Web Animation / God's Gang

God's Gang!^note Clockwise from the top: Sumuslim, Taekwonhindu, Ninjew, and Chris Cross.

Four different faiths,

One God, one love.

Saving the day,

With some help from above

We may not agree on when to pray

But when we join hands, help is on the way!

—Theme Song

God's Gang is an interfaith children's YouTube series, created by Nimrod-Avraham May. It focuses on a team of four theologically-themed superheroes, Chris Cross, Ninjew, Sumuslim, and Taekwonhindu, putting their differences aside and using the harmonized powers of their respective religions to defend the world from evil.

God's Gang had picked up a pretty split controversy upon the release of its pilot, due to its strange nature. While some criticized the show for being potentially offensive to certain faiths by being rather sacrilegious in that all of these signifiers of people's religions are going around, beating people up, utilizing mild stereotypes ^note (like having Ninjew being nerdy or having Sumuslim using bombs as weapons), and having characters of their own faith fraternize with people of the faiths they disagree with, others praised the show for teaching kids religious tolerance at such a young age, especially in such a fun, adventurous, and heartwarming way.

At first glance, the show can be stigmatized as an innocently insensitive show made by a team of mostly white writers. However, the team working on God's Gang is very diverse, both religiously and culturally, even including an "Interfaith Council" on the writing team, consisting of high clerics of their religions, ^note (Priest Brandon Jones, Rabbi Shlomo Chayen, Imam Abed Mawasi, and a Hindu specialist, Sanya Tyagi) all serving as cultural consultants, making sure the characters of their respective faiths are being portrayed accurately and respectfully, suggesting that despite any unfortunate implications the show may let on, God's Gang is made in good faith.

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God's Gang provides examples of:

• Afro Asskicker: Chris Cross is one of the main heroes had he has a big afro.
• All Your Powers Combined: God's Gang will harmonize by having them all pray together, which helps them generate a massive field of Godlike power.
• Anti-Villain:
  • Both of the antagonists in the first episode fall under this;
  • The REALLY Mad Scientists were bullied in their youth and are kidnapping children to get them to play with them. Their bio states that they are "misunderstood".
  • The Reptilios are stealing the air of whales, but it's because their planet is dying and they are stealing it for their survival.
• Culture Chop Suey: The group represent Abrahamic and South Asian religions, but three of their fighting styles reference East Asian martial arts.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dogma is always quick with a quip when giving out missions.
  Dogma: I've got a search and rescue mission for you. The world's entire population of blue whales is disappearing.
  Chris Cross: Disappearing? Where are they going?
  Dogma: Yeah, Chris. That's the "search and rescue" part.
• Five-Token Band: The series focuses on four people of different faiths and ethnicities. Chris Cross is black and Christian, Ninjew is white and Jewish, Sumuslim is Middle Eastern and Muslim, and Taekwonhindu is Indian and Hindu.
• Forced Sleep: Sumuslim can put people in a trance by telling old tales.
• French Jerk: Le Dove is wears a beret and talks in a French accent. He is portrayed as rude, arrogant, and often spits when he talks.
  Le Dove: (spit) Stupid aliens. They're lucky they faced off against God's Gang instead of Le Dove. Le Dove would have taken off his white glove and slapped them across the face.
• Furry Confusion: Although such characters as Dogma and Le Dove can speak, other animals such as the whales in Episode 1 are normal animals, who can only communicate in whale sounds, giving Taekwonhindu's superpowers purpose.
• Gentle Giant: Sumuslim is the largest member of the team, but also is stated to be the most kindhearted.
• Granola Girl: Taekwonhindu is a nature lover, who connects deeply with the flora and fauna God gave her.
• Height Angst: Ninjew is the smallest member of the team and suffers this in the first episode where his height makes him unable to go on a roller coaster and later makes him unable to stop the Mad Scientists.
• Interfaith Smoothie: God's Gang is composed of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism all working together as a Pantheistic powerhouse.
• Invisibility: One of Ninjew's powers is his Kabbalah invisibility powder.
• Irony: "Turning the Other Cheek" is one of Chris Cross' fighting moves.
• Jewish and Nerdy: Ninjew has Nerd Glasses, Nerdy Nasalness, has the special ability of "Ana-Laser" where he can analyze any problem and strategically find a solution, making him The Smart Guy of the team.
• Mad Scientist: One of the villain teams on the show is literally called "The Mad Scientists" and they perform all kinds of evil science to cause mayhem around town.
  Mad Scientist: Okay, now we're even madder scientists!
• Mission Control: Dogma is the team's operator, who wears a headset and gives God's Gang their missions over the video screen.
• Momma's Boy: Chris Chris is characterized as a man who loves his mama.
  Chris Cross: Okay, this is definitely not the kind of party Mama would approve of!
• Punny Name: All of the characters have names that are puns on their religions and fighting techniques;
  • Chris Cross - The Karate fighting Christian.
  • Ninjew - The Ju-Jitsu fighting Jew.
  • Sumuslim - The Sumo fighting Muslim.
  • Taekwonhindu - The Taekwondo fighting Hindu.
  • There's also "Dogma", who's a holy dog in Heaven, who gives God's Gang their missions.
  • "Le Dove" is supposedly a pun on "Love", a feature of all four religions, the show is primarily focused on promoting.
• Oh, My Gods!: Despite being super religious, all of the characters regularly use their respective Gods' names in vain, so much so that their blasphemous interjections can be seen as catchphrases.
  Taekwonhindu: Great Vishnu!
  Ninjew: My God!
  Sumuslim: Ya Allah!
  Chris Cross: Oh Lord!
• Rugged Scar: Le Dove has a battle scar under his eye, suggesting that he's been through some things.
• The Smurfette Principle: Taekwonhindu is the only woman in the team so far.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Taekwonhindu's special ability is to speak with animals.
• Shout-Out: In "Love is in the Airhole", one of the aliens asks a clownfish, "Isn't your daddy looking for you?"
• Team Chef: Sumuslim puts his master culinary skills to good use after a long day of fighting crimes, by serving up food to the rest of the team.
  Sumuslim: Today's interfaith special, Veggie-Curry KebabBurger with Latkes!
• Team Pet: Dogma and Le Dove.
• Telepathy: One of Taekwonhindu's powers is communicating with humans and animals telepathically.
  Sumuslim: Taekwonhindu, block and tackle!
  Taekwonhindu: You read my mind, which is weird cuz I'm the telepath.
• Talking Animal: Dogma and Le Dove are both a dog and a dove, respectively, who can speak perfect English.
• Third-Person Person: Le Dove always talks in third person.
• Turn the Other Cheek: Subverted with Chris Cross, who uses his cheeks as (albeit defensive) weapons in battle.
• Vague Age: Though the rest of the team appear to all be adults who are at least in their 20s, Ninjew looks like a little boy, however he implies he's an adult with his Bar Mitzvah happening years ago.
  Ninjew: Kid!? Do you know how long ago my Bar Mitzvah was!?