismissal comes from his master being murdered by Taopaipai/Mercenary Tao when he was still a young student. And given the skills of the Crane School like the Dodonpa and FLIGHT, can you blame him for thinking they’re cheap tricks? |
| 57 | * In ''Manga/GhostSweeperMikami'', the protagonist is called in to help with a possessed patient of a Western-trained doctor. The doctor claims he cannot determine a cause of sickness, which is incredulous taking into account the levitation, horror face, and swirling ghost energy around the victim. Doc responds by rolling around on the floor loudly denying the existence of the supernatural in a "La la la I can't hear you" fashion. He gets better by the end after encountering the possessing spirit and personally aiding in the fight with what he learned in medical school... A flying dropkick from his amateur wrestling team days! After acknowledging that the supernatural exists, he vows to prepare for any future occurrences... By training in his wrestling again. |
| 58 | * In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Tsunade states the [[{{Youkai}} ghouls and ghosts]] are "just a bunch of hooey". But she's ''saying'' it to the guy with [[SealedEvilInACan a demon spirit sealed inside him]]. Also, Tsunade's grand-uncle and one of her ex-teammates know resurrection jutsu. And her two immediate predecessors as Hokage each knew how to summon a {{Shinigami}}. And her dead boyfriend had invented a jutsu to temporarily transform himself into something akin to a ghost. |
| 59 | * ''Anime/OccultAcademy'' has Maya, who is [[WeirdnessMagnet constantly assaulted by occult forces]], yet for most of the series continues to loudly deny their existence -- even while being attacked by a zombie in the first episode. She is often described as {{tsundere}} for the occult (even in the series itself once or twice), particularly since despite her (backstory-related) hatred of the occult, she is practically a walking encyclopedia on the subject, and is usually the one explaining occult concepts to the other characters. It's no surprise that people keep pairing her with Umineko's Battler (above), who is similarly tsundere towards witches and magic. |
| 60 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 61 | ** In the Skypeia arc, Zoro says he doesn't believe in God. Considering the main enemy in that arc is apparently God... Justified however in that BECAUSE of all the crazy things they've seen, Zoro simply believes the main enemy could easily be just another crazy situation that's explainable and not actually divine. [[spoiler:And he's completely right. Eneru just had a ton of coincidental abilities that looked divine like electricity powers, sensing life and attacks, and that the title he stole was 'God' (which really only meant the equivalent of 'governor' in Skypiea).]] |
| 62 | ** [[AppliedPhlebotinum Devil Fruits]] are regarded as mythical in certain parts of the East Blue. While devil fruits and their users are rare, especially outside of the Grand Line (where the main adventure takes place), most of the world's most prominent military figures and the most widely known and feared pirates do possess devil fruit powers, and there is known scientific literature seemingly available to the general public describing devil fruits and their effects. |
| 63 | ** Moderate example, Blueno from the Water 7 Arc. He has a policy never to believe anything that cannot be proven to him, as demonstrated when Jabra was scared of other devil fruits due to UrbanLegends about devil fruits containing actual devils. |
| 64 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' has Cilan, who seems to come up with every "logical" explanation he can think of for supernatural events, such as an object floating through glass, EXCEPT that a Pokemon might be using Psychic. |
| 65 | * In the anime movie ''Rebirth of Buddha'', a news reporter in a courtroom tells a judge that he rejects Buddha and God, and rejects all notions of a spirit world after the judge is asking him why he committed suicide. The judge asks him, "Where do you think you are right now?" |
| 66 | * ''Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil'': The salaryman who would become Tanya doesn't believe in "God" even though he witnesses the stopping of time and multiple people (and a pidgeon) talking to him during said timestop. He refuses to believe this being is... well, {{God}}, as he doesn't believe the world could possibly be as screwed up as it is, if an all-powerful, benevolent being actually existed. And since it doesn't identify as the Devil, he therefore decides to refer to it as "Being X". Being X keeps intervening and creating miracles but still Tanya refuses to believe in or pray for it. |
| 67 | * One of the hardest things for newcomers to ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' to [[MindScrew get their heads around]] is that the main character is having a very intense and logical debate denying the existence of a witch that haunts his family's mansion... with the witch in question. And his only tools in this debate? [[PaintingTheMedium The magic text]] [[FaustianRebellion she grants to him]]. (In episode 6, [[spoiler:however, he's part of the pro-witch side, since ''he's the new GM''.]]) This starts making a lot more sense as the story goes on. By the fourth arc, he's not fighting to deny magic in itself but the fact that the murders were committed by that witch. By the fifth, [[spoiler:there's another witch who brings in a piece to do the same thing (in her words, "dispel the Illusion of the witch"), though in a some different and more brutal way]]. |
| 68 | * [[Characters/YuGiOhSetoKaiba Seto Kaiba]] in ''Anime/YuGiOh'' says ScrewDestiny to the long history of Duel Monsters and of his rivalry with Yugi, even when he is told outright ''and'' went through the entire Millennium World arc. He goes on to found Duel Academy, a school existing solely for the purpose of being a roach motel for {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, but not until the main ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' series itself is over. |
| 69 | ** Kaiba reaches levels of this where he's a damn near parody. In the filler arc, he and Yugi are fighting monster spirits outside of duels, and despite the fact that this crazy stuff is happening right in front of him, he's still adamant that it's all a magic trick that Yugi is doing. |
| 70 | ** Kaiba's denial of magic is far more pronounced in [[{{Macekre}} the English dub by 4Kids]]. In the original, it didn't take him long to get to the point that he recognized that magic is real. He just didn't ''care''. Whether there was a historic and magical importance to Duel Monsters didn't matter to him, winning at it did. |
| 71 | ** Naturally made fun of at least one in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries''. |
| 72 | --->'''Ishizu:''' (after using magical powers to show him a vision of the past) Now do you believe me, Kaiba?\ |
| 73 | '''Kaiba:''' Since I'm the most skeptical person on the planet, I'm going to say no. |
| 74 | [[/folder]] |
| 75 | |
| 76 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 77 | * In ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/319555/celestia-isnt-real Celestia Isn't Real]]'', Diamond Tiara is discovered to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin not believe that Celestia exists]], and even puts forth some convincing arguments in a discussion with the ''actual'' Celestia (who is there in disguise). HilarityEnsues. |
| 78 | * Downplayed in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8637502/6/Don-t-Look Don't Look]]''. Ritsuko doesn't believe Misato about the Slender Man despite working with Evas and [[EldritchAbomination Angels]], but admits that she can't explain the facts she has with science. Misato was cut open with what could only be specialty surgery machinery but there's no evidence of it at the site of the attack and she fired three full clips of armor-piercing rounds yet they can only find the shell casings and none of the bullets. Lastly, the Slender Man's victims had their organs wrapped in a material that looked like saran wrap but couldn't be analyzed even by the MAGI. So while Ritsuko thinks Misato might be insane for her recollection of what happened, she doesn't know what actually did. |
| 79 | * In the ''Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}}'' series, a lot of people don't believe that [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerks]] exist, even though the war has been all over the news. This includes Jake and [[SparedByTheAdaptation Tom]]'s great-grandmother, even though most of the Berenson family were personally involved. |
| 80 | * ''Fanfic/EscapeFromTheMoon'': Spliced Genome denies that magic is real - she refers to it as "thaumatics", an energy that can be manipulated by ponies in certain forms, and firmly believes it has a scientific explanation. It's noted in the sequel ''The Mare From the Moon'' that she's also convinced that one of their [[EldritchAbomination most powerful enemies in the past]] was just a creature with a far greater ability to manipulate thaumatics than any normal pony rather than any sort of magical entity. [[spoiler:By the end of the story, nearly six hundred years later, she’s not only changed to thinking of it as magic, her powers have developed considerably and she can now teleport.]] |
| 81 | * In ''Fanfic/{{Eugenesis}}'' Nightbeat angrily decries the existence of Primus, despite having [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel seen him and been teleported across the universe by him]], before taking part in a battle against Unicron, his religion's devil. Of course, he did watch Primus get killed a short time later as well. And as later events in the story prove, he might have a reason to doubt Primus after all... |
| 82 | * ''Fanfic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': Some believe Celestia and Luna are still responsible for the sun and moon rotating around the world, even a thousand years after their deaths, while others, including Rex, believe gravity is responsible. He also firmly believes that magic, or thaumatology as he calls it, can be broken down into and understood in terms of scientific principles. |
| 83 | * ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'': Vinyl Scratch refuses to believe in Corona, the sister of her country's ruler, even though Corona's first port of call when she escaped the sun was Ponyville, which she promptly set ''on fire'', and abducted dozens of ponies, shouting at the top of her lungs all the while. And Vinyl was ''there'' at the time... admittedly, incredibly hung-over. |
| 84 | * In ''Fanfic/RobbReturns'', in spite of all increasing proof that magic is back, Tywin refuses to consider the idea. He also tries to ignore the pull towards a room his father seemed to be obsessed with, claiming it nonsense. [[spoiler: Gives up when he goes to said room and finds proof that cannot be denied.]] |
| 85 | * ''Fanfic/{{Shard}}'': In the prologue, Rize tells Aero point-blank that he doesn't believe in souls, despite it being established in-universe that a person's Aura is the manifestation of their soul. |
| 86 | * In ''Fanfic/WilhuffTarkinHeroOfTheRebellion'', Rivoche Tarkin is revealed to have believed the Force was "some made-up trick", even after a run-in with a Jedi that had survived Order 66 and being a Force sensitive herself (though she didn't know that until later). Witnessing Darth Vader's telekinesis from up close was however enough to correct her. |
| 87 | * [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Dr. Maggie Walsh]] in ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-112/DianeCastle+Xendra.htm Xendra]]'' adamantly refuses to believe in magic, even when witnessing it in effect, such as the titular character [[GenderBender changing back]] into Xander. This is particularly jarring when she brushes off the events of Graduation Day as a mass hallucination and in the same breath talks about the massive pieces of organic matter recovered (the Mayor's corpse) that contain no DNA or RNA but also possess compounds either not found in organic matter, anywhere on Earth or both. |
| 88 | ** Forrest Gates refuses to believe Buffy's superhuman even after she lets him try to bend a piece of rebar then twists it into a pretzel and lets him try again. This despite having spent months hunting vampires and demons (though his company calls them Hostile Subterrestials) and being currently bound to a chair with magic. |
| 89 | * ''Fanfic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'': Nova Shine does not believe that Love exists as a force of magic, even telling such to Princess Cadance's face. This is despite him being present at her wedding when she and Shining Armor's love for each other resulted in an explosion of magical energy that blasted the Changeling invasion far away. How much of this is sincere disbelief and how much of it is Nova antagonizing Cadance out of spite isn't made clear. |
| 90 | [[/folder]] |
| 91 | |
| 92 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 93 | * In ''Film/AtMidnightIllTakeYourSoul'' and its sequels, main character [[CreepyMortician Zé do Caixão]] ("Coffin Joe") refuses to believe in God, Satan, and general supernatural activity, despite frequently being a target of ghostly/demoniac apparitions. It's never confirmed if the apparitions are [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane real or a product of his mind]]. |
| 94 | * In Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/Batman1989'' it takes a great many characters quite a while to acknowledge that Batman ''might'' exist, and even then they're not willing to say so publicly. Alexander Knox (the only halfway-credible person who believes in Batman from the beginning) points out early on that, for the past month, there has been at least one sighting of Batman every week. But Harvey Dent dismisses the stories of Batman sightings as tales of "ghosts and goblins", and Eckhardt the police lieutenant insists that the slum dwellers who claim to have seen a bat-creature are "drinkin' Drano." Vicki Vale does ''pretend'' to believe, but this is only to convince Knox to join her in an official investigation of the sightings, which [[ItsAllAboutMe Vale hopes will advance her career and maybe even win her a Pulitzer Prize]]. Commissioner Gordon is the second major character to catch a glimpse of Batman... but he'd rather just sweep the truth under the rug, partly because it would embarrass Gotham City's police and partly because, since [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Batman was directly responsible for Jack Napier's near-death when the police needed Napier alive as a mob informant]], Gordon frankly would rather believe that Batman does ''not'' exist. |
| 95 | * ''Film/BostocksCup'' has the manager of the titular team openly mock the idea of hypnosis, even after he gets hypnotised into performing a striptease in front of the players. |
| 96 | * Referenced in ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' when Loki, the former Angel of Death, talks to a Nun early and claims to have become an atheist due to a bizarre interpretation of Creator/LewisCarroll's poem ''The Walrus and the Carpenter'', which convinces her ''[[InsaneTrollLogic somehow]]'' to give up organized religion. His friend Bartleby points out that he ''knows'' for a fact there is a God, that Loki has stood in His presence, and He has spoken to Loki personally, yet Loki just claimed to be an atheist. Loki replies he just likes fucking with the clergy. |
| 97 | * ''Film/DraculaHasRisenFromTheGrave'': Paul is an atheist and doesn't believe in religion even though he's fighting the undead king of vampires himself. Because he's not a practicing believer, religious iconology that would normally kill Dracula, like a stake, have no effect. It isn't until the very end when he sees Dracula be impaled on a cross and killed by priest's prayer that he finally rediscovers his faith. |
| 98 | * Not quite atheism, but in ''Film/ErikTheViking'' Harald the Missionary, who accompanies the Vikings on their quest, staunchly refuses to believe in the Norse gods and their mythology... even when they're ''standing outside the gates of Valhalla''. He ''can't'' see it, because he doesn't believe in it (he is a Christian, after all), but it certainly causes a great deal of frustration with his crewmates. Turns out to be a plot device when the Missionary is the only one who can leave Valhalla to save them all since he doesn't believe in it. |
| 99 | * ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'': |
| 100 | ** [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Walter Peck]] in the [[Film/Ghostbusters1984 first movie]] firmly refuses to believe in ghosts even when his own actions cause the rampaging ghost menace in the first place (or maybe he had his denial blinders on). Plus the hundreds of eyewitnesses who have seen ghosts and seen the Ghostbusters at work. Peck's accusation that the Ghostbusters use gas to cause hallucinations is made without the slightest shred of evidence. |
| 101 | ** In ''Film/GhostbustersII'', [[SequelReset the Ghostbusters have been shut down as frauds and many characters don't believe in ghosts.]] This is despite UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity having been attacked by a giant marshmallow man at the end of the first movie, which hundreds of people must have witnessed, and possibly being captured on film. |
| 102 | * ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': After some of the {{Kaiju}} have reversed years of climate change and regenerated endangered environments, people who still insist that [[HeroWithBadPublicity Godzilla]] and the monsters answering to him are nothing but a threat that should be wiped out, and who refuse to believe the monsters' presence is really healing the environment -- which there is now mountains of significant evidence to support -- are called "Titan-deniers" in the end credits' blocks of newspaper text. |
| 103 | * Franchise/IndianaJones regularly encounters ancient artifacts (from [[AllMythsAreTrue multiple religions]]) that overtly display powers of the supernatural, yet he remains an atheist or agnostic. |
| 104 | ** In ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', when Marcus Brody warns him about the powers of the Ark of the Covenant, he says that he doesn't believe in "magic, a bunch of superstitious hocus pocus." |
| 105 | ** In both ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' and ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', he refers to the film's respective artifact as a "bedtime story." |
| 106 | * In ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'': |
| 107 | -->'''Jason:''' They won't answer the believers. Would they answer a non-believer? |
| 108 | ** Later, after lots of divine intervention, he pulls a GodsNeedPrayerBadly. |
| 109 | --->'''Jason:''' In time, all men shall learn to do without them! |
| 110 | * In ''Film/JesusChristVampireHunter'', the title character gets attacked by a mob of atheists. "You don't know us, because we've never talked to you before!" Yeah, it's a weird movie. |
| 111 | * Not exactly atheists, but in the movie ''Film/{{Masala}}'' when Krishna appears in person to demand the surrender of the Sikh terrorists, they tell him to take his “pantheistic Hindu crap” and “SCRAM!” |
| 112 | * ''Film/AMatterOfFaith'': {{Discussed|Trope}}. Portland claims that even if the stars fell from the sky to form the phrase "God is real", it would still be deemed a trick by atheist evolutionists. |
| 113 | * In ''Film/RatsNightOfTerror'', Kurt refuses to believe the rats are actually intelligent, in spite of being the victim of a number of traps and advanced tactics. |
| 114 | * In ''Film/SecondGlance'', [[ItsAWonderfulPlot a movie that's essentially]] ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' but with a young Christian wishing he wasn't a believer, rather than never having existed. So an angel makes it happen and walks him through a day in his life as a non-believer. The problem of living as an unbeliever while also witnessing a supernatural event and chatting with an agent of God isn't addressed. |
| 115 | * Being an atheist in a biblical epic is unwise, as Lot's wife Ildith discovers to her cost in ''Film/SodomAndGomorrah''. As revealed by her inner monologue, she remains insistent that the miraculous events occurring ahead of and after the Hebrews' flight from Sodom are Lot's handiwork, that there is no god Jehovah whose hand has guided them away from the cities He now plans to destroy for their wickedness. And when she disobeys Lot's instructions [[DontLookBack not to look back]] at the [[WatchingTroyBurn burning ruins of her former hometown]], Jehovah smites her by turning her into [[TakenForGranite a pillar of salt]]. |
| 116 | * In the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy, there are characters who don't believe that the Force is real, despite it being common knowledge in the prequels (which take place only about 20 years prior, meaning some of said characters would have been alive at the time and seen them first hand). It's partly justifiable as the galaxy is a ''vast'' place (about 400 billion stars, 3.2 million inhabitable solar systems, 100,000 light-years across and with countless sentient species) and Force users were always rare (Jedi at their height numbering only in the thousands out of a galactic population in the ''quadrillions'') so many likely never saw the Force personally, or thought it was exaggerations from the stories they heard (as Han seems to think at first). |
| 117 | * In the BMovie ''Film/VoyageToThePlanetOfPrehistoricWomen'', the eponymous women come to accept that their various nature gods are false after they fail to kill the human astronauts. At the end, they declare the humans' dead robot to be their new god. This ignores the fact that their prayers to the gods, although failing to kill the humans, ''did'' cause volcanic eruptions and floods, ''and'' killed the robot that they accept as the "strongest god". |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:Mythology and Religion]] |
| 121 | * ''Literature/TheBible'': |
| 122 | ** Various books have several characters who refuse to believe in Jesus despite personally witnessing his miracles, prescribing them rather to him [[DealWithTheDevil being in league with Satan]]. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man begs Abraham to let him warn his relatives of hell after he's sent there, but Abraham cites this trope, saying if they did not believe Moses and the prophets, they would not even if a man came {{back from the dead}}. Additionally, some modern apologists argue that all atheists are this, claiming they truly do know God exists but simply refuse him worship (i.e. making them actually [[NayTheist Nay-Theists]]). Others dispute this, naturally. It has to be noted that the terms "unbelievers" and "atheists" had broader meanings back in the day and referred mostly to Nay-Theists and people who might believe God (or gods) ''existed'', but did not ''have faith'' in Him / them, though atheists in the sense we know it were also known (from other places largely, such as ancient Greece). There were also of course some who didn't believe the Judeo-Christian god existed but had their own. In fact, though, the opposite was more common-pagans often accepted that God existed but was just one part of the pantheon, or simply disagreed with specific Christian theology (for instance, a lot of pagan philosophers believed that a supreme deity existed, they just thought him [[GodInHumanForm becoming a man]] is absurd). |
| 123 | ** Very frequently in both the Old and New Testaments, people who have seen indisputable miracles firsthand still find it hard over the long haul to maintain faith in God -- faith that the things they saw were what they clearly were, and meant what they clearly meant. The most striking example is the Hebrews making the Golden Calf idol even after the Lord had performed all the miracles of the Exodus in freeing them from Egypt. One interpretation is that when our preconceived notions of the world are rocked, especially in a way that is inconvenient or makes moral demands of us, the human capacity for denial is ''enormous'', whereas in the text itself it seems possibly a case of looking for another god that is viewed as better (since at the time it seems Hebrews believed other gods existed, but forbid worshiping them). |
| 124 | [[/folder]] |
| 125 | |
| 126 | [[folder:Newspaper Comics]] |
| 127 | * In ''ComicStrip/ThePerishers'', the crabs in the rock pool have a ParodyReligion worshiping "The Eyeballs In The Sky" (which appear on an annual basis) complete with its own skeptic movement trying to disprove their existence scientifically. The Eyeballs do, in fact, exist: they belong to Boot the dog who goes along with Wellington and the other kids to the seaside on their annual holiday. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 131 | * A truly bizarre variant in ''Radio/BleakExpectations'', where Harry Biscuit claims to be an Agnostic despite having just fought an army of demons from Hell itself. It gets even more bizarre later on when we find out God exists. [[spoiler:And He ''is Harry Biscuit''.]] |
| 132 | * The atheist philosopher Oolon Coluphid in ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978'' is a variation. One of his antitheistic books, "Well, That Just About Wraps It Up For God", is said by the Guide to hinge entirely on the argument that God refuses to prove that he exists, for proof denies faith, and [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly without it, he is nothing]] - but he did prove that he existed as the Babel Fish is a creature far too useful not to be intelligently designed, and therefore [[InsaneTrollLogic God cannot exist as he has proven his own existence]]. The Guide acknowledges that this argument is 'a bunch of dingo's kidneys'. The book version of the story expands on the theism of the setting, where God does definitely exist and even left a final message to humanity. Unfortunately, GodIsInept as well. |
| 133 | * At least for the first few episodes, The Professor in ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'' vehemently denies the existence of God, despite being in Hell. Then again, he spends those episodes convinced that his experience in Hell is AllJustADream as well. |
| 134 | [[/folder]] |
| 135 | |
| 136 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 137 | * In ''Theatre/DoctorFaustus'', right after he summons Mephistopheles and proceeds to sell his immortal soul to the Devil, Faustus makes comments to the effect that he doesn't believe in Hell or damnation and thinks that they are just metaphorical. This rather annoys Mephistopheles, who is a FallenAngel, and who dryly notes that his own person rather proves the reality of those things. |
| 138 | * In ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', the title character gives a speech in which he calls death "The undiscovered country from whose bourn / No traveler returns" in spite of the fact that he's spoken with the ghost of his father. |
| 139 | [[/folder]] |
| 140 | |
| 141 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 142 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': |
| 143 | ** While not God, in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', Edgeworth's disbelief in Spirit Channeling is odd, seeing as how he has sat across from a dead woman (whose murder he prosecuted!) in court. |
| 144 | ** Earlier, in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll Justice For All]]'', the Judge expresses disbelief in Spirit Channeling. This is despite Maya's ability to channel dead spirits being a critical point in the trial. |
| 145 | ** It's implied that most people have somewhat of a WeirdnessCensor when it comes to spirit channelling, perhaps in no small part to a highly publicized murder case where a spirit medium was used to communicate with the victim, who named the wrong person as his killer, which gave spirit channelling a reputation for being fraudulent. And if spirit channelling is fraudulent, then there must therefore be some other, not-weird reason why that eight-year-old girl is suddenly a foot and a half taller than she was a minute ago and now has an amazing rack, so it's not worth fussing over. |
| 146 | * ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunter'': |
| 147 | ** Even with all the supernatural events she's personally exposed to, Madoka Hiroo from ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterDeathMark'' completely refuses to believe in anything "unscientific". |
| 148 | ** Subverted with Seiji from ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG''. He's clearly terrified of the supernatural and initially refuses to believe Akira's story about ghosts and spirits, but when he's forced to confront them himself he concedes to the evidence and doesn't try to deny their existence. That said, he still will only consider the supernatural as a very last option, preferring mundane explanations for the various murders throughout the game. |
| 149 | * ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'': Shiki is hospitalized after a near-death accident and wakes up with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. When he tells the doctors and nurses that he sees Lines of Death everywhere, they naturally think he's crazy. However, when he demonstrates by running his finger along the Lines of Death on his bed to chop it clean in half, they ''still'' think he's crazy and shun him. |
| 150 | * The protagonist of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', Battler, starts out as one of these as he's [[TenLittleMurderVictims surrounded by murderous witches]] but refuses to believe in magic. At one point he uses InsaneTrollLogic to argue that victims of a NastyParty who were mysteriously disemboweled ingested [[MemeticMutation "small bombs"]]. However, as the story progresses, Battler's deductive reasoning skills gradually improve as he realizes that he [[NayTheist doesn't need to disprove witches, just prove that said witches committed the murders and mysteries]]. |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 154 | * ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'' featured the character Marcus, who became so angry at the comic's creator Tailsteak that he willingly acquired a fourth wall -- an inability to hear Tailsteak, see the comic's layout, have real-world knowledge, to realise in any way he was a character in a comic. Marcus remained stolidly convinced he was the OnlySaneMan despite Tailsteak's continuous creation of life, inventing laws of physics, and generally interfering with the comic's world in an obvious fashion. Ironically, to rationalise all the ghosts and golems and such, Marcus eventually had to create his own increasingly convoluted religion. Eventually, he reaches such levels of [[StrawCharacter Strawman Political]] (very clearly representing atheism, agnosticism, pantheism, and polytheism at various points) that [[LampshadeHanging Petitus chews out the Christian author]] for his {{anvilicious}} AuthorTract. |
| 155 | * ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'': |
| 156 | ** There's a RunningGag with Thief believing dragons are extinct despite encountering (and getting mauled by) them several times. Eventually Red Mage asks why he keeps saying this. His response? |
| 157 | --->'''Thief:''' "Wishful thinking." |
| 158 | ** Also Cleric, who doesn't believe in the gods he gets spells from. This actually makes Cleric's job easier: the gods know he's not trying to suck up to him by worship, so they actually pay attention to him. Black Mage gets his nasty EyeTwitch again. |
| 159 | * ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'' has one issue with many of the characters of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' starting a theological debate, with Fox thinking is primitive to believe in deities. This lasts until [[PhysicalGod Palutena]] casually walks into the room. |
| 160 | * ''Webcomic/BrunoTheBandit'': Dibunquer, somewhat modelled after James Randi. He debunks everything in a world that is obviously full of magic, though he also represents a sensible sceptical viewpoint sometimes. Eventually he realises the truth, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve which is that magic does work in the world except when he destroys it by making people disbelieve it]], but that doesn't ultimately deter his skeptical ways any. He eventually disbelieves a manifestation of [[CrystalDragonJesus Ailix]] to His face, but still comes across as more reasonable than [[CorruptChurch the pope]], who first gets the inspiration to start revering rubber duckies (Ailix got summoned in the middle of a bath, and the pope [[ComicallyMissingThePoint fixates on what He happens to have on Him at the time instead of what He's saying]]) and then gets all "sceptical" himself when Ailix asks him to change his ostentatious ways. Can you tell it's a {{satire}} yet? |
| 161 | * ''Webcomic/CityOfReality'': The Dreaming Witch, despite living in a world of magic, is convinced the magic she does is impossible[[note]]ironically, she ''does'' seem to be breaking the rules of her world, but [[RightForTheWrongReasons not in the way she thinks]][[/note]], and hence she must be dreaming. Needless to say, she's [[AxCrazy a wee bit mad]]. |
| 162 | * In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', a mall cop that catches up with Kitty [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/2017-01-30 witnesses]] her sweater's sleeves reverting to normal from being oversized yet he dismisses it as a neat trick. |
| 163 | -->'''Dan:''' Oh my god. We found him! We found the one character in EGS who makes excuses when he sees obvious magic and doesn't just accept it as a thing! |
| 164 | * ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'': After getting chewed out by Virus for trying to arrest a Dagohma's Witness, Eastwood reveals that he does not believe in gods, demons, or the supernatural, despite personally witnessing the existence of such as [[ChurchMilitant part of his job]]. [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20080412.html "It's easy. All it takes is a little faith."]] |
| 165 | * ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': |
| 166 | ** [[TricksterGod Coyote]] berates humans for being so preoccupied with trying to find a cause or meaning behind everything that they place their own imaginary answers behind anything they ''can't'' explain; Coyote is essentially criticizing a form of the "god of the gaps" argument. Coyote even has an (unconfirmed) theory that he and other supernatural beings are merely physical manifestations of human belief, and as such, do not truly "exist". Whether this is ''true'' or not has been left up in the air (Coyote believes it to be true, but he is a very far cry from being omniscient or infallible). |
| 167 | ** Antimony's father is stated to have a dislike of anything that can't be explained logically. His friends include a half-fire-elemental, a magic-user, and ''[[Myth/NorseMythology the Valkyrie Brunhilde]]'', though his closest friend was an "ordinary" GadgeteerGenius. [[spoiler: It's revealed that he completely ignored any "magical" explanation for why his wife, the aforementioned half-elemental, was slowly dying after giving birth nor could he accept that (as far as has been shown) it couldn't be stopped -- her elemental half had to transfer to her daughter. He starts looking for supernatural answers after her death, starting with [[GrimReaper psychopomps]] -- the same beings his wife and daughter could have introduced to him at any time if he had wanted to listen.]] |
| 168 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': |
| 169 | ** Eridan lives in a world which canonically contains ghosts, telekinesis, clairvoyance, psychic mind control, dragons, telepathy, time-travelling demons, trolls who spontaneously sprout butterfly wings enabling them to fly, [[EldritchAbomination cosmic horrors]], vampires, and Sgrub/Sburb itself. But he doesn't believe in magic. That stuff's fake. |
| 170 | ** Cronus also follows the same path, though it's {{justified|Trope}}, as he USED to believe in magic, but someone decided to take a sledgehammer to his faith. |
| 171 | * Dreadmoon of the ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'' is an atheist and skeptic. Somehow he manages to reconcile this with the fact that his commander has an immortal spark, people can and have been brought back from the dead, and they have done battle against the powerful minions of a chaos god who is the closest thing Transformers have to the Devil. And then they did battle against the chaos god himself. This does not seem to have caused any crises of faith. |
| 172 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': When the Order [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0694.html finds a message]] left by Girard Draketooth for Azurite Paladin Soon Kim, he disdainfully comments on how logic is "the part of your brain that weeps every time you kneel down and pray to a glorified petting zoo". This, in a typical fantasy setting where the gods are ''real'' and bestow genuine power on those who take Divine classes... like ''Paladins''. |
| 173 | * In ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'', an [[AssInAmbassador ambassador]] sent to Greater Llewellynland to discuss foreign policy with Llewellyn, a dragon. Said ambassador refused to believe in dragons. Hence, he mostly hung around the castle and annoyed Ozy. |
| 174 | * Tycho of ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' maintains his atheism despite [[PalsWithJesus regularly hanging out with Jesus]]. |
| 175 | * ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': |
| 176 | ** In one [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=624 comic]], we see {{God}} accommodating this kind of person in Heaven. |
| 177 | ** There are also shades of this at work in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1406 atheist hell]]. |
| 178 | * ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'': |
| 179 | ** [[https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/atheist A transformer claims to be an atheist]]. This wouldn't be a problem, except they live on their planet-sized creator. This is actually based on Jetfire's personality in the comics. It's a long-running implicit joke that he believes in some odd kind of evolution which is obviously ridiculous (although the levers-and-pulleys thing ''was'' actually canon at one point). The fact that he was ''made'' by a ''very'' intelligent designer (Shockwave) in the Marvel comics makes this even funnier. |
| 180 | ** Leslie insists that there was no historical Jesus even after Galasso, who had been proven to have the ability, brings him back from the dead, despite the fact that his teachings, appearance, and demeanor all line up with euhemerist study of the Bible rather than modern Christian caricatures, getting so frustrated with her cognitive dissonance that she physically attacks him. |
| 181 | * In ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned'', Rhea (and many other Medians) apparently are skeptical about the existence of divine beings, despite the fact that angels, demons, and ''gods'' are just walking around in the open and a major war between heaven and hell which was fought in Medius is a well-known historical fact. Rhea also didn't believe in fairies and mermaids, although that is at least partly because she grew up in a xenophobic village far from either of those things. Few people recognize that Buwaro is a demon despite the fact that he looks like a purple dog with horns and just think he is wearing a costume. And when Meeros, who is one of the 12 guardians, flies over a major city a lot of people just think it is just special effects. |
| 182 | * In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' Kent [[http://beta.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040118 refuses to believe in vampires]] even after [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040208 seeing several for himself]]. It's later theorized, however, that Kent ''does'' realize vampires are real, but admitting that would ''also'' mean [[http://beta.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040316 admitting he was wrong]]. Ain't no way ''that's'' gonna happen. |
| 183 | * ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'': Danes and Swedes. Icelanders, Norwegians, and Finns have all attributed the TheMagicComesBack episode their world underwent to TheOldGods, in which Swedes and Danes do not believe. A downplayed version of this trope kicks in due to the Swedish and Danish atheism extending to magic (mages are only found in the theistic nations) and spirits/ghosts (visible only to mages), which ''have'' been proven to exist in the setting's AfterTheEnd world. As for the members of the main cast that hail from these nations, their days of lack of belief may numbered as threats that can be dealt with ''only'' by the mages become more frequent. |
| 184 | * ''Webcomic/{{Vexxarr}}'' is certain that there is no God. Certainly his species has a genetic memory leading back to the tainted primordial soup which spawned it, though whether or not they remember who threw the lightning bolt is anyone's guess. ''At the same time'', Vexxarr is convinced that the universe tends towards a maximum of perversity, at least [[ButtMonkey as far as he's involved.]] [[GenreSavvy He's right on the latter point, of course,]] but it seems that, to him, the only difference between a universe devoted to ruining his life and a creator with the same intent is that the former doesn't also demand worship. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 188 | * In the ''Fantasy High'' campaign of ''WebVideo/{{Dimension 20}}'', we have the character of Kristen, who starts out as a churchgoer who worships Sol, the Sun-God, but later becomes an atheist, despite the fact that Sol ''unquestionably exists''. It's PlayedForLaughs. Mostly. |
| 189 | * In ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Cao Cao insists that he doesn't believe in the supernatural, despite encountering it several times, most notably in Chapter 68. [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain He refuses to acknowledge Chapter 68.]] |
| 190 | * In ''Literature/MetamorKeep'' Metamor's High Priestess, Raven hin'Elric believes the "gods" she regularly converses with and draws power from are really just entities with a lot of magic that they are willing to lend to others. |
| 191 | ** By the time of ''Podcast/MetamorCity'', written by Raven's creator, she seems to have been proven right as her former student Mirai has pulled the gods of light and dark down to earth and taken most of their power. And then started a new religion that worships the same monotheistic god as the setting's version of Christianity. |
| 192 | * PlayedForLaughs when Dave of ''WebAnimation/{{Satina}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HbhQYDBPKU explains to his daughter that]] he's [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jewish]] in a ChristmasEpisode. His daughter, an AntiAntichrist, reminds him that he's ''[[TheCuckooLanderWasRight literally been to Hell]]'' on several occasions which proves his religion wrong. He then doubles down and forces her to watch ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'' with him. |
| 193 | * ''Website/SCPFoundation'': |
| 194 | ** The Foundation has a PhysicalGod known as [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-343 SCP-343]]. [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/the-things-dr-bright-is-not-allowed-to-do-at-the-foundation Apparently]], Dr. Bright has tried to disprove its omnipotence... to SCP-343 itself. The result was a paperweight so heavy not even SCP-343 could lift it. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the possibility that [[AmbiguousSituation he could just be a delusional]] RealityWarper. |
| 195 | ** There is an entire Group of Interest ([[CanonImmigrant originating from the French branch]] of the SCP Foundation website) known as [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/saphir-centre SAPPHIRE]] (Society of Atheists for the Protection from the Perilous and Hindering Institutionalized Religions Everywhere), fully comprised of flat-earth atheists (in the case of [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-281-fr SCP-281-FR]], literally so). Despite living in a world where there are dozens of competing cosmologies at any point in time, members of SAPPHIRE (usually people involved in academia and in science) do not believe that anomalies (or "Singularities", as they call them) actually exist, but that they are merely errors of human perception (like religion or other "irrational beliefs") whose presence can modify probability. They are a dangerous joke to every other group involved with the anomalous, and are very hypocritical, as they will use anomalies to spread their ideas, despite not believing in their existence. Their ideal of human rationality does, however, mean that they will absolutely refuse to utilize any mind-altering anomalies (like amnestics or memetic agents) to achieve their goals. |
| 196 | * ''WebAnimation/TheSpiderCliffMysteries'': Eliza, and to a lesser extent Barlow. |
| 197 | * Roger, the main character of ''Go Fish'', is a great example of this trope. Despite being recruited to be a god's contact on Earth, meeting various gods and angels, and actually ''visiting the realm where the gods live'', he still identifies himself as an atheist in one [[http://gofish.comicgenesis.com/d/20080530.html comic]]. |
| 198 | * ''Literature/TalesOfMU'': |
| 199 | ** There is also a god, Arkhanos, who encourages their followers to not be 100% sure of said deity's (or any other deity's) godhood. Or gender, for that matter. Arkhanites like to point out that while divine magic works and gods have made well-documented appearances, it's possible that they're simply [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien much better at magic than "mortals"]]. |
| 200 | ** The best example of this is Steff, who is a follower of both Mechanism and Arkhanism despite being in a relationship with both a half-demon ''and'' a semi-divine harvest spirit who regularly converses with her creator deity. |
| 201 | ** The [=MUniverse=] contains multiple religions, each with its own distinct (and in some cases conflicting) mythology/theology, all of which are apparently real. So it's fairly easy to see how people might get confused. To quote the author: |
| 202 | --->In most fantasy worlds, because "the gods are real", there's one set of myths which are only myths in that they're mythic in scope... they're essentially true and everybody knows them and agrees on them, and if there's any dissent it's a big story point because either the dissenters are eeeeeevillll or they're secretly the good guys. Even if the elves have one set of myths and the dwarves have another, it's only because they have different gods and their myths only deal with their corner of the world. With everything else they fight about, you rarely see the dwarves and elves falling out because one believes the world was made from the bones of Fireaxe Grimbeer and the other thinks it was fashioned in seven days by Emostar Vaguelygay because those gods are real in the story and therefore not subject to this kind of disagreement. I don't really buy the logic there. Our world is made of real and we can't often agree on any two things inside it. Ignoring the possibility of any actual divine/supernatural stuff existing in our world, all of our conflicting myths and legends came about because of real, (at one time) verifiable events: wars, people, seasons, animals, whatever. Adding another class or two of things to those lists wouldn't change the essential nature of the beast, which is that 1) we like to make stuff up when we don't know something and 2) we frequently don't know shit. |
| 203 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''WebVideo/TFSAtTheTable'', Creator/TeamFourStar's ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign. During one session, Creator/{{Lanipator}} rolled a [[CriticalFailure Natural 1]] when making a Knowledge check about the undead. Rather than simply saying he didn't know anything, Lani decided to play it as his character Wake not believing in the existence of the undead, believing that they're nothing more than puppets controlled by magic. The mental gymnastics Wake performs in order to justify his beliefs become quite hilarious, especially considering the group is allied with a (non-evil) Lich and one session involves them exploring a "ghost" ship full of zombies. |
| 204 | * In ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'', angels are not to be considered real due to local laws, which characters uphold even when holding a conversation with them. |
| 205 | [[/folder]] |
| 206 | |
| 207 | [[folder:Other]] |
| 208 | * Pick ''any'' Christmas movie or ChristmasSpecial in which SantaClaus [[SantasExistenceClause is real]] and actively delivers presents to a large fraction of the world's children, yet the vast majority of adults do not believe in him. Review the following situation: mysterious packages show up under Christmas trees that Mom and Dad certainly don't remember buying. Little Sally in the hovel next door ends up with an expensive doll in her stocking despite her parents barely being able to afford necessities and keeping the doors locked for fear of burglars. Yet despite these otherwise inexplicable occurrences, people dismiss Santa as a fairy tale or "stuff for babies." |
| 209 | ** Worse, in the Christmas movies/specials where Santa Claus not only exists, but ''doesn't even try to hide his existence'' -- to the point where you'd easily be able to see the man just by waiting outside on Christmas Eve, or even by ''telephoning the North Pole''. |
| 210 | ** Taken to hilarious extremes, for the sake of a joke, in the Rankin-Bass film ''WesternAnimation/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas'', in which a young atheist mouse says he doesn't believe in Santa... despite Santa having ''a phone number'' and a ''staff of people to answer any calls''. When he says this, the athe-mouse's dad gives him a look that is the '70s animated special equivalent of "Wow, you're spectacularly dumb". This is a world where Santa is '''so clearly and explicitly real''' that when he ''tells'' the town's mayor [[DisproportionateRetribution he won't come here this year due to the athe-mouse insulting him in a newspaper]] (yes...) the mayor attempts to build a huge beacon to tell Santa how much they're really, really sorry. In other words, Santa is at least as real as any other businessman the town is trying to curry favor with. And the athe-mouse kid still didn't believe it till his father showed him '''everyone else in town did'''. The irony? [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Athe-mouse is the SMART one in his family]] ([[BlatantLies by his reckoning]]). Yikes. |
| 211 | *** But when trying to convince the mouse, his dad tries to make his son have faith using an argument that doesn't factor in empirical proof (the song "Give Your Heart a Try"), despite the fact that there '''is''' empirical proof of Santa in this universe. |
| 212 | ** It's even worse in ''WesternAnimation/TheYearWithoutASantaClaus'' when a bunch of children announce that the newspapers have reported that Santa Claus is taking a day off and '''ten seconds later''' say that they don't believe in Santa. Santa himself sings a song to convince one of the children of his existence: "I believe in Santa Claus / Like I believe in love..." ''not'' "I believe in Santa Claus / Because I saw his picture in ''The New York Times''..." |
| 213 | ** Invoked in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic review of "WesternAnimation/GrandmaGotRunOverByAReindeer" in which the villains try to sue Santa Claus for kidnapping, which makes the headline in the paper. |
| 214 | ---> '''Nostalgia Critic:''' No... the headline should be "HOLY SHIT SANTA CLAUS IS REAL!!!" |
| 215 | ** The same logic would apply to the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy as well. |
| 216 | ** In one short of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', not only Dexter doesn't believe in Santa Claus (he insists that it's his parents delivering the presents), his thoughts run on sheer InsaneTrollLogic even when he's supposed to be super-smart (he not only thinks that Dad dresses like Santa and his mom dresses like a reindeer, he says that the two of them somehow ''get the family's station wagon onto the roof to simulate the sleigh''). When confronted by Santa and one of his reindeer, he insists on calling them "Dad" and "Mom" and tells "Mom" to take off the costume even when it's very obviously an actual reindeer and tries to shave off "Dad's" "fake beard" even when Santa fights back and runs like hell, and culminates with Dexter chasing the flying "station wagon" and ''shooting it down with a fighter jet'', [[DownerEnding ruining Christmas for everybody]]. |
| 217 | * An old Soviet joke runs something like this: a communist (and thus staunch atheist) died. However, he had been a good man in life, and God was willing to forget his unbelief, provided that he spent an equal period of time in Hell and Heaven. He served his first year in Hell, and Satan said to God: "Take this man quickly - he has turned all my demons into Young Pioneers! I must restore order!" After spending a year in Heaven, God took him back to Hell, where he had this conversation with Satan: |
| 218 | --> '''Satan:''' Lord God, it is my turn now. |
| 219 | --> '''God:''' First of all let's keep this quick, I have a party meeting. Second, call me "''Comrade'' God". Third, there is no God. |
| 220 | ** In the Spanish version of the joke, it's Karl Marx himself who dies and is sent straight to Hell, where he promptly starts getting rank-and-file demons to make common cause with the damned. Satan tries to get rid of him by shipping him into Heaven, half-expecting the guys Above to reject him. When he goes up to Heaven to check after a few days, it's Peter who greets him and informs him that "there is no God." |
| 221 | * In one Spanish comic strip, an atheist climbs into a tree to escape a bear. An angel flies down to meet him, and the man insists he's not going to convert just because an angel saved him (although this example overlaps with the NayTheist trope). [[spoiler:The angel then reveals he came to help ''the bear'', who is a Christian and is thanking God for this meal.]] |
| 222 | ** A variation has the atheist desperately crying out for divine intervention, and the angel flying down to chide him for suddenly discovering some faith now that it's in his best interest. Conceding the point but still wanting to live, the atheist asks if, instead, the ''bear'' could be made a Christian. The angel agrees and flies away, and the man momentarily thinks that he is saved, as Christianity is a non-violent religion, only... |
| 223 | --> '''Bear''': Lord, for this meal I am about to recieve, I am truly grateful. |
| 224 | [[/folder]] |
| 225 |
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