Line #39 Main/SecularHero


1	->''"He did not often feel the need for a physical expression of his religious feeling. Like Brion [his deceased brother and the last king], he preferred to witness for his faith through the example of an upright life, rather than spend overmuch time on his knees, in a building that took the place of belief for many folk."''
2	--> --''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} The King's Justice]]'' by Creator/KatherineKurtz
3
4	Picture an author at work, creating a hero. The notes and the drafts cover many traits: height and weight, the color of their hair and eyes, what clothes they wear, where they live, where they went to school, what family they have, even their favorite food and the playlist on their mp3 player. References to all these things and more are worked into the story, but one topic doesn't come up much: their religion. Not that they necessarily don't have one (they might or they might not); they just don't talk about it, and the world in which they move, while it has one or more thriving religions, doesn't make a big deal of it either. Why is that?
5
6	Obviously, most authors want to appeal to as large an audience as possible, and one way to do that is to reflect the audience and their world in the work. Depicting a lot of church services that aren't plot-relevant may bore the audience, taking a particular religious stand may turn some people off, and most people are neither holy rollers nor antagonistic atheists. Conversely, some authors write for a niche market of conversion stories and starting the target of the conversion in this middle-of-the-road place is both more likely (a devout member of one faith is less likely to change to another, nor is a strong atheist going to "get religion" so easily) and more common statistically speaking.
7
8	TheLawOfConservationOfDetail can be a factor. If a given plot doesn't require a character to be in a church service, the audience won't see him in one. Over time, this can lead to the audience assuming this character doesn't have a religion or doesn't practice it much. Other aspects of a story may simply preclude religious participation, such as a character working in a demanding job or on an unusual schedule. More obvious examples show these characters interacting with religious figures (usually due to [[PlotPoint plot demands]]) so that the topic of religious practice (and his lack thereof) comes to the fore. In these instances, the character will express his religious apathy overtly or have it described or both. Occasionally the issue may be sidestepped by having them attend the ChurchOfSaintGenericus without ever mentioning denomination.
9
10	Many other reasons for downplaying religion involve characterization. Perhaps our hero prefers to live his creed rather than profess it much; for this guy, his deeds are his devotions, and "God helps those who help themselves." Then again, perhaps he's compartmentalized his life; he goes to church once a week and the rest of the time he's getting on with the business of living (these cases have some overlap with the NayTheist). Maybe he's a believer who's [[HeroicSelfDeprecation uncomfortable with asking for divine help]] or bothered by the idea that Somebody Up There might be taking an interest in him (if GodIsEvil or a [[JerkassGod jerkass]], can you blame him?).
11
12	Note that the in-universe society might have a common religion that everyone presumably follows (such as medieval settings or other places with a dominant religion), or it may have many religions with no one sect that's predominant. Also note that this hero may not believe in a deity at all and finds it a waste of time to dispute the matter with others. The hero's secular nature may only become clear if/when religious topics are addressed. For whatever reason, this guy has better things to do.
13
14	This trope is neither the HollywoodAtheist (who expresses lack of faith in a negative way) nor the FlatEarthAtheist (who holds back belief despite evidence to the contrary). In works with PhysicalGod(s), a character who acknowledges but does not worship them is a NayTheist. Characters who are simply agnostic or atheist without it falling into the latter tropes would also qualify.
15
16	See also ChurchOfSaintGenericus.
17
18	----
19	!!Examples:
20
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
24	* Much of the SSS in ''Anime/AngelBeats'' initially thinks that they're living some kind of Hell (even though they know they're ''dead'') and swear their vengeance against the god who put them there. As such, most of them aren't too vocal about their religious preferences, especially the SSS's leader, Yuri Nakamura.
25	* Edward Elric from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' claims not to be interested in religion, even though he's met God. Though he didn't know it was God at the time and The Truth isn't visually represented by anything your standard God would look like.
26	* This is a plot point in ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'', as Kobayashi's lack of faith is the entire reason why she was able to save Tohru's life just before the start of the series (the holy sword she pulled out of Tohru's back would have destroyed her mind on contact otherwise).
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Comic Books]]
30	* ''[[ComicBook/BatmanBeyond Batman Beyond 2.0]]'' has Jake Chill, who becomes the anti-hero Vigilante, mention in the narration of his backstory that he isn't religious.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Fan Works]]
34	* While the original ''Fanfic/AngelOfTheBat'''s closest portrayal was the decidedly {{Naytheist}} Batman, its sequel expands the roster a bit. While he's the roughest around the edges of the current Bat-family, Damian Wayne is still heroic and tells Cassandra that he doesn't see religion as useful or much but manipulation. Connor Hawke is a Buddhist, like his canonical self, but between stating he isn't one for orthodoxy and his personal dismissal of its more supernatural aspects, it is hinted he is a secular Buddhist.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Film]]
38	* ''{{Film/Creation}}'': Charles Darwin, who is portrayed as being irreligious to begin with and only growing more so as his discovery of evolution drives him further away from religion, but portrayed sympathetically still.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Literature]]
42	* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'', THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, lives in a violently theocratic civilization where not worshipping the God-Emperor of Mankind is punishable by intense physical torture and, eventually, death (or simple [[KillItWithFire burning at the stake]]). He is a fairly quiet man on the topic of religion and doesn't engage in much directly religious activities beyond attending services which he is socially obliged to due to his rank; he thinks the Emperor is too busy fighting the countless forces of the Warp to care about him, personally. So of course he ends up with a splinter sect worshiping him as the Emperor's will incarnate, although he's never made aware of it.
43	* ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'': Despite the medieval setting and the presence of many clerical characters, some characters are less than devout.
44	** Nigel Haldane: The opening quotation describes him preparing to have his nephew King Kelson trigger some of the family's arcane powers in him. Given that he's facing an unfamiliar arcane ritual that also makes him confront the unwelcome possibility that he may become king himself, he feels the need to pray: "A little awkwardly, then, he bowed his head and framed his thoughts in a far more formal petition than was usually his wont..."
45	** Alaric Morgan fits as well, partly in contrast to his more devout cousin Duncan [=McLain=]. Morgan once used his magic to contact his aide-de-camp during a religious service and used fasting as a cover/excuse when he fainted from the effort. The morning after the knightly accolades of Kelson, Conall, and Dhugal, Morgan arrives late to an Ash Wednesday Mass, having stayed up to celebrate with Nigel and an excellent port the night before. He is elsewhere described as being uncomfortable with the idea of receiving the attention of Heaven. He does ask his cousin to give him a blessing (after said cousin became a bishop), and Duncan expresses some surprise at this request; it happens on the day Duncan (who is like a brother to Morgan) was leaving on a military campaign, with the unspoken possibility they might not see each other again.
46	* ''Literature/DragonQueen'': Trava isn't really religious, given that her father is blind and the main religion in her world thinks blind people are cursed.
47	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': With the notable exception of Brutha of ''Literature/SmallGods'', who is more spiritual than religious despite caring for an avatar of his God, none of the PointOfView characters pay much attention to any of the Disc's many gods. Although [[Literature/GoingPostal Moist von Lipwig]] does get minorly involved with several during one of his schemes to get the post office up and running. This is particularly understandable since as a rule, the gods of the Discworld are basically petty, small-minded jerks who pretty much solicit worship by bullying people into acknowledging them. Not exactly the kinds of deities to provoke very sincere faith or reverence. Or as the Witch novels put it, they don't believe in gods, they know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman.
48	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry Dresden is not religious, despite working for archangels, being friends with holy knights on payroll from God Himself, and seeing how incredibly powerful faith can be. He is a direct inversion of the most common application of this trope -- instead of being too heroic for silly little churches to bear his awesomeness and insight, he respects religion, but [[SelfDeprecation thinks he's not a good enough person]] to be associated with it.
49	* ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'': [[DefectiveDetective Detective]] [[KnightInSourArmor Meyer Landsman]] is obviously culturally and ethnically Jewish, religiously agnostic. Landsman's personal issues, including his (lack of) religious identity, are a major subplot.
50	* Father Kienzle, of Creator/RobertKoessler's murder mystery series, lives a life largely of quiet faith, laughing at the more ridiculous rituals of the church and bending the rules where he feels it leads to a more harmonious conclusion.
51	* Since ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' is about kids from our world in a setting full of {{Physical God}}s, the author decided to address some religious issues. April is staunchly Catholic, and [[TheSmartGuy Jalil]] is staunchly atheist; both simply refuse to believe that the super-powered beings they interact with are "gods" in any meaningful sense of the word. [[HeroicWannabe David]] and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Christopher]] seem to fall into this trope, though we know David is [[InformedJudaism ethnically half-Jewish]]. [[TokenEvilTeammate Senna]] is more complicated: she grew up when her mom was going through a Wicca phase, and presumably she went to church when she moved in with April's family, but for the most part, [[AGodAmI she only worships herself]] (and turns out to be running a cult).
52	* In the ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' books, Percy finds out that [[HalfHumanHybrid his father is Poseidon]] and reasonably asks what this means about any sort of religion other than Greek paganism. He's essentially told "[[HandWave don't worry about that]]," and the topic never really comes up again (for what it's worth, the Greek Underworld seems to be the legitimate afterlife in this world).
53	** A SpinOff series, ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard,'' addresses it a bit more: Magnus doesn't really believe in God, and discovering the existence of multiple mythical pantheons only makes him more skeptical. Meanwhile, Sam(ira) is a Muslim who has to deal with the weirdness of becoming a Valkyrie and learning that she's the daughter of [[spoiler:Loki]].
54	* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Eric's only interest in the many religions of Tariatla is academic because he's a {{bookworm}}. On the other hand, he spends a lot of time [[PalsWithJesus chatting with a big name like Tasio]] because the god thinks they're "bestest friends".
55	* ''Literature/VampireAcademy'': Rose Hathaway isn't particularly religious unlike her other classmates and her best friend Lissa in St. Vladimir Academy, who are [[ReligiousVampire adherents]] to UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity.
56	* Heroes in the works of Creator/AynRand are never depicted as following religion, and are often outspoken atheists, in keeping with her philosophy of UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}}.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
60	* Bill Adama from ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' does not believe in the Gods. This leads him into conflict with President Roslin on several occasions. Adama's theological views evolve in the course of the series from atheist to non-religious believer.
61	* Jeff, the main character of ''Series/{{Community}}'', is agnostic and opts for not talking about religion to keep the peace in the study group, whereas all other characters have relatively strong religious or atheistic beliefs:[[note]]Annie is Jewish, Abed is Muslim, Shirley Christian (specifically Baptist), Troy a Jehovah's Witness, Britta atheist, and Pierce belongs to a cult referred to as "Reformed Neo-Buddhism".[[/note]] "To me, religion is like Paul Rudd. I see the appeal and I would never take it away from anyone, but I would also never stand in line for it."
62	* On ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', [[ActionGirl Buffy]] uses crosses and holy water to fight vampires and demons, but never really ponders the religious implications of that. At one point a new vampire asks about the existence of {{God}} and she notes that she knows "nothing definite." (This was ''after'' she'd been to {{Heaven}}.) The only legitimately religious characters on the show seem to be [[TheSmartGuy Willow]] and [[TheWoobie Tara]], whose Wicca falls squarely into ReligionIsMagic territory; Drusilla ''before'' she became a vampire; and assorted villains who worship demons, [[PhysicalGod Glory]] or the First Evil.
63	* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', Shepherd Book is a Christian preacher, and Inara is apparently Buddhist. The other characters don't have a problem with an open display of religion, but Mal most definitely does. "You're welcome on my ship... God ain't." However, a flashback to the Battle of Serenity Valley has him kissing a cross for luck and expressing religious beliefs. It's heavily implied that due to the Browncoats losing the War, Mal has lost most of his faith and become [[RageAgainstTheHeavens very angry]] [[NayTheist at God]] as a result.
64	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
65	** The Doctor has met several godlike aliens, one of whom claimed to be Satan himself, but does not consider any of them particularly divine. When confronted with monsters who could only be repelled by faith, the Seventh Doctor chanted the names of [[TrueCompanions his former companions.]]
66	** The fact that Rory is neither religious nor superstitious is a plot point in "The God Complex". [[spoiler: Everyone else in the building, including the Doctor, had some central point of faith (religious or otherwise) to exploit. However, the Minotaur left Rory alone because he doesn't really believe in anyone or anything, not even in the Doctor. It's implied this was the result of his 2000+ year stint at the Last Centurion and what he endured. When confronted, he only sees fire exits, though he remains behind, not willing to leave his wife Amy or the Doctor.]]
67	* This is the default for human characters on the various Franchise/StarTrek series -- Creator/GeneRoddenberry was himself a staunch secular humanist and believed that humanity would evolve beyond religion. After his death in 1991, the franchise did sometimes explore the spiritual beliefs of alien characters and species: in the later years of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Worf is shown to struggle with his spiritual convictions, Captain Picard appears to believe in a deity plus an afterlife, and on ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', Kira is a devout practitioner of the Bajoran religion and Sisko's primary character arc revolved around his gradual acceptance of his status as a religious figure to the Bajorans. ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' also had some exceptions, as B'Elanna, Neelix and Chakotay practice/struggle with spiritual beliefs, though the rest of the characters are still not portrayed as having any.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Video Games]]
71	* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
72	** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' - While her late husband was a ChurchMilitant, Aveline is the closest thing the game has to an agnostic and states that she married a man but not his religion. Sebastian, Carver, Bethany, and Anders are all Andrastians (though the latter two have issues with TheChurch), Fenris goes back and forth on how much stock he puts in religion, and Merill worships the old elf pantheon. Isabela comes from one of the few non-Andrastian human nations and Varric is a surface dwarf who treats his race's ancestor worship with some irreverence. And also Andrastian.
73	--->'''Aveline:''' I have heard the Chant. It is lovely; perhaps that's all it needs to be.
74	** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': Despite being considered the Herald of Andraste and supreme leader of a religious organization, it's perfectly possible for the Inquisitor to be an unbeliever, if not outright an atheist. This will become part of your character after Act I when [[spoiler:Haven is destroyed by the BigBad]] when an important dialogue option will decide your faith or not. Even so, it's perfectly possible for the Inquisitor to fight for what is right even if they don't believe.
75	* Also from Bioware, Commander Shepard of ''Franchise/MassEffect'' will only have his/her religion established in one conversation with [[TokenReligiousTeammate Ashley]]; your options range from expressing shared belief to respecting her right to her religion to [[JerkAss straightforward mockery]]. Ashley herself has such a vaguely defined belief system that it probably counts, that same conversation being about as far as it goes.
76	* While Reimu and Sanae from ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' are UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} {{Miko}}, the religious affiliations of other heroines like Sakuya, Youmu or Reisen are unknown. In fact, characters who have an official affiliation also tend to be very important people in their respective religion rather than "just believers". Marisa has been shown to have experimented with religion - however, she does so entirely in the context of her magical craft, and Kanako, the addressed deity, confirmed her faith is directed fully at magic.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
80	* Sonozaki Shion of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' was sent to a Catholic school (against her will) and escaped, later on saying "If I stayed in a place like that, I'd either end up brainwashed or insane!" She also denies the existence of the village god, Oyashiro-sama on a lighter note.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Webcomics]]
84	* Roy from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
85	--> '''[[CelestialBureaucracy Bureaucratic Deva]]:''' Let me ask you something. Why did you never consider becoming a cleric yourself? You have halfway decent Wisdom and Charisma scores, you could have pulled it off.\
86	'''Roy:''' Well, this is awkward to say, given [[FluffyCloudHeaven where I am]], but I've never really been that religious. I mean, I guess my mom raised me to worship the [[Myth/NorseMythology Northern]] [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Gods]], but I always just figured as long as I don't actively offend any of them, they'd leave me alone.
87	** In a much later strip Roy confides with his sister, Julia, that their father was the one who actually started Roy down the secular road of heroism.
88	--->'''Julia:''' The gods are just fancy alien wizards who figured out how to crowdsource their magic.\
89	'''Roy:''' Yeah, I remember Dad telling me that, too. I think that's probably one of the only good things he ever instilled in me, honestly. That the gods don't deserve special deference just because they're powerful. If they can judge us based upon our actions, then we should be treating them according to their own.\
90	'''Julia:''' Huh. Seems like he would've been better served long-term by teaching you to never question the authority of those who created you.\
91	'''Roy:''' Oh, it totally backfired for him '''''personally''''', but it was still a good lesson.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Western Animation]]
95	* Though the Pines family from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' display some AmbiguouslyJewish traits, series creator Creator/AlexHirsch [[WordOfGod has clarified]] that they are not practicing any religion, explicitly stating that Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines were raised non-religious (though they celebrate all holidays, at [[FunPersonified Mabel's]] insistence) and while Grunkle Stan was raised Jewish, he became an atheist later in life.
96	* When asked, ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' co-creator Creator/GregWeisman is [[http://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=15462 willing to speculate]] about characters' faith; however, the only explicitly religious content in the show (aside from Franchise/WonderWoman briefly mentioning "the gods") was a scene when, after a ReasonYouSuckSpeech from [[spoiler:the original Roy Harper]], Roy finds [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Ollie]] sitting miserably in a hospital chapel.
97	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Early on the family were fairly regular churchgoers, with some conflict with Peter's extremely religious father. IssueDrift and Creator/SethMacFarlane's atheism put an end to that. Most explicitly we have the episode where Lois finds out that her mother is Jewish; she experiments with the religion a bit, but ultimately concludes that she doesn't want the family to be any religion, despite the fact that she was the most devout one in earlier seasons. [[Characters/FamilyGuyBrianGriffin Brian Griffin's]] explicit in being an atheist, despite having [[FlatEarthAtheist met Jesus personally]] earlier, as Stewie notes.
98	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SecularHero