Basic Trope: A character who is aware of the existence of a deity (or deities), but refuses to worship them.
- Straight: Bob believes in the existence of God, but is not too fond of Him.
- Exaggerated: Bob knows the undeniable proof that God truly exists while outright telling God that he hates His guts.
- Downplayed: Bob doesn't outright hate God, but wants nothing to do with him.
- Justified:
- Bob thinks that God is cruel for allowing suffering and evil in the world to test people's trust in Him.
- Bob believes that God Is Evil and isn't worthy of his worship.
- Bob just doesn't care about religion or whatever God is doing.
- Bob believes in God, but refuses to worship him because people fight wars, commit genocide and oppress minorities in his name and God does nothing to stop his followers from doing those things.
- Bob has met God in person and he turned out to be a jerk.
- Inverted:
- Bob doesn't believe in the existence of God although he seems to like Him.
- God believes that Bob exists, but strongly dislikes him.
- Subverted:
- Bob initially dislikes God but they reach an agreement wherein he respects God and what he does.
- It's not that Bob doesn't like God. What he does have a problem with is all the rules and expectations this God expects him to play by, or the way he's been treated by the humans who purport to follow this God.
- Double Subverted:
- He calls off the agreement the next day.
- Bob respects God but refuses to worship him to not be associated with overzealous a-holes
- Because he has such a problem with "fitting in," he stops attending worship and swears off organized religion forever.
- Parodied: God and Bob are Vitriolic Best Buds. They golf together, eat together and all the while Bob talks about how much he can't stand this or that about God's working methods (and his golf swing).
- Zig Zagged: Bob's opinion of God changes every day of the week.
- Averted: Bob believes in God and believes Him to be worthy of worship.
- Enforced: "We don't want an atheist character since all of these Moral Guardians will start complaining. Let's have a character who believes in God, but isn't fond of Him."
- Lampshaded:God: Bob doesn't seem like a big fan of Me.
- Or:
Bob: "How long do I have to ignore Him until He gets bored and goes away?" - Invoked: Satan pretends to be God and does something horrible to Bob, "and because I'm all-powerful, I can get away with this, Bob, and everyone still has to worship me!"
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: A Good Shepherd tells him about the Prodigal Son parable, in order to try to quench his grudge against God.
- Discussed:The Fundamentalist: "People like Bob should ought to show respect for the one who created us all or else he will burn!"Bob: "I wouldn't have a problem showing respect to the creator, it's the 'or else' I have a problem with."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: During a church service, the congregation is praising God, except for Bob who is seen sulking.
- Deconstructed:
- If God is as unjust as Bob believes, this makes it all the more unwise to anger him. Bob understands this all too well, and thus lives in constant terror because he cannot force himself to love God.
- How can a mortal fully comprehend a god's duty? Even if it's an Odd Job Gods of grass color, can a mortal be responsible for every blade of grass in the world? Bob not acknowledging the gods' roles in various aspects of the world he lives in makes him sounds like a Ungrateful Bastard.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob cannot force himself to love God and fears retribution but God tells him not worry about it; it's a "whenever you're ready" thing.
- God is just an unjust as bob believes he is - and Bob still doesn't really care about it, no matter what God tries to do in order to force him to worship it. After all, if he truly cared about God's attitude regarding him he wouldn't be a real Nay-Theist, would he?
- Realizing just how much the gods have done for the world, Bob acknowledges and gives thanks for what they have done, but still does not worship them, regarding the gods as public servants to whom he can be thankful, but have no personal relationship with.
Back to Nay-Theist.
