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->''"Christianity will doubtless still survive in the earth ten centuries hence -- stuffed and in a museum."''
-->-- '''Creator/MarkTwain''', ''Notebook''

One way to show how "advanced" a society is in {{science fiction}} or certain kinds of {{fantasy}} works is to show that it's given up religion. A society may consider religion backward and primitive, consider it a [[CorruptChurch dangerous tool for controlling the populace]], or have discovered it was a ScamReligion. Such societies are often contrasted in the same work with more "primitive" societies which are still religious to some degree; these are usually portrayed as harmless fanatics, often of a FantasyCounterpartReligion.

This is a difficult trope to write about well, and many who use it fall into {{Author Tract}}s. Part of this is because of the demographics of science fiction writers; especially in the "Golden Age" of sci-fi, empiricists and secular humanists were particularly attracted to the genre. A common variation of this trope sees the "advanced" society [[WindmillPolitical show the "primitive" society the error of its ways]] and prove that ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta. Since then, sci-fi has become more mainstream (and the militant atheist a more annoying character), so this trope's usage has become more nuanced. Nowadays, you might find a society that discovered it was worshipping [[CargoCult advanced technology]] or {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s. You might even see the [[InvertedTrope inverse]], where an atheistic society discovers for whatever reason that it kind of ''needed'' silly superstition to function, or even the God or gods they worshiped being [[ReligionIsRight proven true]].

Yet other works might keep the future society's atheism, but treat it less sympathetically as part of a {{dystopia}}n tyrannical regime's oppressive ideology. In such cases, it's not the people who have actually stopped believing -- although this is the version you'll get from the government's shills among the [[IntellectuallySupportedTyranny academics]] and in [[PropagandaMachine the controlled media]] -- but the SecretPolice who harass anyone who isn't a good atheist. Such a society is probably based at least in part on the State Atheism of the real-life Communist states, and may be as {{Anvilicious}} as the original version of the trope in its own way.

Very often paired with an AlternativeCalendar, since the one we use today is strongly influenced by Christianity. Societies will then choose a new "year zero", which will often coincide with a major scientific breakthrough -- the moon landing is among the most popular. In real life, a milder example is the increased usage of Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) over the traditional ''anno Domini'' (AD) and before Christ (BC).

Compare WhatWeNowKnowToBeTrue and NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus. Contrast GravityIsOnlyATheory, MaybeMagicMaybeMundane, and ScienceIsWrong. See also ReligionRantSong. For a particular type of aversion, see ReligiousRobot and RobotReligion. The individual-scale version of this trope is the HollywoodAtheist.

----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'', religious beliefs are close to non-existent in the Alliance. The only organised religion present in the series, the Terraist Church, turns out to be a PathOfInspiration that aims to revive [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet Earth]]'s past glory through subversive actions such as assassinating key figures of the galaxy. Otherwise, the Church itself does not display evidence for beliefs in the divine. On the other hand, the Empire has re-purposed Odinism as a quasi-state religion (but banned everything else). Imperial characters are shown genuinely believing in the existence of Valhalla, and Reinhard dreamed of it at least once.
* Religion is rarely mentioned in the classic Universal Century timeline of ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''. In fact, the UC calendar was originally established in order to invoke this trope and usher in an [[{{Irony}} utopian age]] [[CrapsackWorld for humankind]]. There is still room for any number of fringe cults, but these mostly have political ulterior motives, such as the Zanscare Empire in ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'' or the myriad manifestations of Zeon ideology.
** Defied in 0096 Unicorn: The reason why spacenoids had such a fervent worship of Christianity, which transitioned to a blind obedience to Zeon philosophy, was because they had nothing else to live for or hope with in the cold, resource-scarce void of space. As Marida explains, the Universal Century was anything but atheist for the poverty-stricken colonists.
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', [[MadScientist Lloyd]] lightly teases [[AlmightyJanitor Suzaku]] about how the Japanese still believe in such superstitions.
* A modern-day variant in ''Anime/YourName''; according to ''Another Side: Earthbound'', one of the key reasons for Toshiki running for mayor was to try and invoke this in Itomori and break the hold that the Miyamizu and their Shinto beliefs have traditionally held over the town after Futaba's death [[FaithHeelTurn shattered his faith in the gods]]. He realises almost too late that there is indeed truth in the legends he sneered at.
* Averted and even inverted in the manga ''Manga/AliceInBorderland''. At one point, some of the characters wonder how they ended up in a strange world that requires them to play deadly games to keep living. One character, a forensic scientist, muses about different supernatural and spiritual reasons they might be there. Another character asks how a scientist could still believe such things, and she replies that science has only been able to take humanity so far, and at some point, there are big things that even science hasn't yet been able to tell them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergod}}'', faith is stated to be a biological flaw in human neurology that enables group behavior without the enlightened self-interest that should preclude it -- a "narcotic response" to the concept of a higher power. This means most people will follow leaders based on their ability to evoke that response rather than their ability to encourage survival. It also means that most people would be quite willing to surrender their free will to [[BlueAndOrangeMorality powerful forces that don't even see them as bacteria]]. You can guess how that turns out.
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''ComicBook/JannahStation'', in which Earthlings are the only large group of remaining atheists. Almost everyone off-planet is religious to some extent or other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/AbraxasEmptyFullness'': {{Deconstructed}} with the [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures Makers]] (the aliens who created [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonKingGhidorah Ghidorah]]). They're a technologically-advanced alien race who have a dubious concept of morality, deliberately inflicting a global extinction event on another sapient planet. The Makers' atheism is ''not'' used by the author to paint them as enlightened or rational, given how the [[Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon AbraxasVerse]] continues to run with the ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' movie's thematic comparison of the [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju Titans]] to old gods, plus it's hinted that the Makers' anti-spiritualist attitude contributed to their failure to realize [[DraconicAbomination just how powerful and dangerous their three-headed draconic creation was, until it was too late for them]] and Ghidorah [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters wiped them out]].
** In [[https://hrodvitnon.tumblr.com/post/669955741304700928/ this]] non-canon drabble where the ''Abraxas'' version of [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonHumans Ren Serizawa]] meets his [[Characters/MonsterVerseApexCybernetics canon self]], the latter dismisses Monarch's worshipful attitude to Godzilla and notions of symbiotic human-Titan coexistence as "pagan nonsense".
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/{{Eugenesis}}'': The people of Cybertron have taken on this attitude after the first time [[PlanetEater Unicron]] showed up to eat everyone, with "theo-scientists" pouring out of the woodwork to calmly dismantle every aspect of Cybertron's religious texts. Of course, even they haven't figured out how the Matrix functions. And they become oddly quiet when the subject of the built-in kill-switch every Cybertronian has comes up.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'': Zigzagged. Chakotay follows the spiritual beliefs of his Lakota ancestors, which is regarded as a [[LibertariansInSpace Belter eccentricity]] by Captain Janeway who has little regard for these wacky religious cults because she was raised as a Scientologist like most people on Earth. Agritech Keshari on the other hand wears a turban and believes in reincarnation, implying that she's a Sikh. The Catholic church is also making an aggressive push to gain new converts among extraterran races. HalfHumanHybrid B'Elanna Torres was raised in a Catholic convent on Venus, though she quickly hides her rosary when Chakotay comes to see her.
* ''Fanfic/BaitAndSwitchSTO'':
** {{Downplayed}} with the primary protagonist of TheVerse. Kanril Eleya is Bajoran and is a member of their religion from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', but mentions she's been compared by one of her senior staff to a "Christmas-and-Easter Christian" (she thinks he's exaggerating).
** In ''Fanfic/SolaereSsiunHnaifvdaenn'', this is turned on its head from ''Franchise/StarTrek'' norms, with an irreligious Romulan pulling this on the human protagonist, a practicing Muslim who cites religious law as a reason for not taking a vaccine orally (the fic is said to be taking place during Ramadan when an oral vaccine would break Khoroushi's fast). The author has mentioned in forum posts that the trope annoys him.
* Hogwarts and Magical Britain's magic in ''Fanfic/ScionOfSorcery'' is seen as primitive and regressive in comparison to the Masters of the Mystic Arts' teachings. Harry is especially critical of the housing system, making a point that it serves little purpose than to drum up arbitrary tribalism among the students and staff.
* {{Deconstructed}} in the Lighting the Darkness Arc ''Fanfic/EquestriaAcrossTheMultiverse'': the civilization of the visited world has long since forgotten their goddess Queen Equinox and became a modern humanity era civilization. Except in this case, Queen Equinox actually existed and sacrificed herself to save the planet from an asteroid, so when the powerful demon Lord Yomi escapes his prison, the world is powerless against him because he's now an OutsideContextProblem because no one remembers his weaknesses or how to invoke HolyBurnsEvil anymore. Yomi effortlessly takes over the world and no one can do anything about it until the Mane Six arrive and bring back magic. Turns out that 'outgrowing' religion isn't such a good idea when it was actually ''real''.
* ''Fanfic/TheWarOfTheMasters'':
** Earthborn humans tend to be atheist and at least one character remarks that "we don't believe in God on Earth in the 25th century". To which a Denali responds, [[RussianReversal "That's okay, He believes in you".]] In this vein, humans from worlds other than Earth tend to be more commonly religiously inclined, and it's noted that the Bajorans, who are members of the Federation but tend to dislike Earth specifically, feel some kinship to them for this: in "Fanfic/SoundTheAlarm", Kanril Eleya is particularly infuriated to see Orion slave raiders have murdered an Episcopal priestess and burned her church. Moab III in particular has a large Orthodox Jewish population, having been settled originally by (among other things) Israelis who were displaced by the destruction of Israel in WorldWarIII, and Elizabeth Tran at one point criticizes what she sees as the conversion of the Holy Land to something resembling a theme park of "what we ''used'' to believe".
** In ''Fanfic/LookingIntoEnemyEyes'', a Bajoran in the USS ''George Hammond'''s science department offers an interpretation of Klingon misotheism that stems from the ApocalypseHow inflicted by [[AlienInvasion the H'urq invasion]]. He suggests that the Klingons symbolically "killed" their gods by ceasing to worship them in favor of venerating the mortal heroes who actually defeated the H'urq.
** During one of the {{Courtroom Episode}}s on Bajor in ''Fanfic/CreateYourOwnFate'', Eleya mentions watching the face of the Federation's lawyer to see what he thinks of the court session opening with a public prayer, narrating that "separation of church and state is a hazy thing for us" (This is something that would never happen in a real-life US court, never mind a Federation court).
** In ''Fanfic/{{Myrmidons}}'', a Moabite officer says she believes in God but doesn't believe He answers prayers, only judges you when you die.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'', the Force is considered mythology in many circles. Of course, the Force is very real in-universe, making this a case of widespread ignorance or [[FlatEarthAtheist Flat Earth Atheism.]] Han outright states that he doesn't believe in it (before he sees it for himself), and even an Imperial officer challenges Darth Vader directly on the Force's existence (or at least its usefulness). It ends badly for him:
-->'''Darth Vader''': Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.\\
'''[[SmugSnake Admiral Motti]]''': Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' hidden fort--\\
'''Darth Vader''': ''([[DoNotTauntCthulhu Force-chokes Motti]])'' [[PreAsskickingOneLiner I find your lack of faith disturbing.]]
** Aside from this however it seems to be mostly played straight for the movies, which don't mention religion (aside from the Ewoks thinking Threepio's a god, but that also fits the trope). ExpandedUniverse materials are another story though.
** Then ''again,'' considering the overwhelming amount of [[RomanticismVersusEnlightenment old school romanticism]] that permeates the franchise, it seems less likely that this trope is in play, rather than simply that popular entertainment in decades past was usually shy about talking about religion in general. And make whatever you like of Threepio's declarations of "Thank the Maker!"
** The old EU treated the Force as being more or less irrelevant to anyone who wasn't a Jedi or Sith, and most denizens of the galaxy were only vaguely aware that the two were different beyond being a petty religious schism. The new EU has introduced it as a more widespread religion which the Empire suppressed and which made a comeback after it fell. It was also confirmed that "the Maker" is a creator god which some believe in.
** The new EU has the Empire attempt to enforce this by banning religion and belief in the supernatural generally, though there are underground religions around despite this, as you'd expect.
** Although we're still vague on the specifics, ''Series/TheMandalorian'' makes it clear that Mandalorianism is a religion. This creates some conflict when Din Djarin meets others who take a more lax approach - including removing their helmets in front of others, which is ''sacrilege'' to Din.
* In ''Film/HaloNightfall'', ONI agent Horrigan cites the fact that the Sedrans still believe in [[Myth/NorseMythology Valhalla]] as a reason to look down on them. Granted, he's a {{Jerkass}}, there's an InterserviceRivalry going on, and his CO Jameson Locke doesn't seem to share Horrigan's disdain.
* In ''Film/AlienCovenant'', Oram believes this is why he was passed over for the position of captain. When he assumes the position following the captain's death, he worries about not being taken seriously because of it. It doesn't actually come up outside this conversation, however, suggesting it's more a confidence issue.
* ''Film/GodsNotDeadALightInDarkness'': Pearce takes this view regarding religion, saying people have outgrown the need for it.
* ''Film/Fahrenheit4512018'': Beatty refers to ages past as the time when people believed in gods. That said, the Bible is one of just three books exempted from the ban, though we still see no sign of religiosity by anyone.
* When debating a Christian, the titular alien in ''Film/{{Paul}}'' says religion is something people use to explain a universe they don't understand, calling it existential Prozac.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown'' claims that many humans had naturally assumed that FirstContact with aliens would settle the matter, with the aliens being so much more advanced that they would have a final answer for us. On the contrary, it turns out that the aliens themselves have a wide variety of religious and philosophical schools, including agnostics and atheists.
-->''"So nobody on Earth got their philosophy of life particularly validated or invalidated by the visitors from the stars. Many humans felt cheated by this."''
* ''Literature/{{Anathem}}'' features a world in which a group of secular monks wall themselves away from society and study pure logic, science, philosophy, and art. Although they are not officially atheistic, few members hold onto any religious beliefs. In the outside world, religions rise and fall unnoticed. While venturing in the outside world, monks can quickly reduce any religion they encounter into one of a number of basic categories so that they can avoid causing offense. Religious non-monks are mostly presented as alien and quite mistaken from the point of view of the secular monks but are not really treated as villains.
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in the ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'' series and its spin-off series ''Trevelyan's Mission''. The main series starts in the late 21st century, and this trope is decidedly averted there, with radical Islam and the related terrorism being rampant and the main reason for the creation of a unified SpaceNavy by the dominant global powers. Following the AlienInvasion, cults spring up, believing that the aliens were humanity's intended saviors and even those believing they were descended from those same aliens. The spin-off series takes place in the 29th century, and it's stated that, while a good number of humans still believe in various faiths, organized religion is pretty much gone due to the predominant view that a person's faith is a deeply personal thing that doesn't require a priest or a minister. Also averted with some alien races, such as the Kni'lina, who are at the same technological level of development as humanity, but one of their two main factions deeply believes in a prophet-like figure and treats him as divine. The other faction is highly pragmatic, but still views that figure with respect.
* The [[SorcerousOverlord Witchkings]] in ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight'' were anti-religious as well as AboveGoodAndEvil. Generally, their philosophy is presented as a mixture of amoral scientific positivism and Nietzschean transcendence, which in practice ends up as {{Transhumanism}}. During their reign, they tried to destroy TheChurch completely, though this ultimately failed.
* Creator/IainBanks:
** In ''Literature/TheCulture'', the titular civilization looks at religion as a delusion that is deserving of sympathy. This viewpoint runs into trouble in ''Look to Windward'', where the "enlightened" races are irritated and nonplussed that whether or not the Chelgrian heaven existed before, it demonstrably exists ''now''. ''Literature/SurfaceDetail'' features sophisticated virtual reality environments, many of which are based on each religion's hell, which proves to be a contentious issue in galactic politics.
** ''The Algebraist'' features a future religion that actually fits in a science fiction setting. The dogma is that the universe is a simulation, and the goal is to end the simulation by getting enough of the participants in the simulation to realize that they are in one. The main character of ''The Algebraist'' seems skeptical of this religion, though. The simulation hypothesis is also brought up in the ''Culture'' novel ''Matter'', without a religion surrounding it. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis Simulation hypothesis]] for the real-life example.
* In ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', which takes place about 20,000 years in the future, humanity has settled thousands of worlds. Some of the worlds view religion in this manner, especially on the planet Tranai, which is ruled by "humane communism". Some other worlds are ruled by theocracies, such as the Holy Archonate on Murphy, which is recovering from a [[ColonyDrop comet strike]]. The eponymous captain believes theocracy is part of an ever-changing cycle of "democratic" governments; only an enlightened monarchy can avoid it.
* ''Literature/ACaseOfConscience'' by Creator/JamesBlish toys with this. It features a totally agnostic -- if not atheistic -- alien race that also live in a perfect world and society, facing a bombed-out, nuclear-fried, and heavily Catholic human race. The priest included in the first contact mission considered that society a danger to humanity precisely because it was a rationalistic atheistic utopia; unfortunately, he'd already befriended one of those people before he made the decision. The humans wind up [[spoiler:blowing up the alien world thanks to what may have been an exorcism]].
* Creator/ArthurCClarke has done this several times:
** In ''[[Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries 3001: The Final Odyssey]]'', the Earth of the titular year has long since abandoned religion. It's said that everyone is either a theist or a [[UsefulNotes/{{Deism}} deist]], as defined: the theists say there's at least one god, and the deists say there's at most one god.
** ''Literature/TheLightOfOtherDays'', co-written with Creator/StephenBaxter, had a device that could see into the past. It proves, among other things, that Moses didn't exist, but was rather a merger of several different historical personages. Jesus did, but he was just a good person who inspired people, rather than a miracle-maker.
** ''Literature/ChildhoodsEnd'' has a similar device, which winds up discrediting every religion save Buddhism. The visitors' resemblance to stereotypical devils is because [[spoiler:they are heralds of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt a change so monumental]] it echoes back through human history, causing the "devil" image in the first place.]]
** ''Literature/TheFountainsOfParadise'', about the building of a SpaceElevator and humanity's FirstContact with an alien AI, had the AI disprove the works of Thomas Aquinas, and possibly Christianity itself. And that was all in the exposition. There is one religion left practicing (a Buddhist-type), but it leaves its monastery when the yellow butterflies reach the top of the hill it's on, simply because [[SelfFulfillingProphecy they were prophesied to do it.]] It is mentioned that the Vatican still exists as a center of Catholicism, but it suffers from severe financial troubles, implying that the number of practicing Catholics is minuscule.
** ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'': The closing stories, on which Clarke either collaborated or wrote himself, subvert this. The setting has humanity already in religious decline by default, but the very end of the series presents not only possible evidence for the existence of a divine being such as God, but an explanation for his laissez-faire attitude to dealing with his creation.
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'' has an interesting example. The Alerans treat several of the practices of their Roman ancestors with scorn, to the point that some people think the Romans couldn't have done them to begin with because they are just so self-evidently ludicrous. These customs include worshipping gods, attempting to predict the future by studying animal entrails, shaping stone and metal without magic, and building complex machines. Of course, the setting also has a number of GeniusLoci who are easily as powerful as the Olympian gods (and a lot more visible in everyday life), so it's not that surprising that religion fell out of fashion.
* In ''Literature/{{Colony}}'' by Rob Grant, all of humanity lives on a GenerationShip and the closest thing to a religious person is an atheist womanising priest who only got the job because careers are decided generations in advance.
%% * ''Literature/CommonwealthSaga'': Religion is for the most part "weddings and funerals" only. However, in the distant sequels of the void trilogy, a massive religious pilgrimage is the source of the main conflict of the stories.
* Creator/RogerZelazny enjoyed making far-far-far-future societies where humans had become {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s and taken on the roles and power of ancient gods. In ''Literature/CreaturesOfLightAndDarkness'', they had taken on the personae of Ancient Egyptian gods, including managing afterlives. However, one of the most prominent characters was Madrak the Mighty, a warrior-priest "of the non-theistic, non-sectarian sort", whose personal religion was based on an agnostic's deity -- another character referred to him as a "holy ambulance-chaser". When Set the Destroyer pointed out to him that Madrak had just aided in the destruction of the Nameless, an EldritchAbomination from beyond the universe, ''which perfectly fit the definition of Madrak's agnostic God,'' the idea that his god existed -- and that he profited by its death -- made him suffer [[HeroicBSOD a crisis of faith]].
* The Celendrial Empire from ''Literature/DarkShores'' is militantly atheist and views people who still pray to gods as "pagans". This is an offense that is punished by death.
* The [[MageSpecies Sartan and Patryns]] from ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' are races so powerful that most people consider them demigods, including themselves. Both will vigorously deny that any being or force more powerful than themselves could exist or have an impact on the world (the first book's appendix indicates that the Sartan are essentially Deist, believing a creator god exists but has no impact on the present world; the Patryns have no gods whatsoever, though they revere their leader Lord Xar as a sort of messiah) and consider active belief in such to be a "silly superstition" at best and heresy at worst. However, as the series progresses it becomes apparent that actual divine powers do exist, culminating in the appearance of the Serpents, a timeless race of semi-divine and ''deeply'' malevolent beings, as well as their benevolent counterparts. The last book essentially confirms that some sort of "higher power" is very real; exactly what the higher power ''is'', though, is left ambiguous.
* Played with in ''Literature/TheDinosaurLords''. The recent trend in Nuevaropa is to be agnostic, with young nobility openly proclaiming that they highly doubt the existence of the Creators. On the other hand, their parents, who are still the ones with power, are often devout, and the prologue shows that there's some truth to their faith.
* In ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'', it is implied that the Abnegation faction, which lives much like the Amish, is the only section of society that still believes in God. However, ''Insurgent'' shows that the Amity Faction practices some sort of naturalistic religion.
* The ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' book ''[[HumansAreBastards Night of the Humans]]'' is essentially [[AuthorFilibuster one long rant about how awful and evil every single religion is]]. The Doctor responds to a crash-landed alien race on a massive pile of space-junk that is threatening a nearby planet. This interesting premise is quickly and completely overshadowed by the book's message. The chosen "god" of the crashed humans turns out to be [[spoiler:[[MonsterClown a creepy, creepy, clown called Gobo]]]].
* Being a staunch secular humanist almost to the point of being TheLastDJ for logical positivism, it should come as no surprise that Creator/GregEgan frequently uses this trope in his writings. When it is averted, this is still a sign that the [[BeliefMakesYouStupid believer isn't as smart as he thinks he is]], or is using it as a cover for his emotional issues, or else just wants to control others:
** Religion doesn't really come up much in the near-future setting of ''Literature/PermutationCity'', and after [[spoiler:the heroes upload their minds to a virtual world]] their new society is wholly atheistic, and the climax features FirstContact with a race of [[SuperiorSpecies perfectly rational and peaceful aliens]] who never developed religion. They aren't epistemologically flawless, though, because their limited understanding of the 'natural' world means they do not understand that their universe is a simulation, and so mock the heroes' claim of being from a different world that won't suffer heat death. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero This causes]] [[spoiler:the destruction of the virtual universe]]. At the very end, the female lead hypothesizes that God's existence is just as impossible as a triangle with four sides.
** The ''Literature/{{Orthogonal}}'' trilogy is in a world with different laws of physics, and features as an inevitability that advanced societies abandon religion for scientific inquiry.
** Religion still exists millennia from now in ''Literature/{{Oceanic}}'', but only because civilization collapsed and settlers of the planet were cut off from galactic civilization. It is strongly implied that the resurgence of religion brought back misogyny and war.
** In every story which takes place after TheSingularity, religion is no longer practiced because everyone knows advanced physics as thoroughly as modern people know basic arithmetic.
** Perhaps the most {{Anvilicious}} is "The Planck Dive", which has a subplot that is an extended TakeThat to the theories of Creator/JosephCampbell. The character who prattles on about mythic archetypes is a pompous boor who repeatedly disrespects the scientific team, cares nothing for their explanations, and is convinced that the crew are {{Hollywood Atheist}}s who need to be freed from their empty lives of MeasuringTheMarigolds. His ignorance is so annoying that one character in exasperation says that mythic archetypes only appear to be universal because oral stories are inevitably simplified to the LowestCommonDenominator in the retelling, and anybody who [[{{Troperiffic}} composes such a story on purpose]] is [[MisaimedFandom completely missing the point]] of storytelling.
* ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'': When she was younger, Eliana loved hearing stories about the time before the Fall, a time when the empirium was still available and magic still in use. By the start of the series, she views those same stories and all talk about the Sun Queen's eventual arrival and her victory over the Undying Empire as mere wishful thinking at best.
* ''Literature/Foundation1951'':
** "Literature/TheMayors": Mayor Salvor Hardin's ScamReligion is an [[InvertedTrope inverted example]]; he turns science into a [[CargoCult religion of complicated rituals]] in order to make it palatable to the conquered Four Kingdoms. It's later used (increasingly unsuccessfully) to try and convert new systems to the Foundation's rule, and more or less abandoned after "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces".
** "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces": The religion [[ScamReligion created]] by Salvor Hardin (in "Literature/TheMayors") to make Foundation technology palatable to the Four Kingdoms has been ridiculously unsuccessful at converting new systems to the Foundation's rule. Master Trader Hober Mallow realizes that the time for rule by religion is over and now it is time for rule by capitalism.
* {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheFourHorsemenUniverse''. In the ShortStory "Angels and Aliens" by Jon R. Osborne, religion is far from dead, but ''organized'' religion is doing poorly: the protagonist is a Catholic priest who joins the Berzerkers mercenary company as a chaplain to find that much of the membership are neo-pagans (everything from Asatrus to Wiccans).
* ''Literature/GiantsSeries'': ''Giants Star'' has a particularly fierce instance: [[spoiler:the protagonists deduce the existence of an alien AncientConspiracy to suppress human progress as a reasonably parsimonious explanation for the continued existence of religion in modern times]]. The truth, as revealed in ''Entoverse'', turns out to be that human religion, along with pretty much all mysticism and spirituality, is a result of [[spoiler:{{Body Surf}}ing StarfishAliens from a StableTimeLoop-establishing planet-sized supercomputer humans built.]]
* ''Literature/TheGoldenOecumene'' never says anything one way or the other about religion, but it's somewhat odd that in a setting where characters are defined heavily by their philosophical beliefs, the only person who engages in any form of worship or mysticism is a bit character whose philosophy is never explained. This might seem even odder when one considers that Wright is a devout traditionalist Catholic, except that he wrote the trilogy before he converted.
* ''Literature/GoMutants'' is set in an AlternateHistory where religion has gotten a lot less popular after people found out that aliens exist.
* Creator/JohnHemry:
** {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheLostFleet'', in which most religious beliefs have been supplanted by ancestor worship. In fact, every warship has a chapel located deep inside it, in the most protected part of the ship. Geary ends every message with, "To the honor of our ancestors", which is apparently some sort of traditional formality that is rarely observed in modern times. [[OneNationUnderCopyRight The Syndicate Worlds]] play the trope a bit straighter; it's mentioned in passing in the first of ''Literature/TheLostStars'' spinoff series that observance of the same ancestor-worship practices seen in the Alliance are officially frowned upon (probably because nobody could figure out how to exploit them for money or power) but not actually outlawed.
** The prequel series ''Literature/TheGenesisFleet'' shows the beginnings of this belief as a cult that springs up in the recently settled frontier colonies, as the settlers start looking back at Old Earth with a measure of nostalgia.
* This notion is {{deconstructed|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheHighCrusade'', which features an advanced alien race invading 14th century England. The humans are very pious, and while there is some tongue-in-cheek humor about Medieval practices and obsessions, their faith is definitely not portrayed as a bad thing, and the most humane character in the book by far is the narrator -- who is a pious monk. The Wersgorix, on the other hand, no longer believe in a god... but their dependence on technology makes them physically and politically weaker than the English peasants.
* The ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' novels use a variation; although humans and several other species seek guidance from the United Church, which has a Unitarian-style philosophy where people only look for ethical guidance and don't buy into the ritualistic aspects of religion that fall under this trope's "superstition" label.
* The elves of the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' have outgrown religion; however, Eragon is slightly distrustful of the elves' atheism, and in the third book, a being that's pretty hard to interpret as anything other than a Dwarven god appears to bless their new king.
* Creator/StanislawLem was known to address this trope; he played with it impressively considering that he was writing in and for Communist countries.
** In ''Literature/{{Fiasco}}'', the expedition's crew includes a priest, who's portrayed positively.
** ''Literature/{{Solaris}}'' was his weirdest usage; the protagonist broods about how humanity hasn't improved in any way, but at the same time he broods about how great it is that humanity has outgrown foolish notions of {{God}}. He spent much of that book exploring how such a person might view a ''very'' unfamiliar alien being.
* Creator/CSLewis:
** {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Mere Christianity''; being someone who was raised as a Christian, became an atheist in college, and then regained faith, he believes the attitude to be a form of "chronological snobbery", and the idea that the ancients discovered some profound truths and we would be wise to learn from them is a recurring theme in many of his other works.
** ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'': The Fox paints Greek society as the Classical Era equivalent and makes it a point that the Greek philosophers of his time have a much less mystical understanding of the gods than the people of Glome. He doesn't exactly disbelieve, but he equates the gods with natural forces and discourages Orual from anthropomorphizing them. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in the end, when he calls himself a fool looking at half-truths.]]
* ''Literature/ALongTimeUntilNow'': It's mentioned that religions still exist in the future era, but pretty much all adherents treat their holy texts as symbolic or metaphorical and don't truly believe in the supernatural.
* ''Literature/LookingBackward'': {{Averted}}. In contrast to most socialist ideologies (Marxism most particularly), Bellamy's socialism was explicitly Christian based on his interpretation of the Bible, which his fictional society reflects. Bellamy and his brother were actually both Baptist ministers. His book reflects this, since though it isn't focused on, his imagined USA in 2000 has such an ideology. At one point, the protagonist hears a sermon to this effect by a Christian minister.
* In ''Literature/LucifersStar'', the opposite is true, and humanity has become ''more'' religious over time. This is stated due to the fact science has proven many bizarre and strange things about physics as well as the existence of SufficientlyAdvanced races. Religions may still be wrong (and are often used as a form of social control by the setting's many dictatorships) but show no sign of going away any time soon.
%%* Christian Magicians are rare in ''Literature/TheMagicians'' trilogy.
* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin:
** ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[spoiler:A large faction of the Maesters have actually been trying to enforce this trope by attempting to discredit magic wherever they can. Unfortunately for them, [[TheMagicComesBack magic is no mere superstition]]: dragons are coming back, prophecies are coming true, wargs and seers do exist, sorceresses can assassinate at long distances, and that fabled ZombieApocalypse and TheFairFolk who kicked it off are in fact very real ''and'' aiming for a repeat performance. And all because of their efforts, the Maesters have just left the entire continent woefully unprepared for their invasion by making everybody believe that the undead snow fairies are just a myth. NiceJobBreakingItHero.]]
** In the short story "The Way of Cross and Dragon", a thousand years in the future humanity has spread to countless planets. However, at least a sixth of them are still Christian, the biggest church has brought back the Inquisition (although more as a PR mechanism than a torture campaign), and the protagonist Inquisitor discovers a group that has figured out that there's no God, but still sets up sham religions because most people can't handle the truth.
* Creator/AnneMcCaffrey:
** ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' is a world without religion. The expressions "Jays" and "by all that's holy" are still in use, but only as swears. "Beyond Between" heavily implies that there is an afterlife, though.
** ''Literature/TowerAndTheHive'' plays this mostly straight. Those few protagonists who espouse a belief in a higher power are, at most, vaguely Deist. Those who are openly devout are almost always portrayed as mentally unstable troublemakers. Organized religious populations are shunted to backwater worlds where "the harm they can do is minimized".
* In ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'', the rival powers in the Confederation are the staunchly atheist Edenists and the staunchly Christian Kulu Kingdom. The Edenists' philosophy and way of life lead to the closest thing to paradise as one can get, and they're also the only humans who can fully resist the possessed.
* ''Literature/OrphansOfTheSky'': Subverted. The Ship's scientists are essentially priests of a monotheistic religion with a roughly scientific appearance, and in their number there is a faction of skeptical, practical men who have come to disregard the old talk of divine plans, sin, and mysticism as worthless nonsense except as a form of social control, and concern themselves only with the practical matters of keeping society running. However, the old religion does actively maintain a number of truths, even if in highly distorted form, about the Ship's origin as a deliberately designed thing intended to go on a specific journey, which the young skeptics reject alongside the rest. In fact, [[spoiler:Narby's refusal to listen to any of the old tales means that he ultimately remains completely unwilling to accept that the Ship is actually a moving thing, that the universe outside of it exists, and that it is reaching its ultimate destination]].
* Creator/RobertJSawyer:
** ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'': {{Subverted|Trope}} with the Neanderthals, who never had a concept of an afterlife or gods to begin with due to different brain structures [[spoiler:(although played straight with the finale of the trilogy, when a magnetic pole reversal affects humans' minds by first stimulating then later eliminating paranormal, mystical or religious beliefs. With them gone, peace breaks out in the Middle East, among other improvements)]].
** ''Literature/CalculatingGod'': Inverted with the aliens, who are more technologically advanced than humanity but firmly believe in a creator on the basis of scientific evidence. It's the atheist human protagonist who slowly has to adjust and accept it.
* ''Literature/{{Semiosis}}'': {{Invoked|Trope}} by the humans who create a LostColony on the planet Pax; they consider religion an "Earthly irrationality" and deliberately avoid teaching [[BornAfterTheEnd their descendants]] about it.
* Jean Delumeau narrates in his ''Sin and Fear: The Emergence of the Western Guilt Culture, 13th-18th Centuries'' that this trope was one of the objectives of [[ChurchMilitant the Inquisition.]] There were several regulations against practices that were considered superstitious, like usage of amulets and anything magic-related, so much that, in trope terms, they were [[KnightTemplar enforcing]] that [[ReligionIsMagic Religion Is]] [[DefiedTrope NOT Magic]].
* The ''Literature/SkylarkSeries'' has an early SF aversion before this trope ever got off the ground: the heroes make FirstContact with the Kondalian civilization, which is slightly more advanced than Earth, but will still has a state-sanctioned religion, though it has a mythologized take on evolutionary theory. The idea is supposed to be that Kondal has been a technologically advanced society for so long that its religion has come to incorporate scientific facts, which is still a unique approach even today. However, this is ultimately not very important, and the sequels written after SF pulp magazines came into being have no other religious aliens.
* In ''Literature/SpaceViking'' by Creator/HBeamPiper, religion as such isn't used by many of the space-faring human societies, and those that do, such as the [[SpaceJews Gilgameshers]], are considered rather odd. The current stellar calendar dates from the beginning of the "Atomic Era", mid-twentieth century. (Whether they date from the first atomic explosion at Alamogordo or the bomb dropped on Hiroshima isn't specified). On Gram, New Year's is specified as a day when gifts are given and received, apparently having taken up Christmas' role.
* {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Literature/StarCarrier''. Due to Islamic terrorism having been largely responsible for WorldWarIII in the backstory, all faiths have to abide by a pledge called the White Covenant that makes many religious practices (chiefly proselytizing and conversion by threat or force) violations of basic human rights. It's mentioned in book four that being religious and having it listed in your military jacket can seriously hamper your career. Most nations have signed the White Covenant, except for the [[MiddleEasternCoalition Islamic Theocracy]], which has been barred from the [[TheFederation Confederation]] because of this.
* ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'' doesn't explicitly say that all religion was outmoded in its society, but Christianity was illegal, and pictures of nuns praying was considered equivalent to pornography.
* In ''Literature/{{Theta}}'', religions still exist, but "theist" is used in contexts that imply it's as uncommon then as atheism is now. Knowing that most sapient peoples in the galaxy were created by the perfectly mortal and probably extinct [[{{Precursors}} "Ancients"]] likely helped.
* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheyAreSmol''; most of the advanced alien races humanity meets after FirstContact have some kind of faith, be it ancestor worship or theism. This actually ends up sparking a revival of a number of religions around the globe, including at least one cult that worshipped the aliens until they sat down and talked things out with their new "followers". The Karnakians have one single psychic ability: soul-sight, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Presumably, they can show others objective proof that souls exist, which gives people incentive to protect themselves in the Hereafter, rather than just the Here-and-Now.
%%* ''Literature/TheTreesOfPride'': {{Deconstructed}} by Doctor Brown in his MotiveRant.
%%-->'''Doctor Brown:''' In other words, the peasants were right. But if I put it that way, somebody will cry: ‘But do you believe it was supernatural then?’ In fact, that’s what you’ll all say; and that’s exactly what I complain of. I fancy hundreds of men have been left dead and diseases left undiscovered, by this suspicion of superstition, this stupid fear of fear. Unless you see daylight through the forest of facts from the first, you won’t venture into the wood at all. Unless we can promise you beforehand that there shall be what you call a natural explanation, to save your precious dignity from miracles, you won’t even hear the beginning of the plain tale. Suppose there isn’t a natural explanation! Suppose there is, and we never find it! Suppose I haven’t a notion whether there is or not! What the devil has that to do with you, or with me in dealing with the facts I do know?
* In the ''Literature/{{Uglies}}'' series, the people of the future sarcastically refer to gods as "invisible superheroes in the sky". There are some groups trying to bring religion back, but it isn't catching on.
* In ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', the technologically advanced LadyLand Azania is an example, supporting secularism and considering Christianity a regressive cult that oppresses women. Their main enemy, the Northern Confederation, soundly averts this, being a reactionary and borderline theocratic state.
* An interesting {{subver|tedTrope}}sion appears in the Polish ''Yggdrasil Trilogy'', in which the political thinkers behind the colonies made all religion [[IllegalReligion contraband]], so religious people had to stay on Earth. Fast forward several hundreds of years, and the colonists have several religions of their own (one deifying Helen Bjorg, who may or may not have been a MadScientist), while those who stayed behind remain Christians or Muslims (possibly others, but we don't see them). The Earth-colony trade is largely handled by the Christian Anhelos (CultureChopSuey of sarmatian Poland and colonial [[TorosYFlamenco Spain and/or Portugal]] who [[MustHaveCaffeine like coffee a lot]]). So no, despite what they thought, humanity has not outgrown silly superstitions.
* ''Literature/TheZodiacSeries'' [[AvertedTrope averts]] it; while there's no sign of [[EarthThatWas Earth's old religions]], new faiths have sprouted up centering around [[WeirdSun Helios]], and House Pisces is explicitly very religious.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** While this appears to some extent in [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration the sequel series]], due to series creator Creator/GeneRoddenberry being a proponent of the idea, [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the Original Series]] directly [[AvertedTrope averted this trope]] at its inception, due to a strong focus on multiculturalism. In fact, Kirk's ''Enterprise'' canonically has an interfaith chapel: It appears in the wedding ceremony (which Kirk, like a 20th Century naval captain, gets to officiate) in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror Balance of Terror]]". It is also mentioned on the list of sets in the Original Series's 1960s [[UniverseBible writer's guide]], and is shown in [[http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/star-trek-blueprints.php the official Blueprints of the U.S.S. Enterprise]].[[note]][[http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/star-trek-blueprints-sheet-8.jpg See Here: the room marked CP for "chapel"]][[/note]] The wedding ceremony includes the phrase, "in accordance with our laws and many beliefs".
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E2WhoMournsForAdonais Who Mourns for Adonais?]]", Kirk tells Apollo (or at least a being who claims to be Apollo) the following: "Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate".[[note]]He said that because NBC's Standards and Practices department required it, but onward.[[/note]] Kirk also reveals a more spiritual side at the end of the episode when he tells Bones, "They gave us so much... would it have hurt us to gather just a ''few'' laurel leaves?"
*** The PlanetOfHats that Kirk et. al. visit in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E25BreadAndCircuses Bread and Circuses]]" is a rather Roman Empire-based one, where [[spoiler:a former Starfleet captain]] acts as the [[JustTheFirstCitizen First Citizen]]. They also met a small group of people that were a mix of LaResistance and worshipers of "the Sun". After the fact, Uhura reveals she'd monitored their radio broadcasts and discovered they were talking not of the Sun in the sky, but the [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Son of God]]. Also of note is that earlier in the episode, when asked by a local about the crew's religion, [=McCoy=] says they "represent many beliefs".
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E24TheUltimateComputer The Ultimate Computer]]", the fact that Federation computer expert Dr. Daystrom -- and, [[ReligiousRobot consequently, the sentient computer he has built]] -- believes in God[[note]]The machine says "Murder is contrary to the laws of man and God".[[/note]] becomes a plot point. Kirk makes the computer realize that [[spoiler:in committing murder, it has committed a terrible sin. Out of remorse, it self-destructs]].
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E7DayOfTheDove Day of the Dove]]", Kirk tells Kang, "Go to the Devil!" Kang replies, "We [Klingons] have no Devil... but we are very familiar with the habits of yours". Cue use of torture. Years later, ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' then introduced a figure in Klingon religion named Fek'lhr in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E13DevilsDue Devil's Due]]", who is described as their "Devil". However, he's really more akin to Cerberus from Myth/ClassicalMythology, being a warden of their Hell.
** The [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries Animated Series]] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS1E2Yesteryear Yesteryear]]" has Spock (disguised as a distant cousin) claim to his father Sarek that he is visiting the Vulcan city of [=ShiKahr=] to honor their family's gods.
** Although the SufficientlyAdvancedAlien claiming to be God in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' turns out to be [[GodGuise a fake]], the characters' reactions throughout the movie make it clear that belief in God is not uncommon in Kirk's era. Even at the end and after everything they've been through, Kirk tells his friends he believes God is within us, rather than making some overtly atheistic remark.
** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E21RightfulHeir Rightful Heir]]" deals with Kahless, the revered founder of the Klingon Empire and ancestor figure in Klingon history. There is a shrine of Klingon priests who await the return of Kahless -- and who create a [[CloneJesus clone of him]] to "stabilize" the empire (to their advantage); however, once the clone learns his real nature, he turns out to be an honest sort who tries to fulfill his position as sort-of-but-not-really Kahless honorably (think less "second coming" and more "heir to his legacy"). Generally, the different Trek series treat the Klingons' faith in Kahless in a positive light.
*** Of all the Trek series, ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' was by far the most overt about it, with Picard explicitly invoking this trope in speeches in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter at Farpoint]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E4WhoWatchesTheWatchers Who Watches the Watchers]]". Not coincidentally it was when Roddenberry fully controlled things.
*** The most {{Anvilicious}}ly atheistic ''Star Trek'' ever got was in the third season ''TNG'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E4WhoWatchesTheWatchers Who Watches the Watchers]]". A group of Federation scientists are using holographic technology to watch a primitive Vulcanoid culture that has apparently abandoned religion. The Federation equipment breaks down, revealing their existence and "magical powers" to the locals, one of whom declares they must be gods and tries to restart the Old Time Religions. Picard takes the leader up and explains to her that the Federation are merely {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s, not gods. The episode then goes into AuthorFilibuster mode, referring to humanity's religious era as "the dark ages of superstition and ignorance and fear". Afterwards, an away team goes down to the planet to explain how irrational it is to believe in gods, saying that they never show up or tell believers what they want and that believers are left putting their faith in what other mortals tell them. This episode is particularly ironic given that the episode directly prior literally dealt with a godlike being showing up and causing interstellar destruction.
*** Then again, in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E2WhereSilenceHasLease Where Silence Has Lease]]", Data asks Picard about death. Picard gives a philosophical answer which shows that although he's not explicitly religious, and doesn't believe in a traditional {{Heaven}}, he also rejects the idea that death is the end, believing there must be something more, even if people may not have any idea of its exact nature. The way he speaks about the cosmic order of the universe indicates he may be at least deist or pantheist.
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E13DejaQ Déjà Q]]", Q has been turned into a human and sarcastically contemplates becoming a missionary. [[LiteralMinded Data]] states that such a line of work would be admirable, implying that there are still humans who view religion positively.
** ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' is a seven-year mix of affirmations and denials of this trope. The station's commander is declared an alien Jesus in [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E01E02Emissary the first episode]], later finds alien gods to confirm it, then starts having visions and [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becomes a god himself]]. Overall, the series takes a balanced view: while several episodes (mostly dealing with recurring character [[TheFundamentalist Winn Adami]]) decry the ''abuse'' of religion as a political tool or an excuse to discriminate against others, the show as a whole doesn't condemn the practice of religion itself. Part of what makes it confusing is that the Prophets can back up everything their believers say about them; [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E20InTheHandsOfTheProphets the first season finale]] has a dispute on whether they're technically gods or not fizzle out when everybody realizes that they're arguing over semantics and all agree on the key points.
*** Then there's the Klingons, whose mythology in this series says that the ancient Klingons ''killed'' their gods. The details vary: Worf says "They were more trouble than they were worth" when queried, while Lady Sirella relates a story of how the gods were killed by [[ThePowerOfLove the heartbeats of the first Klingon couple when they met]] (the tale is part of the traditional Klingon marriage rite).
*** In the ''[=DS9=]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E17Penumbra Penumbra]]", after Sisko proposes to Kasidy Yates, she mentions that her mother would want them to be married by a minister.
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager's'' Commander Chakotay is the most visibly religious human protagonist in the entire franchise (even if the religion he practices is a poorly researched mishmash of Native American and New Age ideas), and the other characters are consistently very respectful of his beliefs. Notably, his is the only real voice of spiritual consolation to Neelix after Neelix suffers a [[CrisisOfFaith crisis of faith]] in his alien religion in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E11MortalCoil Mortal Coil]]".
*** "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E11MortalCoil Mortal Coil]]" is one of the most thoughtful explorations of the idea in the franchise, albeit a very dark one. After Neelix has been medically declared dead, Seven of Nine is able to revive him via [[AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum.]] Neelix suffers a [[CrisisOfFaith crisis of faith]] in his alien religion because he did not catch any glimpse of the afterlife. Chakotay tries to reassure him and lets him use a gizmo to go on a [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind vision quest into his own psyche,]] but this only upsets him more, despite Chakotay's insistence that he may be misinterpreting what he saw. Neelix finally finds the strength to keep going after speaking with little Naomi Wildman, but still ends the episode emotionally wounded and full of more questions than answers.
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E14Hunters Hunters]]", Tuvok receives a message from his family on Vulcan. His wife assures him they are praying for his safe return. At a temple.
*** In "The Omega Directive", from what Seven of Nine says, the Borg appear to have something close to a religion regarding their attitude toward the Omega Particle. She compares it to Chakotay's belief in the Great Spirit, and Janeway interprets Seven's reaction to seeing the particle as a spiritual experience.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E9DaggerOfTheMind Dagger of the Mind]]", and in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', it is shown that they still celebrate Christmas and actually call it that, instead of the current contemporary habit of [[YouMeanXMas "Holiday Season"]]. They don't, however, celebrate it with our modern commercial strain. It seems to consist instead of parties among friends.
** In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', Phlox mentions that while on Earth, he sampled a number of Earth religions, visiting a Buddhist monastery and attending mass in St. Peter's Square. When asked about his own beliefs, Archer states that he prefers to keep an open mind. The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E11ColdFront Cold Front]]" involves the crew playing host to a group of alien religious pilgrims, who are portrayed in a positive light. However, a later episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS03E12ChosenRealm Chosen Realm]]", deals with an alien race who worship the creators of the Delphic Expanse. Having examined the inside of one of the anomaly-creating spheres and discovering nothing more than extremely advanced technology, the crew of the ''Enterprise'' are understandably skeptical about this religion, but the episode is more about religious extremism than religion itself (the episode ends with the ''Enterprise'' finding the alien homeworld in ruins). However, the reveal that the two religious groups differ only in how many days it took to create the Delphic Expanse makes others see the conflict as ridiculous.
** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': Creator/JasonIsaacs related an experience on set in which he ad libbed a line including the phrase "for God's sake" and was told by the episode's writer that such expressions wouldn't be used in Roddenberry's vision of a science-driven future absent of religion. The showrunners later clarified that, given the shows focus on diversity, it would stand to reason that there would be some religious people among them and references to God were allowed.
*** In Season 2, Captain Pike mentions that his father taught both science and comparative religion, and later makes reference to a cousin who "only gave a straight answer in church".
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E29TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]" is set in a future society where religion has been outlawed. Only one man still believes in God, and he is sentenced to death for being obsolete. He is allowed to choose how he dies; he chooses to be bombed on live television. The high official who sentences him to death comes to his cell to speak with him, only for [[LockedInAFreezer the door to lock behind him]]. [[spoiler:He panics and shouts "In the name of God, let me out!" The condemned man does -- in the name of God. In the final scene, the official is sentenced to death for being obsolete.]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has a big case of DependingOnTheWriter in regards to this trope. The setting as a whole is inconsistent; sometimes religion is prominent even in "advanced" societies, other times it's absent, obsolete, or discredited. The Doctor himself, one of the oldest, most intelligent, and best-traveled beings in the universe, has never been portrayed as religious himself; he's just as inconsistent, sometimes being respectful of religions and their leaders and other times dismissing them. Many plots from the original series involved the Doctor saving people from worshiping a dangerous "god" who turns out to be [[CargoCult advanced technology]], a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien, or an EldritchAbomination.
** Tavian, a sympathetic character in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E4TheRomans The Romans]]", is revealed at the end of the story to secretly be a Christian.
** The Doctor shows particular respect to UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E2TheAbominableSnowmen The Abominable Snowmen]]"; he bows to the wisdom of a Buddhist priest, returns to them a sacred item, and uses Buddhist prayer to help Victoria resist the Great Intelligence. The ExpandedUniverse book ''Eye of Heaven'' has the Fourth Doctor recount the unshown adventure leading up to "The Abominable Snowman", claiming that his life had been saved by Buddhist faith healing performed on him by the priest, and using "Buddhist wisdom" to put himself into a "healing coma" that allowed him to recover from being shot through the heart.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]", the eponymous villains worship the Great One as a sort of {{God Emp|eror}}ress and use their religion to exploit and brutalize the enslaved humans on their planet. By contrast, the Third Doctor engages in Buddhist philosophy again, and a fellow Time Lord (believed by many fans to be a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E5TheTimeMonster previously mentioned]] monk who mentored the Doctor in his youth) is living on Earth as a Buddhist priest.
** The Fourth Doctor period is the most visible user of the trope; he frequently mocks mysticism and magic of all sorts, and his tenure features the highest proportion of "the Doctor fights religion" plots. His companion Leela was even designed to contrast her savagery and superstition against the Doctor's pacifism and scientific knowledge, with their first scene in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E5TheRobotsOfDeath The Robots of Death]]" having the Doctor explicitly tell Leela that magic doesn't exist. Leela had already begun to question her original faith in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E4TheFaceOfEvil The Face of Evil]]"; in her first scene in the series, she's taunting her own high priest, shouting ''"Liar! There is no Xoannon!"''
*** On the other hand, the story arcs featuring the White and Black Guardians -- who, at least metaphorically, clearly represented God and the Devil and weren't at all subtle about it -- began during the 4th Doctor years and continued into the 5th Doctor's era.
** Implied in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]", where Vira, a far future human with quite an alien mindset, immediately explains to the Doctor and his companions that the Ark leader's nickname Noah was taken from "mythology", as if expecting them not to know.
** The Fifth Doctor episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E3Kinda Kinda]]" is, again, full of Buddhist symbolism.
** This was [[ZigZaggingTrope zigzagged]] in the first four seasons of the reboot series, which had little to no mention of magic or religion. Showrunner Creator/RussellTDavies was a staunch atheist, found it utterly implausible for the Doctor or any of his advanced alien cohorts to be religious, and declared, "[[AuthorTract That's what I believe, so that's what you're going to get]]. Tough, really. To get rid of those so-called agendas, you've got to get rid of me".
** Despite this, several episodes set in the future showed humans or aliens still practicing religion in some way, like the sisters of Plenitude by a religious order of Nurses who worship the Goddess Santori in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E1NewEarth New Earth]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit The Satan Pit]]" has the Doctor mention the various religions practiced across the universe and brings up various examples of the SatanicArchetype and Ida mentions she was raised Neo Classic Congregational by her mother (although she is not part of the faith anymore) and the heartbreakingly beautiful rendition of the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross" in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock Gridlock]]".
** Davies was followed by Creator/StevenMoffat, who threw both sides of religion into the core StoryArc of the series. The {{Big Bad}}s of series 5 and 6 were an intergalactic religious order who manipulate people through post-hypnotic commands, and religion and the military became [[ChurchMilitant practically the same thing]] in the future. Series 7 reveals that the previous {{Big Bad}}s, though, were a splinter faction from what's essentially Space Catholicism; while he may not agree with her order's tenets, the Doctor is good friends with Tasha Lem, Mother Superious of the Church of the Papal Mainframe.
** The Tenth Doctor more or less says in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit The Satan Pit]]" that he doesn't believe in God or any sort of higher power, or at least he's never run across anything to convince him that such a power exists. Given that he's run into various super-powerful "god"-like beings, such as Sutekh, Fenric, and the White and Black Guardians, [[FlatEarthAtheist that's quite a statement]].
** One of the Doctor's nicknames in the reboot era is "the lonely god". There's nobody on his level anymore, not even the other Time Lords, much less anything higher that he recognizes. The responsibility of it wears him down.
** The Twelfth Doctor is actually open to the idea of an afterlife (and mentions he always meant to take a look), but he finds the version presented in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater Dark Water]]" to be absolutely ludicrous. [[spoiler:He's right; it's a ploy by Missy to freak out the world's rich and powerful for the purposes of creating an army of the dead. She did end up creating a virtual afterlife in the process, though.]]
** The Thirteenth Doctor is shown to be very respectful of religions, even participating in a few minor but important prayers. The Doctor is mentioned in something called "the Book of Celebrants", and she apologizes for her ignorance when she mistook some time-traveling priests for murderers (they show up whenever someone dies alone to pray with them).
** As a side note, Time Lord society has always incorporated a lot of vaguely ecclesiastical imagery — e.g., the robes and skullcaps, the rank of "cardinal", and the TARDIS alarm being called the Cloister Bell.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' takes an interesting perspective on religion for a sci-fi show. Although it doesn't discuss religion extraordinarily often, several crew members practice various alien religions, and some of them are quite devout. The show also demonstrates that gods and magic really do exist in their universe, some more than others. The Peacekeepers, on the other hand, play this trope straight, with an entire episode, "Prayer", devoted to Aeryn recounting the ancient legend of a Sebacean goddess (implying that they no longer believe in gods in the present day) and praying to her for rescue; for added desperation points, Aeryn notes that the reason this particular goddess doesn't have any followers anymore is that she [[GodIsEvil killed them all on a whim]].
* A sketch on ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' featured a futuristic society that celebrated [[YouMeanXmas Bellini Day]], in which the characters referred to a time period where humankind was so stupid they actually believed in someone named God.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** Creator J. Michael Straczynski, an atheist himself, deliberately avoided this trope in the series (in contrast with ''Franchise/StarTrek''), with all the major species having beliefs of various kinds and strengths, and a mix of believers and non-believers. The straightest example is probably [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Lorien]], who says his people have lived so long they simply had no more use for such things. In "[[Film/BabylonFiveTheLostTalesVoicesInTheDark The Lost Tales]]", mention is made of how religion has been declining since humanity went to space and made contact with other races, but it still has a considerable presence in Earth-influenced space and among the alien races. The Catholic Church is alive and well; over the course of the series, Babylon 5 becomes home to a small but thriving Dominican community who mostly concern themselves with comparative religious studies. Babylon 5 is also chosen to host an ecumenical conference at one point (involving Catholics, a Baptist church complete with gospel choir and a delegation from the Church of Elvis). [[spoiler:In the BadFuture shown in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS04E22TheDeconstructionOfFallingStars The Deconstruction of Falling Stars]]", orders of monks also preserve humans' knowledge after nuclear war wipes out civilization, much like monasteries did during the Dark Ages.]] Humanity's main distinction is just ''how many'' extant religions there are; in an event in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E05TheParliamentOfDreams The Parliment of Dreams]]" where all the ambassadors were displaying their cultures' dominant faiths, the Human exhibition was just a long line of people who all had different beliefs.
** Among the human main characters: Sinclair is a Catholic, and was instructed by Jesuits as an adolescent. Ivanova is originally a lapsed Jew but reconnects with her faith in the first season (and just to clarify, this is treated as a positive development). Franklin is a Foundationist, a [[InterfaithSmoothie syncretic future religion]] which holds that all the galaxy's existing faiths reflect some part of a greater truth (rather like real-life Unitarian Universalists). Garibaldi is agnostic but was raised Catholic. Zack Allen's religion is unknown, but he believes in Heaven. Sheridan doesn't follow an organised religion, describing his beliefs as "eclectic". [[spoiler: To further muddle things, Sheridan himself becomes something of a messianic figure after [[ItMakesSenseInContext coming back from the dead]].]]
** Among the aliens:
*** Narns like G'Kar follow the teachings of a variety of gurus. G'Kar is a follower of G'Quan, and apparently has some prominence among them: he is shown reading religious texts, leading ceremonies, and, at one point, writing a religious text of his own. Meanwhile, Na’Toth is non-religious.
*** Londo makes several references to various Centauri deities, including some dead Emperors. He owns several statuettes of various deities, and while he doesn't seem to be overly religious he pays at least lip service to his people's gods.
*** Delenn and Lennier are prominent members of the Minbari Religious caste, though Minbari religion makes little outright reference to gods and seems more focused on personal enlightenment. That said, they do revere a sort of messianic figure in their history named Valen, and often swear in Valen's name, [[spoiler:which is really interesting once we learn that Valen is Delenn's friend and former B5 station commander, Jeffrey Sinclair, a human sent back in time a thousand years to lead the Minbari in their time of need]].
*** There is also a random Pak'ma'ra who makes reference to a religious text to explain why Pak'ma'ra eat carrion but refuse seafood.
** The portrayals aren't always positive; in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E18ConfessionsAndLamentations Confessions and Lamentations]]", the deeply religious Markab race die out in their entirety because they cling to their beliefs rather than embracing science, and a young alien boy is killed by his parents in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E10Believers Believers]]", because they believe a simple surgical procedure (to remove a pulmonary cyst that is slowly choking him to death) has turned their child into a soulless monster.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
** The only one of the main characters who shows the slightest religious belief is the robot hard-wired to believe in [[RobotReligion Silicon Heaven]]. Though Rimmer mentions that his parents were "Seventh Day Advent Hoppists" (their Bible had a typo) and implies that their religious lunacy is responsible for his JerkAss HollywoodAtheist tendencies.
** The Cat's species developed a religion worshiping Lister, who wasn't particularly happy about the wars they had in his name. Though the Cat himself proclaims that he doesn't believe any of that stuff.
** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIBetterThanLife Better Than Life]]", a newscast announces that the Bible's dedication page and "work of fiction" disclaimer was discovered.
** Christianity is disproved again in the episode, "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXLemons Lemons]]". Rimmer says his mother belonged to a religious sect that believed Jesus and Judas were identical twin brothers, with Judas pretending to be a resurrected Jesus after Jesus died. Time travel confirms this to be true. "Lemons" also implies that people in the future see Christianity as a bad thing due to all the wars it started. The only reason the dwarfers don't use time travel to stop it is that there would be no ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' Christmas specials if there was no Christianity. A time-travelling Jesus also comes to the same conclusion about Christianity starting wars after reading through a future encyclopedia.
* ''Series/TheOrville'': Creator/SethMacFarlane has never made it a secret about how he views religion (see ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' below). Add the show's ''Franchise/StarTrek'' flavor of humanism, and it's no shock that this trope is heavily in play.
** {{Discussed|Trope}} in regard to the Krill, as unlike most advanced civilizations, they have ''increased'' in religiosity rather than decreasing. Their religion teaches that other species are soulless abominations lacking in true intelligence and sentience, more akin to animals than people, going so far as to use captive humans as sacrifices. Later they explain that species have been observed as having two reactions to finding other life and going into space. One is becoming humble, and no longer thinking they were the center of the universe. The other is doubling down, becoming very xenophobic. Obviously, the Krill did that. Ed mentions that they were more peaceful before, and it's possible that they also had a more passive interpretation of their religion.
** Seems to be the way for society in general as by the 29th century, as "You can go to hell" is a complete ''non sequitur''.
** The Chief Engineer still exclaims "Oh my God" after a crewmember is badly hurt. Alara also uses this phrase, and she is an alien. Of course, for most even now that's just an expression.
** The society influenced by Kelly during its Bronze Age eventually grows out of religious fundamentalism and embraces reason. Not only that, but [[spoiler:they eventually achieve TheSingularity and become akin to gods themselves: immortal and able to manipulate reality]].
** Humans appear to no longer have believers in astrology, as when dealing with the Regorians (with a belief system that's entirely based on it) in "[[Recap/TheOrvilleS2E5AllTheWorldIsABirthdayCake All the World is a Birthday Cake]]", some must have the basic ''concept'' explained. They also hope that, due to their efforts, the Regorians will outgrow their belief too (which is basically the religion there).
** However, in the episode "[[Recap/TheOrvilleS1E04IfTheStarsShouldAppear If the Stars Should Appear]]", Ed says "Hi, I'm Captain Ed Mercer of the Jehovah's Witnesses". Even though it's a joke, it could imply that the Witnesses still exist, so humanity might not have completely outgrown religion. It's likely, however, that he was just referencing the past for the joke.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': Blake has to explain to Gan what a church is as "The Federation had them all destroyed at the [[YearZero beginning of the New Calendar]]". Various fictional religions are shown however, so it's not as if humanity has outgrown the need; on the prison planet Cygnus Alpha the rulers have created a religion specifically to prevent discord among the inhabitants, and the Clonemasters are a SinglePreceptReligion created by the Terran Federation to black box cloning technology. Other than these examples however the trope is played straight, as we don't see anyone turning to religious belief to cope with their existence in a CrapsackWorld. Neither does the Federation use a state religion as a tool of power, which they'd certainly do if religious beliefs had any currency among the population.
* ''Series/BraveNewWorld'': Mond and the Director muse that John is in (silent) prayer over his mother's body, and it's made clear they're among only a few New Londoners who still even know what this means. To drive home the point, Mond comments that "there was once a thing called 'God'", confirming they no longer have this belief.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'', Christianity and Islam are gone; it's not really expounded upon, they're just gone. Presumably, the very real and somewhat provable existence of the old ones made everyone less interested in religions that have a very specific worldview that excludes them. Buddhism and Hinduism are still around, essentially unchanged, and so is Judaism (despite Judaism also being a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion).
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' mostly averts this, with {{Church Militant}}s and [[ReligionOfEvil Religions of Evil]] popping up everywhere, but it still has a few examples:
** The Tau seem to exhibit divine worship of their Ethereals, but that is more obeisance to their leaders than religion; they otherwise have no belief in anything "magical" or "supernatural", including the very real daemons and other things that inhabit [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the warp]]. As a race with no psychers and whose souls barely touch the warp, in practical terms thinking of daemons as just another hostile alien race is true enough for practical purposes. They are by far the most socially and technologically progressive faction in the setting, which admittedly isn't saying much.
** The Aeldari believe in the existence of their gods and invoke the power of one (Khaine) on a semi-regular basis, but [[NayTheist they don't worship them]]; they mostly just use them for OhMyGods. This is because all but three of their gods were ''eaten'' by a Chaos god, and there is no real point to much of their religion anymore (except for Cegorach the Laughing God, but only the Harlequins worship him).
** It is said that in the Drukhari city of Commorragh there is a place known as the Pit of Idols. It is a yawning chasm filled with the symbols of the Drukhari's countless victims through the millennia - pendants and rosaries of the God-Emperor, icons of the Dark Gods, fetishes to Gork and Mork, and symbols of various other alien deities. If one were to venture down to the very bottom of the pit, they would find ancient idols to the slain Aeldari pantheon - Asuryan, Isha, Kurnous, Lileath, and the others, long-since discarded and forgotten by the Drukhari's ancestors, who watched their gods [[CurbStompBattle be slaughtered by Slaanesh]] [[TheSocialDarwinist and subsequently despised their weakness]].
** The Immortal GodEmperor of Mankind ''tried'' to invoke this, creating a society of {{Flat Earth Atheist}}s because he thought it would [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly starve the Chaos gods]] (which was not only unlikely to work, [[TheHeartless as the Chaos Gods don't need worship]], but [[NiceJobBreakingItHero backfired]] because while people were channeling their emotions to those religions, they were denying them to the Chaos Gods [[spoiler:along with inadvertently creating the conditions for a new Chaos God of Non-Belief to be born]]). [[CrapsackWorld Being 40K]], it failed miserably and made everything worse. Ironically, he himself ended up being worshiped by the humans of the Imperium.
*** Amusingly enough, when he destroyed the last vaguely-Abrahamic church on Terra (in the short story ''The Last Church'') the priest explained exactly why this would happen.
* In ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'', many religions didn't survive the Fall and the exodus via BrainUploading from earth, but new faiths arose to fill in the gaps. The most common is Neo-Buddhism, Buddhism combined with Transhumanism, where uploading is seen as a form of reincarnation and the emphasis is on lessening suffering rather than escaping it. Oddly, Islam was able to adapt to uploading, but the other Abrahamic faiths largely couldn't. The Catholic church is also still influential in the Jovian Junta, with its large population that managed to escape Earth in their original bodies.
* [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'', where becoming one of the supernatural races may or may not result in a weakening of old religious beliefs.
* [[AvertedTrope Actively averted]] in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. All five Successor States have active and vibrant religions and religious traditions. Alongside Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and the other mainstream real-life faiths, many, many new in-universe faiths have cropped up from the benign[[note]]such as the Unfinished Book Movement in the Federated Suns, which aims to compile all the Inner Sphere's holy texts into a massive sacred encyclopedia[[/note]] to the esoteric [[note]]the technophobic Exituri of Shiloh[[/note]]. Notable amongst the religions in the setting is [=ComStar=] which was a constructed religion intent originally on preserving the technological knowledge of the Inner Sphere from the coming Succession Wars. Unfortunately, the faith's founders realized and feared, but were powerless to stop the eventual corruption of that ideal into the Word of Blake. All in all, religion is presented fairly even-handedly for a science fiction setting [[note]]YMMV, though, on the ''accuracy'' of what's presented, with writers occasionally making well-intentioned mistakes such as having a Catholic priest say "By the power vested in me by the Curia and His Holiness, I excommunicate you and condemn you to eternal Purgatory"[[/note]].
** Zig-zagged where it comes to the Clans. They are officially atheistic, though even that is not an absolute. All of the Clans have some sort of reverence, sometimes bordering on worship, for Alexander and Nicholas Kerensky, and Clans Coyote, Cloud Cobra, Goliath Scorpion, and Nova Cat all have some sort of spirituality aspect to their practices. Further, the Clans, even the more hard-edged atheist ones, are not shown to be morally or intellectually superior to the Inner Sphere.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': Since, unlike most other settings, the gods are not proven to exist, this comes up a bit.
** The Silver Flame is a literal flame kept in Flamekeep, a source of divine power that mortals can use to fight evil, and which occasionally speaks through the Keeper of the Flame. While the founder of the religion was a paladin of Dol Arrah, most of the faithful treat other religions as silly superstitions when they should be dedicating their faith to a more practical cause.
** The Blood of Vol is a cult of {{Immortality Seeker}}s who wish to avoid the provably terrible afterlife of ''Eberron''. Every other religion claims they have some way to avoid this fate after death, but the Seekers insist the only rational option is to ascend to godhood and avoid the issue entirely. Some sects even believe that the gods cursed the world with mortality out of jealousy to keep anyone else from having time to obtain godhood on their own.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* [[http://www.rockyhorrorshow.net The website]] for Seth Kuberaky's production of ''Theatre/TheRockyHorrorShow'' says that Transylvanians Politics, religion, and philosophy were all abandoned as primitive superstitions as they focused on becoming a FreeLoveFuture.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/BatenKaitos Baten Kaitos Origins]]'' twists this trope. It starts off with a fairly simple ScienceIsBad message, but then it turns out that in the distant past people became practically addicted to the supernatural, and so a bunch of siblings in the past decided to try and stop them from being turned into pure magical essence by [[spoiler:making a DealWithTheDevil to gain even ''more'' supernatural powers, but then they all get sealed into the End Magnus from the first game]]. Then it turns out that the process that [[spoiler:gave Sagi the supernatural power of one of the siblings]] was a scientific one, but [[SpannerInTheWorks he then uses that power to save the world]]. While [[spoiler:getting a boost from the spirits of the dead siblings, no less]]. In short, rejecting the supernatural and focusing on science -- or vice versa -- is a Very Bad Thing, and the best way to live is with both in tandem with each other.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' is a subversion. According to its backstory, the aftermath of ''Deus Ex'' led to The Collapse, in which most people had their faith shaken to the point this trope almost did abandon religion. Then The Order popped up, uniting all of the old faiths into one syncretic philosophy. Later, however, it's revealed that [[spoiler:The Order is just a front for TheIlluminati, and it's part of their method of controlling polar opposites of society]].
* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'': Samus visits the planet Bryyo, which is covered in the ruins of a golden age, the history of which wavers between AndManGrewProud and this trope. The Reptilicus people there originally had magical powers, then some of them learned how to use technology, and they decided that this was cooler than "primitive" magic. The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Chozo]] warned the Reptilicus ''not'' to abandon their religious traditions, instead suggesting that they should embrace them along with their technological progress, as the Chozo themselves had done. Instead, the Lords of Science honked off the magic-using mystics, and there was a big magic-vs-technology war that tore the planet apart. [[ShatteredWorld Literally.]] The Lords of Science won (at first) because by salvaging the planet (more or less), they could prove that their side was better, but this led to the mystics finding their secret location and wiping them out. Without the Lords of Science, the remaining Reptilicus devolved into magical barbarism.
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'':
** The Lord's Believers faction averts this trope [[ChurchMilitant very, very strongly.]]
** The University of Planet faction is the ideological antithesis of the Lord's Believers game mechanic-wise, but the faction leader Prokhor Zakharov is especially into this trope, as a number of quotes from him for technological advances reveal. According to the prequel short stories, he and Miriam Godwinson (the Lord's Believers faction leader) do ''not'' get along well, even back on the UNS ''Unity''.
*** It is important to note that as you get further into the game, Sister Miriam's quotes get less and less focused on religion and more on the human condition in a world rapidly approaching TheSingularity, and Zakharov's become less and less focused on science and gain a spritual dimension with more than a hint of DeusEstMachina. Zakharov also isn't shy about describing the Planetmind as an "embryonic deity", since there is more than enough empirical evidence to prove it.
** The Human Hive faction explicitly seeks to invoke this trope. Its faction leader Shen-ji Yang's social experiment, among other things, as he seeks to eradicate belief in higher powers and replace it with an atheistic police state. This is his explicit agenda in-game. However, his writings draw heavily on East Asian religious tradition, and his end goals have a frightening number of parallels to both the attainment of Nirvana and the Ascent to Transcendence.
** The Peacekeepers and Data Angels see religion as a relic of the brutal old days of Earth, and they encourage people to put it aside in the name of freedom and social progress. That said, both can take up the "Fundamentalist" social value if they choose, which implies some ''interesting'' religious concepts for them.
** Aside from the Lord's Believers, Gaia's Stepdaughters are noted to be a religious society focused on coexisting with nature, the Cult of Planet is obvious, and both of the Progenitor factions smack of taking their dogma to the point of religion.
* ''VideoGame/PandoraFirstContact'', the SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'':
** The Divine Ascension is a social media-based religion, founded by Lady Lilith Vermillion (formerly a hooker named Lily Maroon) as a scam to collect blackmail material on her followers. She is eventually shot in the head but survives, although it's implied there's been some brain damage, resulting in her [[BecomingTheMask buying into her own religion]]. Naturally, by the time the [[MegaCorp Noxium Corporation]] starts openly selling AlcubierreDrive-powered colony ships, Divine Ascension is one of the few powers who can afford one.
** To a lesser extent, Terra Salvum, a faction arising from an AnimalWrongsGroup. Unlike all other factions, they steal ship plans and build their own, foregoing [[HumanPopsicle cryogenics]] in favor of a [[GenerationShips Generation Ship]]. By the time they arrive to Pandora, the kids who have grown up aboard have been firmly indoctrinated into the belief that the other factions mean the planet harm. They also rely on OralTradition to tell their stories.
* ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'' has Ronixis, who claims that humanity has moved beyond religion. However, finding himself in the backwards world of Roak, and confronted with the existence of magic, which he'd hitherto never believed existed, he finds himself re-examining his views. The sequels make clear that magic is nothing more than [[MagicFromTechnology advanced science]], however. The [[VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime third game]] even simultaneously proves that God exists ''and'' provides a scientific explanation for the [[GodIsEvil big jerk]].
* In ''Franchise/StarCraft'', background material mentions that upon taking control of Earth, the United Powers League (later the United Earth Directorate) promoted state atheism, [[IllegalReligion banning]] or co-opting all religions and exiling or killing those who didn't adhere (alongside political prisoners, cyber-deviants and other undesirables) in an effort to stamp out the things that have divided the human society. As a result, the territories of the UPL/UED are non-religious, while the Koprulu Sector is teeming with religious groups, ranging from mainstream Christianity to CrystalDragonJesus and to even stranger {{Cult}}s and movements.
* In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', Andrew Ryan considers religion an obsolete and harmful superstition "people of tomorrow" should have no need for. He strives to eradicate religion in his Objectivist utopia and declares that smuggling religious texts to Rapture is a crime punishable by death. The experiment [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes terribly awry]].
* The ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'''s religious leanings are [[AllThereInTheManual described in the X-Encyclopedia]]. About half the [[TheFederation Argon]] consider themselves "spiritual" but don't believe in any particular deity, while most of the rest are atheists. But since they believe in tolerance, the Argon place no stigma on being religious. The Boron have no organized religion and no omnipotent or creator deities, but some believe that after death they will [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence live on in the presence cloud of the]] [[{{Precursors}} Ancients]]. Averted with the [[TheTheocracy theocratic]] [[TheEmpire Paranids]], whose religion permeates every aspect of their lives. The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Split]] are the straightest example, viewing their old religions as primitive superstition. No word on the [[ProudMerchantRace Teladi]] or [[PlanetTerra Terrans]].
* In [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] of ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'', the Kharakians near-entirely abandoned religion after generations of religious wars devastated their already small population, part of a unification of the planet's disparate tribes that placed reason and scientific understanding above all else. Religions still existed to some extent, but their few serious adherents were considered delusional at best and dangerous fanatics at worst. That is, until [[FirstEpisodeTwist Kharak was]] [[DoomedHometown bombed into oblivion]]; afterwards the survivors experienced a slight resurgence of religious belief, such as the members of Kiith Somtaaw (formerly a minor religious faction before they turned to mining full-time) in ''Cataclysm''.
** The prequel ''VideoGame/HomeworldDesertsOfKharak'' reveals why they have this reputation; the descendants of one of the two main religious factions secretly built their forces for centuries and made a nearly successful attempt to conquer the world and destroy what little temperate land still existed on the planet. Then the descendants of the other side snapped during the war and tried to form a third faction. It turns out that the main elements are actually true, although mistakenly ascribed to a god rather than a rival star empire.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces, which naturally all have different opinions on the subject:
** Humans as a whole still follow lots of religions, but space-faring humans to a lesser degree. Ashley implies that she's seen as eccentric for having a religious belief.
** The hanar worship the very real (though long-extinct) [[{{Precursors}} Protheans]].
** The Drell are deeply religious. Thane Krios mentions several Drell gods, including Amonkira, Lord of Hunters, and Arashu, Goddess of Motherhood and Protection. If his son is saved in the second game, he undergoes a HeelFaithTurn in the third game to become a priest.
** The most popular [[spoiler:asari]] religion is revealed to be entirely based upon contact with Protheans by their primitive ancestors, heavily implying that ancient religions may be the direct result of alien contact, misconstrued or misremembered by the populations they affected.
** The turians believe in a form of pantheistic animism, but they're open to experimentation; some turians have been shown adopting Earth religions that mesh well with their worldview, including Zen Buddhism and Confucianism.
** The quarians don’t believe in gods, but they believe in souls and hold their ancestors in a reverence which sometimes enters into ancestor worship (or was implied to have happened in the past). They in turn are held in near-religious reverence by the robotic Geth race they created, which is made fairly awkward by the way their mutual history includes multiple attempts to wipe each other out (originally triggered by a Geth asking "Does this unit have a soul?") A splinter Geth faction worship the Reapers instead, as a pinnacle of machine existence; the Reapers (who suffer species-wide denial that they ''are'' machines) find this insulting.
** Like the quarians, the krogan also have a form of ancestor worship. They also believe in a place they call the void where the souls of dead krogan go.
** The salarian religion is said to be similar to Hinduism. It has a "wheel of life" perspective, where the dead are [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnated]] to fix the flaws of their previous lives and become better people.
** Javik implies that the Protheans themselves practiced this trope, though he also mentions that this view was reconsidered after encountering the Reapers. It must be noted that he's an UnreliableNarrator; he grew up in the Prothean Empire after the Reapers had invaded, and he's also, well, [[{{Troll}} Javik]].
** [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] him/herself can either confirm or deny any religious leanings, or [[MathematiciansAnswer simply note]]:
--->'''Shepard:''' Everyone has the right to believe what they want. Says so on the Alliance charter... only in fancier words.
* Inverted in the ''VideoGame/FreeSpace'' game mod ''VideoGame/BluePlanet''. A major part of the story is that mysticism and spirituality are creeping back into society, and there exists at least one SufficientlyAdvancedAlien race that is heavily spiritual (or at least, expresses themselves in a spiritual manner). The title of the campaign's first release, "Age of Aquarius", references this: it refers to an age in which, realizing that neither religion alone or science alone has all the answers, people turn to a fusion of the two to reach true understanding.
* Used but mostly averted in ''VideoGame/{{Startopia}}''. An entire race, the Zedem monks, have converted to the same religion, and only two of the game's nine races don't pop into a temple occasionally. The only exceptions are the hedonistic sirens and the scientific Turakken.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', this is what [[WellIntentionedExtremist Walhart]] wants the world to be like; he advocates the idea of a militaristic and atheistic new world order under his rule to bring an end to war and strife. During [[spoiler:their Support conversations]], the PlayerCharacter admits that while Walhart might be onto something, his world would be no better than a tyranny populated by forcibly-indoctrinated servants who've all been bullied into submission. In response, Walhart [[spoiler:''agrees'' -- reasoning that, [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership because he lost to the Avatar]], [[MightMakesRight he must clearly be in the right]].]] TheHero Chrom also acknowledges Walhart's vision but rejects it on similar grounds, resolving to unite all peoples of all faiths (or lack thereof) by touching their hearts rather than forcing them to bend the knee.
* This is how ''VideoGame/{{Actraiser}}'' ends. By defeating the local GodOfEvil, the Master has ensured that humanity can stand on its own without his help. The last scene depicts a statue of the Master crumbling to dust.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'':
** The Nilfgaardian Empire believes gods aren't real. They use this as a license to rape, pillage, and loot temples. Given the supernatural weirdness that goes on in ''The Witcher'' world, it probably makes them {{Hollywood Atheist}}s. They're also {{hypocrite}}s because they have their own religion based around GodEmperor worship; suggesting that the Northern pantheon is primitive and backwards is more CulturalPosturing.
** One sidequest has you running around the swamps of Velen, fixing wayshrines to an ancient crone goddess which have been toppled over. The culprits? A bunch of students from the local university, led by a rather unhinged philosopher who decries religion as a tool of fear and control, even giving Karl Marx's infamous "opium for the masses" line as he explains his actions. [[VillainHasAPoint Given the witch-hunting craze currently sweeping Novigrad with the help of the Church of the Eternal Fire, he may be right]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', it generally depends on an empire's chosen ethos on the Materialist-Spiritualist axis, and the strength of those two factions within the empire [[note]]a materialist empire can still end up with a strong spiritualist faction, and vice versa[[/note]]. How exactly the Materialsts view [[EldritchLocation the Shroud]], the [[EldritchAbomination various Extradimensional Beings]], the [[DealWithTheDevil Covenants]], and the [[PsychicPowers Psionic techs]] is uncertain. As of ''Apocalypse'', there's also [[GalacticConqueror the Great Khan]], who, when asked why they don't speak of their people's former religious beliefs, pretty much replies with this (though he promises not to enforce state atheism upon his satraps).
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': The game takes place in a FeudalFuture where most of humanity's early history has been completely forgotten. Most of the factions have their own religions, which they ''act'' as though they are far superior to those silly superstitions everyone else holds.
** The Orokin Empire referenced ancient myths in the names they gave to their devices, but otherwise made no show of worship. Not much is known for sure since they are long dead by the time of the game. If anything, they insisted on acting like hedonistic gods themselves.
** The Grineer spit upon all other religions and traditions as primitive, but they worship the "Twin Queens", a pair of sisters who receive the unconditional love and devotion of all Grineer. For quite a while it's unclear if the Twin Queens are still alive, but it turns out that they are, making them {{God Empress}}es.
** The Corpus worship the Void and the Profit. The Void is an EldritchLocation that is semi-personified as a sort of devil figure, while the Profit is the idea that the only important thing is making money, and those who make more money are morally superior to others. The Profit appears to have been invented by the Orokin [[PathOfInspiration in order to control the Corpus]].
** The primitive Ostron tribes of Earth worship the Unum, a powerful intelligence who resides in the Orokin tower in Cetus. What exactly the Unum is remains unclear, but her power is very real, and she prevents any violence in Cetus.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' zigzags this trope. The [[PlanetLooters Combine]] is a bunch of ScaryDogmaticAliens who passed TheSingularity a ''long'' time ago, if they have any form of religion it is unknown. On the other hand [[ScienceHero Eli Vance]] and his daughter [[ActionGirl Alyx]] mention God and prayer from time to time. Then there's [[BadassPreacher Father]] [[CreepyGood Grigori]] who may or may not be an ordained Orthodox minister but certainly acts the part. Oh, and there's the [[PuppeteerParasite Headcrab]] [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Zombies]] who [[AndIMustScream scream]] to God for help.
* ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'': Sonic and Sage discuss this trope in the ''Final Horizon'' DLC in regards to [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens the Ancients]]. Sonic is surprised by them worshipping a deity due to how insanely advanced their technology is, but Sage counters that religion and spirituality are significant unifying factors for a community. However, she personally thinks that the trope that actually applies here is NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus; especially since she can observe phenomena related to this "god", which make her rule out supernatural causes (Sage is an AI by the way).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'': In [[https://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic/gnostic one comic]] where several characters are having a heated debate over their religious differences, [[Franchise/StarFox Fox]] -- the only one from a ScienceFiction space age setting rather than a HighFantasy world -- drops in to mock the whole concept of religion. Then [[PhysicalGod Palutena]] walks in...
-->'''Fox:''' Oh, you ''primitive cultures'' and your god-worship. How ''quaint''.
* ''Webcomic/TheLawOfPurple'': Inverted by Caligula; instead of an advanced culture that once had religion but derides it as worthless now, there was almost never any organized religion to speak of and parts of the population are only now discovering it. However, most Caligulians view religious groups as nothing more than cults and consider them highly abnormal.
* ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'': The [[SpaceElves Loroi]] systems analyst Beryl shows shades of this attitude after hearing the pilots Talon and Spiral explain to Alex Jardin, their human companion, the significance of the ''diral-seii'' knife blade Spiral wears (it makes the bearer a sort of inverse GoodLuckCharm, bringing good luck to the other members of their ''diral'' at the cost of the bearer's own luck). She's hesitant for Jardin to even hear the explanation due to its superstitious nature, has a disapproving frown as they talk, and tells Jardin that he can ignore what they told him as it's an artifact of Taben culture being serious about tradition even by Loroi standards. When asked, she explains that she was raised in a research colony by scientists.
-->I have not seen evidence of fate, and when I die, I expect that I will not know that I am dead. So I do not find any comfort in supernatural fables.
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'':
** In an editor's note (which averts the trope) in Reverend Theo's [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-11-17 first appearance]], comic author Howard Tayler stated that it's not religion that's "foolishly optimistic" -- it's this trope since it assumes that there will come a time when every possible doubt, question, insecurity, and uncertainty about life, humanity and the universe will be definitely answered and addressed by scientific progress.
** Comes up again much later, when [[spoiler:the entire galaxy has gained near-perfect immortality]], and they discover an immortal who was still suffering psychological damage due to his warrior culture from ten million years ago.
--->'''Bunni:''' Are we putting stuff in ''our'' brains that will come back to crazy us up in a jillonty years?\\
'''Theo:''' Probably. That's why I choose to worship a god who helps people change.\\
'''Bunni:''' What if religion is one of those things?\\
'''Theo:''' Hoookay... it's time for less God, and more chocolate.
* In ''Webcomic/QuantumVibe'', all the characters we see [[OhMyGods swear by famous scientists and blaspheme by bureaucracy]]; at first, religion seems not even to have survived as an eccentricity or a memory. It turns out there's a reason for that, and also that the Jews, Christians, and Muslims [[spoiler:at least the ones who have survived]] banded together to form a new order known as [[spoiler:The Children of Armageddon.]]
* ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'': {{Inverted}}. Christian churches make the occasional background appearances, and then in the "Probability Bomb" arc, it's revealed (with the author's [[{{Anvilicious}} characteristic subtlety]]) that atheism is the silly superstition that's been all but universally outgrown.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Literature/BabeRuthManTankGladiator'': Subverted. The priest writing the story mentions regards old religions (from what we'd call ThePresentDay) as outdated superstitions, but he believes his religion is absolute truth.
* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', the [[TheMagocracy Magicracy of Alent]] believes only in the power of man, having forsaken the gods who they see as cruel, enslaving beings.
--> '''Berandas''': Don't you understand? We are the gods' unwanted children. We are the castoffs, the forgotten. And instead of following some doomsday cult, believing ourselves lost and hopeless like the Grey Cult, or clinging to some decayed bloodline like the Crimson Coalition, we will stand and fight for humanity! The gods don't like our choice of allies, our rising technology? They can burn for all I care, they have never helped us.
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2273 SCP-2273]] is a SuperSoldier from an AlternateUniverse where Atheism is Russia's official religion, though he found peace with Christianity in the [[TheUnmasquedWorld Broken Masquerade]] canon.
* In ''Literature/TeenLitWasteland'', Scott Dunkelman, the founder of the Scientific State of California (a pastiche of Chicago from ''Literature/{{Divergent}}''), created the union system, or "Enlightened Science", as a way of helping humanity as a whole do this, believing that ancient superstitions like religion, ethnicity, and tribalism, and the identity politics that they fueled, had torn humanity apart and caused the Collapse. Enlightened Science instead [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis became a religion itself]], increasingly detached from actual science in favor of Dunkelman's own fixations, a melange of Silicon Valley techno-utopianism, nerd culture, Eastern religions, and pop psychology.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* As a show that mocks everything and everyone, even nontheistic beliefs are [[DeconstructiveParody parodied]] [[TakeThat rather savagely]] in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
** In the two-part episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS10E12GoGodGo Go, God, Go]]" and "[[Recap/SouthParkS10E13GoGodGoXII Go God Go XII]]" Cartman awakens in a HollywoodAtheist future where atheism has replaced religion. Religious factionalism and conflict have been replaced with various equally fanatical atheist factionalism and conflict. People shout things like "Hail science!", "science dammit", and "Science H. Logic!" instead of their religious equivalents. Ultimately, the episode is about how atheists are just as susceptible to stupidity as the followers of any religion. Especially since the whole reason the atheists split off into several factions and started fighting each other in the first place was because ''[[SillyReasonForWar they couldn't agree on what name to call themselves]]''. After the past is fixed (mainly by splitting Richard Dawkins from the awful Ms. Garrison), the Future is fixed - but they're now at war over ''resources''. The various Spiritual Leaders are also much more pleasant to talk to than the shouty secular authority figures, as well (the Sea Otter king is replaced by a soft-spoken and amiable prophet in the new timeline).
* Shows by Creator/SethMacFarlane have used this trope as a TakeThat toward religion. Some have noted that only Christianity seems to be his target.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode, "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E1RoadToTheMultiverse Road to The Multiverse]]", Brian and Stewie visit a parallel universe where a lack of Christianity allows the U.S. to progress technologically by a thousand years, though the arts had stagnated for a similar amount of time.
** Similarly, in the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Of Ice And Men" set in 2045, with the present referred to as "when people still believed in Literature/TheBible".
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Hawkgirl comes from an advanced alien civilization that gave up religion eons ago (because their god was an EldritchAbomination who demanded their souls in sacrifice), but after a certain episode, she comes to believe that there is… something good… out there.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* It was first attempted in [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution revolutionary France]].
** The Catholic Church was unpopular among many sections of French society, being viewed as corrupt. Many of the leading revolutionaries were secular humanists and atheists, and therefore when the revolution came they used the opportunity to not only curb the Church's power and excesses, but attempted to discredit and destroy religion and belief in God altogether, pursuing an open policy of "Dechristianization." This ranged from banning religious worship, to killing priests and nuns, to replacing religious statues with those of prominant revolutionary figures, or with certain ideals like "Liberty" or "Reason" depicted as goddesses.
* Karl Marx agreed with this trope. He believed religion was the inevitable result of unfair and cruel economic systems; the poor and oppressed, having no hope of happiness in this life, will turn to faith, hoping to find happiness in the next world. According to Marx, a sufficiently advanced society will have no need for comforting illusions and will abandon religion. It does indeed seem to be the case that people (and therefore countries as a whole) tend to be less religious when they are wealthy and comfortable, so to some extent Marx was right.
** In alignment with Marxism-Leninism, communist nations often tried to invoke this trope. Rather than wait for religion to naturally vanish once improved economic conditions rendered it irrelevant, they decided to hurry things along (perhaps because those "improved economic conditions" were rather slow in the coming). The Soviet Union tried multiple times to invoke this trope through anti-religious campaigns, which included propaganda, secular education, and mass executions of priests and nuns and destruction of churches. Ironically, in many of these states, the ideology of Communism simply took the place of religion, with the nation's leader (Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong il, etc.) being effectively worshipped as a god through a CultOfPersonality. Religion was considered an "enemy of the revolution" not only because it was a tool of capitalist oppression, but because it provided an alternative focus of loyalty and devotion - one which was not the Communist Party or its Dear Leader.
[[/folder]]
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