Line #33 Main/ThereIsAGod


1	->''"His death is the first solid piece of evidence I have seen to prove the existence of God."''
2	-->-- '''US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter''', on the death of Chief Justice Fred Vinson[[note]]Vinson, who was relatively healthy and a strong supporter of segregation, died suddenly of a heart attack just before the Supreme Court heard the arguments for its landmark ruling in ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education Brown v. Board of Education]]''. Vinson's replacement, the much more progressive Earl Warren, was crucial in obtaining a unanimous consensus to strike down segregation in US public schools as unconstitutional.[[/note]]
3
4	A phrase said when something happens that a character feels has happened by a divine hand, hence this is possible proof of the existence of god(s).
5
6	The actual occurrence can be a major thing, like ending a war, but just as often it's a smaller thing, especially when this is PlayedForLaughs.
7
8	The three basic forms are:
9	# Used literally. Yes, there really is a God, or I have gained/restored faith in God.
10	# Used semi-seriously. Well, there might be a God after all. Or at least the world doesn't [[CrapsackWorld totally suck]].
11	# Used humorously.
12
13	The [[InvertedTrope direct opposite]] is EvilStoleMyFaith. Compare TurnToReligion, which may overlap with this if the declaration is followed up with genuine religiosity.
14	----
15	!!Examples:
16
17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
20	* Used semi-seriously in ''[[Anime/AfterWarGundamX Gundam X]]'' episode 1. Garrod finds an abandoned Gundam, but when he tries to use it to fight off some pursuers, he finds it doesn't have a control stick. He pulls out a disconnected control stick he found earlier and mutters "If this works, I'll believe in God!" It does, and he immediately turns to his companion and says [[MemeticMutation "Tiffa, I believe in God!"]]
21	* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' spin-off series ''We Want to Talk About Kaguya'' when [[ShipperOnDeck Karen]] catches a sight of Kaguya and Shirogane riding on a bike together, and interprets it as a sign from the heavens that her ship is canon.
22	-->'''Karen:''' God is real. Only he could have blessed me with that holy image...
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder: Comic Books]]
26	* ''[[ComicBook/InvasionDCComics Invasion!]]'': Maxwell Lord quips that there may be a God after all after he hears that the Daxamites have chosen to turn against the other alien races invading Earth after learning exposure to Earth's sunlight gives them powers.
27	* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': In ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' arc "Bullseye", Frank and Bullseye fight each other, eventually coming down to Frank armed with just a knife and grappling Bullseye. They fall into a construction area, and when Bullseye notices just how many new weapons are available to them, he gives the phrase.
28	* ''ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan'': In the final issue of the Creator/PeterMilligan series, Lenny's father gets so emotional over seeing that his daughter is alive and well that he takes her presence as proof that there's a God.
29	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': During the aftermath of ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', Lex Luthor quips that he may believe in a benevolent God after all in light of his enemy Superman dying and Project Cadmus seemingly failing to use Superman's genetic code to create a clone to replace him.
30	* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'': Said by Spider Jerusalem when a party goer tosses a grenade necklace over his head while he was feeling down.
31	* ''ComicBook/WarOfTheGods'': ComicBook/{{Lobo}} quips that there must be a God after all when [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] appears before him right when he's itching for a fight.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
35	* The title panel of the January 15, 1989 strip of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' has Jon read from a newspaper and tell Garfield that doctors now say that diets don't work. Garfield responds by getting on his knees and looking upward with a smile while thinking "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you", implying that he prayed to God that dieting would be discredited.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:FanWorks]]
39	* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': Alex assures Shar that she believes there's a higher power, because she's witnessed hell dimensions and met people who have been to heaven.
40	--> '''Alex:''' I’ve fought a hellgoddess and met an Earth goddess. After all that, I think I pretty much have to believe there’s a Higher Power out there.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder: Jokes]]
44	* An atheist and a priest are out hiking when they run into an angry sasquatch. Suddenly, a freak bolt of lightning strikes a nearby tree, scaring the beast away. The atheist cheers "It's a miracle!", and the priest replies dryly "And here I thought you didn't believe in God." The atheist replies "Give me a break! Until a minute ago, I didn't believe in Bigfoot either."
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder: Film]]
48	* In ''Film/HighSpirits'', the lord of a castle fails to make it a tourist attraction. He's so depressed he's thinking of hanging himself, but a storm means the guests have to stay, so he says this.
49	* In ''Film/DeconstructingHarry'', Creator/WoodyAllen's character, an atheist, uses this in reference to Bobby Thomson's game-winning home run in the 1951 National League playoffs. "When he hit that home run it was the only hint I had that there may be a God."
50	* As the diabetic [[BlackDudeDiesFirst black guard]] is dying on the plane in ''Film/ConAir'', he tells Nicholas Cage's character that sometimes he wonders if there's a God. Cage's character tells him he'll show him there is one, and then he starts kicking Con butt.
51	* Used by Creator/JohnRitter in the movie ''Film/SkinDeep''. After a number of horrible catastrophes befall him, he staggers into the beach entrance of his friend's bungalow, and announces, "There is a God, and he's a gag writer!" just as a huge ocean wave comes pouring in the open door, flooding the room.
52	* Alex says it in ''Film/SnowCake'' when Maggie offers him tea.
53	* At the end of ''Film/AnimalHouse'', when one of the co-eds dressed in bunny ears and a leotard fly into the room of a young teen boy (reading through some Playboys), the boy simply shouts out, "Thank you, God!"
54	* In ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993'', Aramis says "See? There is a God," after TheReveal that [[PocketProtector his cross stopped the Cardinal's bullet]] and saved his life.
55	* In ''Film/WaynesWorld2'' Wayne says this when he mistakenly believes that Heather Locklear is waving to him.
56	* ''Film/TheReturnOfSwampThing'': Exclaimed by the moonshiner Gurdell, when he and his buddy hear Abby's voice, just after talking about how neither of them has seen a woman (or a sheep) in months.
57	-->''Who says there ain't God?''
58	* In ''Film/RealGenius'', Chris, Mitch, and Jordan implant a transceiver on Kent's glasses, and give him orders while pretending to be Jesus. Kent's skeptical at first...
59	-->'''"Jesus":''' And from now on, stop playing with yourself.
60	-->'''Kent:''' It ''is'' God!
61	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', Judy tries to power up an old subway train containing a drug lab, and Nick tells her "it would take a miracle to get this rust-bucket going!" When the train almost immediately springs back to life, Nick follows up with a deadpan "[[CueTheFlyingPigs Well, hallelujah]]."
62	* ''Film/TheException'': Wilhelm says "Perhaps God hasn't forgotten me, after all."" when he's {{offered the crown}} of Germany once again, after previously having speculated there were inscrutable divine reasons behind his misfortunes.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder: Literature]]
66	* Used literally, as a last-minute (and somewhat irritating) {{Aesop}}, in the third ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' novel.
67	* Melissa Mailey (aka "Schoolmarm from Hell") in ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1634: The Baltic War]]'' uses the phrase several times in regards to Daryl [=McCarthy=], when he acts like a mature adult with a good education, neither of which were previously considered to be accurate descriptions of him. (Notably, Melissa is an ''atheist''.)
68	* At the end of ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'', when Chaplain Tappman learns about [[spoiler:Orr surviving his plane crash and sailing his raft all the way to neutral Sweden]], he exclaims that it is a miracle and that he believes in God once again (having been plagued with doubts throughout the novel).
69	* Used humorously in ''Literature/SmallFavor'' of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. At a train station, Harry and Michael Carpenter [[ChurchMilitant a Knight of the Cross]] wielding a holy sword, fight their way through a group of hobgoblins to find a group of {{muggles}} huddled in an office, one of them gripping a cross and staring at Michael, who's standing there holding a glowing holy sword. Michael reassures her, "Of course He's there. Of course He listens." Then he admits, "Granted, He doesn't always answer quite this quickly."
70	* Used for drama in ''Literature/SmallGods'', the one which really expands on the GodNeedsPrayerBadly nature of the Disc. For hundreds of years, Omnians have stopped believing in Om, but rather the Omnian Church built up around it, and especially the Quisition that roots out heretics and those whose faith is lacking. So when [[spoiler:Om in turtle form drops out of the sky onto Vorbis' head, preventing Brutha's public execution just in time, the belief created by witnessing this miracle is so strong it zaps Om back to full strength. And for a little while, far enough beyond full strength that he can whoop a whole pantheon's worth of asses single-handedly to stop a war]].
71	* Played with in the Creator/StephenKing novella ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Apt Pupil]]''. After a TraumaCongaLine of a life that includes being a Holocaust survivor and losing his first wife to the camps, Morris Heisel abandons his faith when he falls off a ladder and breaks his back, leaving him paralyzed. However, he regains it after a) it starts to look like his paralysis will be temporary and b) he realizes that his hospital roommate is [[spoiler:the commandant of the concentration camp he was imprisoned in, and he now has a chance to bring the man to justice]].
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder: Live-ActionTV]]
75	* In the ''Series/MrBelvedere'' TV series, Belvedere got stuck because of something Kevin did. When Kevin got in a similar situation, Belvedere says this.
76	* The TV show ''Series/{{ER}}'', episode "Whose Appy Now?". Carter's upset because he's being denied the chance to perform an exciting surgery and reassigned to an appendectomy instead.
77	-->'''Dr. Angela Hicks:''' You haven't seen the patient yet.\
78	''[Carter looks out the window and sees Dr. Benton being wheeled down the hall on a gurney]''\
79	'''Dr. John Carter:''' Ohhhhhhhh there is a God!
80	* Uttered by Jeremy Clarkson on ''Series/TopGear'', when Richard Hammond draws the Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle for the Series 13 race to Edinburgh (Clarkson hates motorbikes). Pure {{Kayfabe}}, however, as all three presenters knew which vehicle they would get beforehand.
81	* A humorous inversion from ''Series/BabylonFive'':
82	-->'''Ivanova:''' If I get through this day without completely losing my mind, it will be a miracle of biblical proportions.
83	-->'''Corwin:''' There goes my faith in the almighty.
84	* ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'' uses a humorous version in the episode "Bitch Zapped" when a HenpeckedHusband sees his harpy of a wife unknowingly running over the man's arc welder cord and getting electrocuted while showing him how to mow the lawn. After his wife fell lifeless on the ground, he nonchalantly picks up his wife's martini and says "There IS a god!" while shaking his head.
85	* ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'':
86	** In the very first episode, the lodge was trying to get a new insurance policy. Among other things, every lodge member had to get a medical examination, and there was worry about the lodge members being out of shape. One member, Noah, was obnoxiously trying to get everyone to exercise and eat healthy, and in the end, Noah was the only one who didn't get a clean bill of health. Red's response [[BreakingTheFourthWall to the audience]] was "How can you ''not'' believe in God when stuff like that happens?"
87	** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in a later Possum Lodge Word Game: Red asked about what would happen if Dalton's daughter eloped with her boyfriend, and Dalton said it would renew his faith in the Almighty.
88	* ''Series/RedDwarf:'' Used in series VIII, when Lister and Rimmer realize the prisoners of The Tank have reprogrammed Kryten (who's in the women's section) to secretly film the ladies' shower night.
89	-->'''Lister:''' You know what this means, don't you?
90	-->'''The Cat:''' There is a God?
91	* Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook feature a sketch titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCL4dXUtblg There is No God]] spoofing this with an atheist version of finding a watermelon with its seeds arranged into the title words.
92	-->'''Reporter:''' Reverend, what's the churches take on this? Is God done for?
93	-->'''Reverend:''' No, obviously, there is a God and he's fine. This is just typical, silly atheism getting carried away. They look at a random pattern in a piece of fruit and think they found some message in it. You could equally say, [[TakeThat ‘Look at all the horrible suffering in the world’]] and say that proves there's no God.
94	* During the first three seasons of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Dean Winchester assumed there wasn't a God, just violence and chaos. But when Season 4 rolled around and [[OurAngelsAreDifferent an actual "Angel of the Lord"]] pulls him out of Hell, Dean realizes God is real and He has plans for Him.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder: Music]]
98	* In his album ''Arizona Bay'', Creator/BillHicks responds to California sliding into the Pacific Ocean this way.
99	-->There is a God, he loves us all so much...
100	* A straight example from the CountryMusic song "There Is a God", recorded by both Trent Willmon and Music/LeeAnnWomack. In it, the narrator observes such things as the beauty of nature and the miracle of a cancer patient being healed by stating, "There is a God / How much more proof do you need?"
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder: Myths & Religion]]
104	* Unsurprisingly, it appears (in its serious form) in Literature/TheBible itself, in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel]] and also in [[Literature/BookOfPsalms Psalm 58]]:
105	--> The righteous will be glad when they are avenged when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.
106	--> Then people will say, ‘Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.’.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder: Video Games]]
110	* A comedic version can occur in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' in the player's customizable castle. If the food resource is a peach or berry garden, Azama has the following to say when giving some to [[CanonName Corrin]]:
111	-->"Fruit is proof that the gods exist and love us. [[SubvertedTrope Just kidding!]] [[TheCynic Life is meaningless.]]
112	* EnemyChatter in ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamCity'' has an inmate say this:
113	-->'''Inmate:''' I heard Bruce Wayne got his rich ass locked up in Arkham City. Guess there really is a God.
114	* ''Videogame/MafiaII'', Brian O'Neil proclaims his mother was right, there is a God because Vito Scaletta, one of the people who got him locked up in Hartmann Federal Penitentiary, has now been locked up there with him. (Brian's [[StupidCrooks very badly thought out jewelry store robbery]] didn't really help him any.)
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder: WebComics]]
118	* In year 0 of the fictional timeline of ''Webcomic/TemplarsOfTheShiftingVerse'' everyone in the world saw visions of a Goddess. It's hard to argue that it was nothing.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder: WebOriginal]]
122	* After having... pretty much everyone's religious beliefs insulted with Chuck Austen's bastardized and over-simplified representation of Catholicism and religion as a whole, Linkara of ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' asks that "Holy War" be expunged and be given something good. He is granted a Blue Beetle comic with a crack of thunder and responds "There is a God." Benzaie parodies this scene later asking the dimensional portal for help too.
123	* In the pilot for ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'', Blitzo says this when the group learns that the child who just insulted all of them [[spoiler: was their target along.]]
124	* Throughout LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys playthrough of the board Woody Woods from ''Mario Party 3'', Emile finds ways to screw Jon out of getting Stars. Then Luigi, the AI, lands on Chance Time... and rolls ''Emile giving Jon two Stars''.
125	-->'''Jon:''' There is a God. There is a God. This is proof.
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder: WesternAnimation]]
129	* Long story short: when [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Eric Cartman]] gets a million dollars he buys an amusement park, which causes Kyle to lose his belief in God, which in turn causes him to be at death's door due to a hemorrhoid. At the end of the episode, Cartman gets his comeuppance.
130	-->'''Stan:''' Look, Kyle, Cartman is totally miserable. ''[a shot of Cartman on his knees, sobbing]'' Even more miserable than he was before because he's had his dream and lost it.
131	-->'''Cartman:''' It's not fair! It's not fair; I wanna die! I wanna daaahahie! ''[Kyle looks at Cartman, then up at the sky, then sits up and removes the oxygen mask]''
132	-->'''Kyle:''' You are up there! ''[smiles]''
133	* In ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'', Joan Of Arc had been trying to stop her film (which contained a declaration of her love for Abe) from being played at the school film festival. When the projection booth catches fire and Edison announces all the films got destroyed, she proclaims there is a God. She then takes it back when Edison announces that Joan's film had not only survived but had been expanded somehow and was now in widescreen. [[spoiler: Fortunately, her work was so abstract that no one suspected it was Joan's love letter to Abe...save for Sigmund Freud.]]
134	* When [[WesternAnimation/TheCritic Jay Sherman]] became a trucker and took his son on a trip, Marty pointed out a shooting star, insisting his father make a wish. Jay thinks a moment, and said shooting star annihilates a billboard advertising ''Film/AceVentura''. Quote the critic, "Thank you, God!"
135	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies'' episode "Scooby-Doo Meets The Addams Family," Shaggy lifts his hands to the sky and says "Somebody up there likes me" after the carpet ride he and Scooby took trailing a giant vulture lands safely on a lake surface.
136	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons:'' Bart's reaction to first seeing Jessica Lovejoy, backlit by apparently holy light (it's actually a lighthouse being pointed away from the sea. Jessica is ''anything'' but holy.).
137	* In "The Big Candy Store" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', rude candy store owner Flaxseed tosses out a nun asking him to make a donation to the local orphanage. After the Warner Siblings arrive and start pissing Flaxseed off, he gets his hands on Wakko and Dot ''just'' as the nun returns with the rest of her convent. Already angry about his behavior, seeing him manhandle children (and the Warners playing it up to mess with Flaxseed further), the nuns are prepared to beat the ever loving shit out of him. Unfortunately, Flaxseed reminds them nuns aren't allowed to be violent. So they instead pray, at which point the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team and cheerleading squad shows up and ''they'' pummel Flaxseed instead.
138	-->'''Head Nun:''' Our prayers have been answered! (''blows the whistle to commence the beatdown'')
139	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In one episode, Mr. Cat prepares to attack Stumpy with a chainsaw, but is suddenly struck by lightning, causing Stumpy to remark "God exists!" Stumpy himself is hit by another lightning strike and adds "... or not!"
140	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ThereIsAGod