History Film / Dogma

** The origins of the Mooby franchise, as related by Loki, include allusions to MickeyMouse (the bi-coastal theme parks), UsefulNotes/McDonalds (the fast food restaurants), Franchise/BarneyAndFriends (created by a school teacher) and various doll lines for little girls like {{Franchise/Barbie}} and Franchise/MyLittlePony (whose creators are mostly known only to fans of the respective franchises).

** Jay & Silent Bob have the tickets to Illinois in their pocket during their scene in ''Film/ChasingAmy''.
** When Bethany tells Jay and Silent Bob that she didn't take them out for sex, Jay [[Film/{{Clerks}} says he's okay with head]].
** When talking to "Larry" and "Barry", Jay talks about trying to wreck the Dating Game stage in ''Film/{{Mallrats}}''. Another reference to that film is one of the news vans at the church has "KREL 6 News" on it; they were the station that produced Truth or Date (or at least broadcast it).
** In the end, Jay says they should go to the [[Film/{{Clerks}} Quick Stop]].

* HolyBurnsEvil: The triplets are killed when Bethany blesses the sink at the bar and their heads are dunked in, while Glick's blessed golf club [[spoiler:does in Azazel]].

'''Loki:''' No, "Through the Looking-Glass". That poem, "The Walrus and the Carpenter," that's an indictment of organized religion. The walrus, with his girth and his good nature, he obviously represents either Buddha, or, or with his tusks, the Hindu elephant god, Lord Ganesha. That takes care of your Eastern religions. Now the carpenter, which is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ, who was raised a carpenter's son, he represents the Western religions. Now in the poem, what do they do? What do they do? They, they dupe all these oysters into following them and then proceed to shuck and devour the helpless creatures en masse. I don't know what that says to you, but to me it says that following: these faiths based on mythological figures ensures the destruction of one's inner being. Organized religion destroys who we are by inhibiting our actions, by inhibiting our decisions out of, out of fear of some, some intangible parent figure who, who shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says, and says, "Do it... do it and I'll fuckin' spank you."

-->'''Bartleby:''' Y'know, were's what I don't get about you. You know for a ''fact'' that there is a God. You've been in His presence, He's spoken to you ''personally''-- yet I just heard you claim to be an atheist.\\

* DirtyCoward: Azrael is considered this for not taking part in the conflict between God and Lucifer because he was a Muse despite other Muses fighting, causing him to be cast from Heaven along with the actual traitors. Even Jay is disgusted by the reveal.

-->'''Rufus:''' Christ's only real beef with mankind is the shit that gets carried out in His name. Wars, bigotry, televangelism. The big one, though, is the fractioning of all of the religions. He said mankind got it all wrong by taking a good idea and building a belief structure on it.

* AngelsInOvercoats: The movie's nogoodnik angels Bartleby and and Loki (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) are decked out in wool overcoats, worn over hooded sweatshirts to symbolize their halos. Alan Rickman's creation-weary but non-evil Metatron also wears a hoodie, but under a shorter jacket. (Creator Kevin Smith identifies ''Wings of Desire'''s use of overcoat-as-angel-uniform as the inspiration for having his angels wear a unifying article -- in this case, the hoodie. The overcoat look for Bartleby and Loki undoubtedly originates from the same source.)

Late one night, abortion clinic employee Bethany receives a visit from [[Creator/AlanRickman The Metatron]], the angel who acts as the voice of {{God}} ("Any documented occasion when some yahoo claims God has spoken to them, they're speaking to me")[[note]] Or they're talking to themselves[[/note]]. The Metatron tasks Bethany with a [[MissionFromGod holy mission]]: she must visit a Catholic church in New Jersey on a specific day to prevent disgraced angels [[Creator/BenAffleck Bartleby]] and [[Creator/MattDamon Loki]] from taking advantage of a special absolution ceremony being held there. The ceremony would grant forgiveness to ''anyone'' for ''any'' sin, and because the Bible says God must hold true in Heaven what holds true on Earth, this ceremony would allow the angels to return to Heaven.

** Early in the movie, Rufus rants about the Bible being edited to say that Jesus was white, when he was, in fact, black. Then much later in the movie, Rufus reveals that [[spoiler:Bethany is the great-great-great-etc.-grand niece of Jesus. Then, stoned out of his mind, Jay responds "Wait, does that make Bethany part black?"]]
*** And again at the end of the credits in the DVD. [[spoiler:Jay: "So, Bethany... part black?"]]
*** The best part? Not only does the (real-life) Bible never actually specify Jesus's ethnicity, but the facts that Judas had to single him out with that Kiss, that His family and friends are openly amazed at just how ''mundane'' a person he seemed (aside from the sinlessness and Miracles, of course) on several occasions, and the fact that he lived in the Middle-East mean that he was ''Arabic.''[[spoiler:He dies at the end, though.]]
*** This isn't true. The Arabian Conquest didn't take place for several centuries after the events of the New Testament and whilst Arabs already resided in the sputhern Levant they were a minority population. In any case, Jesus is explicitly Jewish in the narrative.

* HolidayPardon: The plot revolves around a special absolution ceremony happening in a Catholic (at least [[ArtisticLicenseReligion the film's version of it]]) cathedral in Redbank, New Jersey. Two {{Fallen Angel}}s set off on a journey to exploit this because the ceremony would grant forgiveness to anyone for any sin, and because the Bible says God must hold true in Heaven what holds true on Earth, this ceremony would allow the angels to return to Heaven. However, the angels' potential absolution presents a big problem: God had specifically barred them from ever returning to Heaven, so their dogmatic absolution would disprove God's infallibility -- and bring an end to all existence. The protagonist is given the {{call|ToAdventure}} to prevent this from happening.
%%* HollywoodAtheist: Bethany, but she slowly regains her faith during the movie. Also Liz, her friend from the abortion clinic.

* HourglassPlot: In the beginning, Loki is portrayed as the more ruthless and reckless, wanting to go on one more divinely righteous killing spree before re-entering heaven, while Bartleby is the one who feels compassion for the humans and is more reserved. However, halfway through Bartleby snaps and becomes an OmnicidalManiac bent on killing everyone, and it is Loki who is attempting to hold him back.

* DumbassHasAPoint: It is Jay who recommends the idea of trying to get Glick to close the church. Even the Metatron is surprised. No one seems to notice that it's Silent Bob's idea. Since Jay and Silent Bob are along for the ride specifically as "prophets", this was probably intentional.

%%* HollywoodAtheist:
%%** Bethany, but she slowly regains her faith during the movie.
%%** Also Liz, her friend from the abortion clinic.

%%* HomoeroticSubtext: Bartleby and Loki; so very much subtext, which is mentioned and played with throughout the movie.

* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Loki's single-action Desert Eagle somehow manages to fire without having the hammer cocked. The behind-the-scenes reason for this is that the gun is a non-functioning prop. Also, all the shooting happens offscreen, so it never has to actually work.

** Bartleby gives a shout out to the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk before he kills a police officer.

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Serendipity pretty much relies on Azrael giving Silent Bob a free shot.]]

** Although Cardinal Glick's "Catholicism WOW!" campaign is a cynical move to [[WereStillRelevantDammit increase the relevance of the Church in modern society]] (and therefore increase attendance), his reasoning behind it is sound.

** Cardinal Glick thinks that Jesus should be branded this way with the "Buddy Christ" imagery.

* FliesEqualsEvil: The buzzing of flies accompanies the EnfantTerrible Stygian Triplets wherever they go.

* CulturallyReligious: At the beginning of the film, Bethany doesn't believe in God anymore and works at an abortion clinic but still goes to Mass on every Sunday. In a deleted scene she's the only one who pays attention to the clergy while everyone in Mass are either uninterested, indifferent, or apathetic (and apparently keep taking the clergy's parking space despite telling them politely not to). This relates to Serendipity's problem with people treating religion as a burden.

* CulturallyReligious: At the beginning of the film, Bethany doesn't believe in God anymore and works at an abortion clinic but still goes to Mass on every Sunday. In a deleted scene she's the only one who pays attention to the clergy while everyone in Mass are either uninterested, indifferent, or apathetic (and apparently keep taking the clergy's parking space). This follows Serendipity's discussion of how people treat religion as a burden.

** Metatron comforts Bethany when she breaks down over what's being asked of her, that Christ reacted the very same way when Metatron told him of His own destiny and that He'd one day have to die to save the world. Metatron then softly tells her that he's never told anyone, but even ''he'' questioned God's decision, feeling it wasn't fair to deliver this cruel news to a poor, scared child, and admitting that he regrets not being able to take away Christ's destiny and give him a normal life.

* NotMeThisTime: While Lucifer himself doesn't make an appearance, he's ruled out as a suspect for god's disappearance. The reason is twofold, if it Had been him he's already be making his move and try to take over heaven, and he stands to be erased from existence along with everything else should Bartleby and Loki succeed.

* CastingGag: Creator/GeorgeCarlin (who had several stand-up routines about being RaisedCatholic and subsequently lapsing) as a Cardinal.

* CrisisOfFaith: One interpretation of Bethany's RaisedCatholic status. She goes to church and prays and otherwise mechanically goes through the motions of her faith without any actual faith behind it, with her jadedness helped not at all by her working in an abortion clinic. So naturally, she is rather surprised when an angel appears before her with a MissionFromGod [[spoiler:well, not quite.]]

* RaisedCatholic: At the beginning of the film, Bethany doesn't believe in God anymore and works at an abortion clinic but still goes to Mass on every Sunday. In a deleted scene she's the only one who pays attention to the clergy while everyone in Mass are either uninterested, indifferent, or apathetic (and apparently keep taking the clergy's parking space). This follows Serendipity's discussion of how people treat religion as a burden.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Loki does this during his dressing down of the Mooby director's board.
-->'''Loki:''' ...flew to Thailand on the company account to have sex with an eleven. Year. Old. BOY!