Hollywood Atheist - Television Tropes & Idioms

Atheists in real life can be a rather diverse group - after all, the only thing confirmed by the label "atheist" is that the person does not believe in any god or gods. In fiction, on the other hand, while it is reasonably common to see a character who is never shown practicing or even mentioning religion, it's generally only characters with a fair degree of cynicism and bitterness who can state outright that they don't believe there is a god. Some of the more common character traits are:

A Dead Little Sister was the direct cause of their 'conversion' to atheism, as well as a paradoxical anger at a God who lets such things happen. Consequently, the Hollywood Atheist can easily be made to reverse or reexamine their lack-of-belief if something good happens, even if nothing explicitly supernatural is going on. Conversely, when something bad happens (especially their own death approaching) the atheist will suddenly become a believer and start praying for help. Apparently, there are no atheists in foxholes.
Atheists are somehow simply unaware of The Bible and Christianity, and will happily convert on the spot when informed of the rudiments of Christian dogma. Expect them in an Author Tract.
Atheists only seem to have arguments against their culture's predominant religion. There is never any evidence that they've looked into non-mainstream religions for something they can find more plausible.
Atheists are all materialist monists and probably technophiles/transhumanists/roboticists as well. Expect a Straw Vulcan in there somewhere too.
Atheists are depressed, lonely, antisocial and often Nietzsche Wannabes.
Atheists exist solely to belittle religious people.
Atheists are straight-out evil, having apparently rejected all concept of right and wrong when they rejected religion. Chick Tracts love these, too.

A milder version which is becoming more common lately is that the atheist hasn't had a great life, is maybe a bit of a loser, and is just generally a bit bitter but not outright evil or into the realms of the Nietzsche Wannabe. Probably has funny yet depressing snarky comments about what a Jerkass God would be if he existed. See pretty much every character Steve Buscemi has ever played.

A possible reason for this trope being so common is that a lot of the entertainment we get comes from the USA, where religion is very prominent and atheists are less common.

See also Acceptable Targets. A major exception is science fiction which often goes so far as to state that humanity has Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions; for atheists living in fantasy settings where the existence of gods is irrefutable, see Flat Earth Atheist.

Compare with Holier Than Thou. See also Useful Notes on Atheism.

Examples:

Freddie Kreuger-esque Mister Rictus from the comic book miniseries Wanted. He was the most pious of Christians until he died on the table after an accident. After seeing what lay beyond, i.e. nothing, he went completely crazy and started doing whatever the hell he felt like with no restrictions or morality whatsoever. Of course the fact that the accident scarred him to a ridiculous degree may have contributed.
Mel Gibson's character from Signs is the very embodiment of the first type. Best explained by this plot synopsis on Godless Geeks' Proofs of God's Existence:
(1) Mel Gibson plays a reverend whose wife is horribly killed, and he loses his faith.
(2) The Earth is suddenly attacked, his family is terrorized, he loses two pets, and many people across the globe presumably die.
(3) An alien grabs and terrorizes his son, injecting him with a poison. But with the help of said son's asthma, and the last words of his dead wife, he gets lucky and the kid doesn't quite die.
(4) Therefore, God exists.
Robert Neville in the 2007 I Am Legend follows nearly the same sequence of events - notably jarring, since there was no religious theme in either the book from which it took its name, or the older film (The Omega Man) from which it took its plot.
- Aside from the death scene at the end, What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic?
The hero of Dracula Has Risen From The Grave just happens to be an atheist, with no tragic past or nothing. Of course, he converts by the end, after seeing Dracula repelled by a cross. Which is to say, within the universe of the film, God exists, and those who don't believe aren't evil or ignorant, they just happen to be incorrect, and are willing to revise their doubt if given strong evidence to the contrary. A refreshing sentiment.
- Although if "very easily converted" is seen as a type of Strawman Atheist this may still be one. There's no reason to think a cross repels vampires because it's divine—garlic is supposed to repel vampires too. In fact, in the Buffyverse crosses repel vampires and this specifically does not mean that Christianity is true.
While highly intelligent and a skilled doctor, the title character from House is an utterly cynical, Nietzsche Wannabe atheist, and is responsible for the page quote.
- His subordinate Doctor Cameron, however, is very idealistic despite being at least nominally an agnostic (she thinks God might or might not exist, but either way she doesn't believe He takes an interest in humanity). Of course, since she is also pro-life and (at least initially) anti-euthanasia, it seems that you can be an atheist without being a misanthrope only if you nevertheless hold to the popular conception of religious morals.
- Of course, House also holds contests between himself and God, and blames God for the problems of religious patients (something along the lines of "Looks like someone screwed up, wonder who that could have been" when referring to a patient having an extra ventricle). He even added another tally on God's side of the whiteboard scorecard and said "Looks like you win this time" when alone in a room when the solution had a logical though contrived reason that worked almost divinely. Although Hollywood has a tendency to divide people into "atheist" and "Christian," it's tempting to say House is a Deist.
  - Either that, or he does in fact recognize one pantheon: the writers.
  - Or he could be doing it ironically, turning God into a Strawman Political of sorts.
  - Or he could just be mocking popular conceptions of God.
In Dean Koontz's Frankenstein we are regularly informed that since Frankenstein doesn't believe in any god, this means he has no reason to follow any moral code. Dean Koontz also wrote a short story called "Twilight of the Dawn" which feature a stereotyped atheist.
Of the two major atheist characters in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (a book dealing with the conflict between science and religion), one is a bitter, resentful scientist who became crippled as a result of his religious fanatic parents denying him treatment that could have prevented it, who has no sense of wonder regarding nature, the other is a brutal assassin. The former is itself a case of Did Not Do The Research because a sense of wonder regarding nature is one of the main reasons many if not most scientists choose the career.
Rather quietly inverted: The character Nick Angel in Hot Fuzz is agnostic, is the Only Sane Man, and kicks ass. Later during the climatic shootout when the village priest (one of the villains) says to Angel "You may not be a man of god but surely you're a man of peace." Angel replies with the following:
Nick Angel: I may not be a religious man, Reverend, but I know right and I know wrong and I have the good grace to know which is which.
- Cue the priest's CMOA. ("Oh, fuck off grasshopper!" (whips out a pair of revolvers from his sleeves and shoots Angel.))
- The relative quietness of this inversion may have something to do with it being a British film. Religious themes are generally less prominent in the UK.
The 2000s' Battlestar Galactica features two prominent atheist characters, both of them wildly different; Admiral Adama, a humanist who views mankind as flawed but inherently good, and ultimately accountable to nobody but themselves for their mistakes in life, and Gaius Baltar, an egocentrist who ultimately comes to consider himself a god.
- Not to mention the Cylon Brother Cavil/Number One Model, the only model to reject both the Cylon god and the Lords of Kobol, and the most sadistic and genocidal Cylon model to boot.
Fullmetal Alchemist gives us Edward Elric, a bitter young man who lost his faith in any kind of benevolent god when an attempt to resurrect his dead mother goes horribly awry and becomes a very grouchy and condescending atheist.
- Colonel Roy Mustang vacillates in the direction of atheism, and has a notably traumatic past. He's a little world-weary and something of a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold. He remains a heroic character through to the end, at one point defiantly shouting "There is no God!" at his would-be savior of a nemesis.
  - Religion in general is dealt with a lot more subtly in the manga, with just about every character believing in some sort of deity and differing mainly on whether or not said deity hates them. Ed states that he is agnostic, while Mustang's beliefs haven't been referenced.
Exception: Michael Holt, aka Mister Terrific, from the Justice Society Of America. He's a compassionate and heroic man who just happens to be an atheist, and good friends with Doctor Mid-Nite, a devout Catholic. Complicated by the presence of several divine beings in the The DCU, several of whom he has worked with, but there are various justifications given for that.
Inverted in Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones, with the minor characters of Mr Thwackum (a devout puritanical christian) and Mr Square (a philosophical atheist). Both turn out to be part of a plan to ruin Tom, but while Thwackum only cares about the money he'll make from his involvement, Square is revealed to be wracked by guilt about his involvement and ends up revealing the conspiracy in a letter written from his deathbed (although he repents only after becoming a Christian).
Batman is portrayed as an atheist by some authors, presumably as a side effect of having his parents killed and spending the last ten to fifteen years looking at the slimy underside of society. Of course, this being Batman, if he did believe in a God he probably has a plan to take Him out, and could execute it, given enough prep time.
Jack McCoy of Law And Order is an admitted lapsed Catholic. His disdain for religion (or for what he sees as religious hypocrisies) puts him squarely in the "exists to belittle the religious" category, often to the point where he's jeopardized a case just to get his shots in. In the show's defense, he's almost always called out on it.
Simon from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann plays this one to some degree during his Heroic BSOD: while still mourning Kamina's death, at one point he tells Rossiu something along the lines of, "Could your God prevent Bro's death? Ah, yeah, I forgot, your God is a Ganmen created to kill humans!"
Mal Reynolds of Firefly lost his faith in God after the events of Serenity Valley. He will allow a preacher on board his ship, but he prefers that he keep his religion to himself: "You're welcome aboard my ship. God ain't." This is called back in The Movie. While Book never tries to get Mal to believe in God, he tries try to get him to believe in something. "I don't care what you believe in, just believe."
The Misfit, from Flannery O'Conner's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," is practically the archetypal dangerous, nihilistic atheist. He decided at an early age that if Jesus never died on the cross, then there's no reason to do anything at all but enjoy himself the only way he knew how: killing. The story may have been a reaction to the rise of existentialism in literature.
As mentioned, most characters Steve Buscemi gets Type Cast as. Notable examples include the character from The Island
'Lincoln Six-Echo:' What's 'God'?
'Mc Cord:' Well, you know when you want something really really bad and you close your eyes and you wish for it? God's the guy who ignores you.
And Nicky from Parting Glances who is living with AIDS, although to the film's credit we're never actually told that his illness and his lack of religion are connected.
God, I hope you don't exist, but if you do, you've got me pissed!
How could this get so far without mention of Perry Cox from Scrubs? In one episode it is revealed that his lack of religion has driven a wedge between him and his fundamentalist Christian sister. It is also revealed in that episode the reason for his atheism is that they were both abused by his father. This was contrasted to his sister's way of dealing, converting to Christianity.
Consider Temperance Brennan from Bones, who argues with Seeley Booth (a strong Catholic) all the time about his faith and her lack of it. This is strong because they both make good points, and neither is instantly converted to the other's viewpoint.
In the Sarah McLachlan song Dear God, she spends the whole song complaining to god about all the injustices in the world, only to admit at the end that she doesn't believe in him. Wasted time for the writer, singer and listener then...
- You mean the XTC song?
  - The XTC verison makes it sound less like a declaration of atheism, and sounds more like someone in despair over a Crapsack World and an apparently uncaring god. "I want to believe in a good god... but look at this world" sort of thing.
Notably averted in Thunderstuck, where the two leads are atheist and Christian sisters. Due to the story's heavy emphasis on how well they complement each other, it's actually necessary for the authour to balance their views, and troper applauds him for it. Even the religious "good" guys in the series are treated as just as flawed as their secular counterparts.
Averted in the prologue to Dead Space: The atheists are perfectly fine with their beliefs, and indeed, are the only ones with half a clue.
The main character in Dogma became an atheist and an abortion doctor after a family crisis.
Quite possibly subverted in Warhammer 40000 with the Tau Empire, which takes this trope so far it turns back on itself and they become Scary Dogmatic Aliens. Definitely subverted with the Imperium of Man, which was founded to free humanity from the shackles of superstition and religion on the basis that there were no gods, no demons, nothing that could not be explained by science. Saying this was disproved is an EXTREME understatement.
- As far as I know the gods and demons of Warhammer 40000 are all explainable by science. Or rather psionic pseudo-science.
Much to this troper's annoyance, Slade Craven, whom is arguably the main character of Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal and a Marily Manson Expy, is never stated to be a satanist to this troper's knowledge, but has implied atheism. At the end of the film, having gone an incredible distance on nothing but his own competence, has to convert to Christianity, in a "No Atheists In Foxholes" moment before he can resolve the plot. Pardon me whilst I shove whomsoever was responsible into Slade Craven's situation at the time.

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