History Main / AcceptableReligiousTargets

Need a joke about polygamy? Then they're your target (even though almost all of them gave it up over 100 years ago).

** I think it's worth noting that the Tibetan Government pre-invasion wasn't strictly a Theocracy, but a kind of semi-religious bureaucracy with the Lhasa government having dual representatives at every level, one from the aristocratic land-owning class and one from the monastic society. So it had problems, but to say that military invasion by Communist China, followed by years of repression and violence is plausibly more desirable than national sovereignty is essentially a "They had it coming" argument.

** Hey, they saw it in that movie that Jew made, right? Else, why would the Indian chief played by whatshisname...Mel...Gibson? No wait, he hates Jews...oh, never mind the [[BlazingSaddles Indian chief with them Jewish letters on his headband]]. Yeah, caught my son watching it. It was abominable I'll tell you. Oh, yeah, MelBrooks, that's the name. Despicable. [[spoiler:For those living under a rock, [[DontExplainTheJoke I didn't write that]].]]

** Oh, ''LawAndOrder''. Did you ''really'' need to have [[spoiler: Detective Mike Logan]] as victim of a pedo priest during his youth?

Suffer tons of this. Since (and arguably because of) 9/11, the common portrayal of a Muslim [[AlwaysMale male]] is that of a religious fanatic and sexist who wants nothing more than to spit on the American flag, cover up his wife and chant threats in [[BlackSpeech some Middle Eastern language]].

* Nightcrawler of ''{{X-Men}}'' is often portrayed as a devout Catholic, in stark contrast with his demonic appearance. He is one of the subtler examples, though.
** Unless the writer is Chuck Austen.
** [[DisContinuity Who did what now?]]

* Christian teens are commonly the antagonists in a lot of teen programs (Saved, Easy A) or have to give up their beliefs to become a "better" person (''{{Glee}}'', ''[[SecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager Secret Life]]''). * Commonly, kids in abstinence groups are portrayed as judgmental hypocrites; this possibly is meant to be critical of having opinions on sexually active peers, or criticizing the demonization of contraception, but usually comes off as being "abstinent is directly wrong," and that you are either stupid or selfish for not "doing it," and the advantages abstinence has over contraception (it's cheaper, has no side effects, and has more probability to work) are rarely brought up. However, most main female characters usually will be a [[VirginPower virgin]] and proud of it, but never for religious reasons.

* Christian teens are commonly the antagonists in a lot of teen programs (Saved, Easy A) or have to give up their beliefs to become a "better" person (''{{Glee}}'', ''[[SecretLifeOfAnAmericanTeenager Secret Life]]''). * Commonly, kids in abstinence groups are portrayed as judgmental hypocrites; this possibly is meant to be critical of having opinions on sexually active peers, or criticizing the demonization of contraception, but usually comes off as being "abstinent is directly wrong," and that you are either stupid or selfish for not "doing it," and the advantages abstinence has over contraception (it's cheaper, has no side effects, and has more probability to work) are rarely brought up. However, most main female characters usually will be a [[VirginPower virgin]] and proud of it, but never for religious reasons.

** Sorry, but nope. Joss accidently let it slip he [[spoiler:used to be an Operative (remember the black guy in Serenity? That) Also, his name isn't his, he stole it from a dead guy.]]
** Even if Book was an [[spoiler: Operative]], he is still portrayed as a genuinely good person who honestly believes in his faith. Regardless of his past he is a good example of a positive Christian character in Whedon's work.
*** Book hails from the more liberal end of mainstream Christianity; what little we know about his doctrine makes him sound like one of the UCC. Thus, there is a decent chance that he would not be considered Christian by most Christians.
**** Calling him "UCC" is a stretch (Book would likely be more of a moderate Protestant), but even so, UCC are considered one of the ''mainline'' Protestant denominations. We're not talking about Unitarians, something which Shepherd Book definitely ''isn't'' (a Unitarian wouldn't give the speech he gave to River about faith). The only Christians who wouldn't consider the UCC legitimate are the ones laboring under the NoTrueScotsman mindset.

*''[[TheFundamentalist The ultra-religious]]'': There are rarely quietly devout religious believers on American television. Every person openly acknowledged as religious bears some psychological resemblance to the worst, most fundamentalist, most vicious examples of that religion. ''Every'' Muslim, to some extent, secretly admires Osama bin Laden; ''every'' Christian is a closet Jerry Falwell or JackChick... and let's not even ''talk'' about the moronic stereotyping that Jews and Hindus have been forced to endure. Of course, the occasional VerySpecialEpisode will go against the grain of this acceptable target, punishing characters within the show who jump to similar conclusions.
**The Canadian series ''LittleMosqueOnThePrairie'' takes a much more nuanced view of religion with the Muslim and Christian characters ranging from the quietly devout to the cynical. The lead character is a successful lawyer who decided to give up the career and become an imam, for instance, who has often has to deal with the obnoxiously intolerant Babar who is essentially an Islamic [[AllInTheFamily Archie Bunker]]. The imam also goes to see movies with the Anglican reverend. "I don't want to miss one minute of Halle Berry."
**[[TheSimpsons Ned Flanders]] may actually be one of the most positive examples here, as while he is shown to be intermittently dull and closed-minded, he is always shown to be genuinely nice to a fault.
***Though at one point they did decide to reveal that his "genuine" niceness was a result of being spanked for months on end as a child, and thus a result of negative conditioning.
**Averted to some degree in ''{{Firefly}}'' by Shepherd Book, one of the few characters in a JossWhedon series to be (apparently) Christian and not gratuitously evil. Joss also made a point of avoiding this trope with Riley from ''[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'', whose religious belief was mentioned exactly once, and in passing at that.
*** Sorry, but nope. Joss accidently let it slip he [[spoiler:used to be an Operative (remember the black guy in Serenity? That) Also, his name isn't his, he stole it from a dead guy.]]
*** Even if Book was an [[spoiler: Operative]], he is still portrayed as a genuinely good person who honestly believes in his faith. Regardless of his past he is a good example of a positive Christian character in Whedon's work.
**** Book hails from the more liberal end of mainstream Christianity; what little we know about his doctrine makes him sound like one of the UCC. Thus, there is a decent chance that he would not be considered Christian by most Christians.
***** Calling him "UCC" is a stretch (Book would likely be more of a moderate Protestant), but even so, UCC are considered one of the ''mainline'' Protestant denominations. We're not talking about Unitarians, something which Shepherd Book definitely ''isn't'' (a Unitarian wouldn't give the speech he gave to River about faith). The only Christians who wouldn't consider the UCC legitimate are the ones laboring under the NoTrueScotsman mindset.
*** Also in Firefly, the first scene with Mal in the episode 'Serenity' shows him kissing a cross necklace. While he lost his faith at that point, it is a representation of (arguably) the main hero of the series as having been religious at some point.
**Princess Clara of ''DrawnTogether'' is an extremely devout Christian, and arguably gets the least sympathetic portrayal of anyone on the show. She is typically portrayed as closed-minded and intolerant, which often crosses the line into unnecessarily spiteful and hateful. She is generally cast as the villain whenever the show needs one. This is even more unfortunate when one considers that initially, the character was treated [[CharacterDerailment very sympathetically]].
***As a symbol of the religious right, she was NEVER treated sympathetically, as from the start she was shown to be bigoted, a member of the KKK, and generally a hypocrite.

**The Reverend Darren England, in the WhateleyUniverse. He's a fire-and-brimstone preacher, and a hard-line Christian. He's actively trying to get a couple of the protagonists (up to hiring an assassin) because he sees them as threats to all humanity. Okay, he could be right on one of those calls. On the other hand, he also has a long history of working with superhero groups.
*** But averted elsewhere, as at least two of the main protagonists (Loophole and Phase) are devout Christians, with Phase struggling with his beliefs because of the BreakTheHaughty he has gone through. They even had a talk about their religious beliefs in the middle of one of the stories.
**Played straight ''and'' averted in SomethingPositive of all places. The main character's father (Fred) is a quiet man with deep, earnest religious beliefs, but otherwise acts like a normal [[spoiler:(if senile)]] old man. The straight run of the trope came in during a later segment centered around Fred going to a haunted house, which turned out to be run by a bunch of radical Christians showing the horrors of sin and refusing to let people go who wouldn't accept Christ, among other things. When the police became involved and broke the whole thing up, several people who had sat down to protest the haunted house commented negatively about Christians, causing Fred to protest. When the people expressed surprise that Fred wasn't talking down to them for not being Christian themselves, his response was to... go home quietly and pray.
***Praying with a tear rolling down his eye, to be more specific.
**Let's not forget the WestboroBaptistChurch. Even Baptists don't accept them as Baptist.
***This has at least as much to do with their methods as their views. Lots of [[strike:fundamentalist Christians]] Abrahamic believers in general view homosexuality as an evil, but the vast majority agree that picketing the funerals of soldiers and AIDS victims is [[MoralEventHorizon taking things way too far]]. What's more the WBC extremely [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizes]] Christianity from a religion that just happens not to approve of homosexuality to one that is built around militant hatred of it and generally ignoring everything else in the Bible.

*** Wait, isn't the WBC a [[PoesLaw just a]] [[StealthParody parody?]]
*** No, that's Landover Baptist, a parody website. WBC is a political/quasi religious cult/hate group.
***There was a lot of *ahem* discussion on this issue, which can now be found on the Discussion page if you really want to read it. While there are a lot of opposing views within the various Christian faiths on homosexuality, the fact remains that while a lot of people disapprove of it, few seem to have the sort of rage that the WBC does. Or inspire it, for that matter.
*** I think the WBC belongs under {{Acceptable Political Targets}} rather than here. They seem to be a church the way four acres, two sheep, and a pony is a "farm": i.e., just enough of one to technically qualify for certain legal and tax benefits. (It's no coincidence that the Phelpsies contain a stunning proportion of attorneys.) And what they're ridiculed for isn't their religious beliefs and practices so much as their social-political activity.
**Intentionally subverted in the Norwegian comic strip ''Kollektivet'' with the acknowledged Muslim Mounir, whose non-fundamentalism (and his clashes with the racist ignoramuses he bumps into all the time) is the source of much humor. Not so much with his extended family, who are all ultra-religious Osama-supporting crazies, though.
**''TheChasersWarOnEverything'', after doing a segment on Australian fundamentalist group Catch The Fire Ministries, had a skit featuring an irate viewer complaining about them making fun of Christians, providing the quote at the top of the page. They then did a segment satirizing the Israeli army. This was followed by the same irate viewer saying "I bet you're too gutless to go the Muslims". Cue a segment on Middle Eastern TV. "What about the Hindus?" they "outsourced the show to India". At the end of the episode, they had the same irate viewer complaining that they hadn't made fun of Jedi.
**This tends to show through in how people will focus on a few certain episodes of ''TouchedByAnAngel'', singling out those that come closest to being ultraconservative to try and make them representative of the show as a whole. This ignores the many episodes that fly in the face of this perception, including one where the angels very clearly, and in no uncertain terms, informed a gay man dying of AIDS that God loved him unreservedly, was not in any way punishing him, and that he had led a wonderful life with many things to be proud of, without a single whiff of "love the sinner but not the sin".
**Angela on the American version of ''The Office'' is described as a very religious person who is serious about her convictions. She is also very judgmental, condescending and cheated on her fiance, Andy, with co-worker Dwight. So add hypocrite to that list.
*** Also fits with EverybodyHasLotsOfSex trope in that the person who disapproves of others' promiscuity (or in Angela's case even mild flirting and use of "whorish" colors) will turn out to be a hypocrite.
** The [[CorruptChurch Church Of The Assembly Of Man]] in ''FanFic/TheReturn'' who are all [[KnightTemplar batshit insane]] in their "[[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope defence]]" of humanity.
** Deconstructed in the British [[BlackCOmedy comedy]] FourLions which pokes fun at a group of five Muslim suicide bombers who can't quite decide what to blow up. However, most of the Lions aren't actually that religious. Omar, for example, is shown to have a pretty liberal relationship with his wife, who doesn't even wear hijab except at work. One is so out of touch with his own religion he learns about it from a children's book called "Camel Goes To The Mosque". It's heavily implied the Lions are glory-seekers rather than actual believers. The only true fundamentalist amongst their numbers is Barry, the white, working-class Muslim convert. Because of this, the person eventually blamed for the terrorist incident is Omar's brother, who is highly fundamentalist (he has a harem and refuses to enter the same room as a woman) but peace-loving, nonviolent and completely harmless.
*''Ultra-Orthodox Jews'': The ones about Jews are sort of true by a bizarre self-reinforcement effect. The Ultra-Orthodox Jews spend a '''lot''' of time and money telling all the other Jews that the only proper expression of Jewish culture, history, or heritage is an Orthodox lifestyle. So devout Jews tend to stay quiet around Gentiles and then turn annoyingly preachy around other members of their own faith.
*''Hinduism'': Possibly has something to do with it resembling pagan polytheism that was utterly displaced by Christianity in the West in Europe, Africa (along with Islam) and much of America. The fact that many polytheistic were conquered by empires in Christendom, such as India, gives SOME Christians a cultural compulsion to look down on Hinduism as something silly and bizarre that 'went out of date' thousands of years ago like Europe's pre-Christian traditions.
**In ''TheSimpsons'', Apu constantly references (and jokes about) his Hindu faith, but is also a fully fleshed-out character, with various beliefs and habits outside his religion.
***''"Please do not offer my god a peanut."''
***The closest you'll probably get is Mortal Kombat 3.
*''Buddhists'': They are more or less nonexistent in the media, with the exception of a few passing mentions. The most widely-known Buddhist on television is Lisa Simpson, and she rarely brings the matter up for discussion. Another example, in ''TheDresdenFiles,'' one skeptic, meeting the main (Wizard) character for the first time, asks him if he's "One of those Zen nutjobs". May be TruthInTelevision -- Buddhism has different values on discussing religion with other people, which would preclude a lot of the superficial evidence of being overly devout.
**Sometimes Buddhism is portrayed as very peaceful and more like a philosophy when in fact it has been fanatical when it wants to be - look at Japanese and Chinese {{warrior monk}}s in history for example, and Japanese Buddhism's coercion and involvement in the massacre of Japanese Christians in the 1600s. There's also this whole worldwide cult of respect for the Dalai Lama, despite the fact that the feudal theocracy he briefly ruled included legal slavery and the mutilation/blinding of serfs who abandoned their lords' lands; how much more desirable this would be than Communist China is an open question.
***I think it's worth noting that the Tibetan Government pre-invasion wasn't strictly a Theocracy, but a kind of semi-religious bureaucracy with the Lhasa government having dual representatives at every level, one from the aristocratic land-owning class and one from the monastic society. So it had problems, but to say that military invasion by Communist China, followed by years of repression and violence is plausibly more desirable than national sovereignty is essentially a "They had it coming" argument.
***The Dalai Lama put in a clause in the constitution that he worked with the Tibetan people to make. This clause gave the peasants the option, if they so chose, to impeach him as head of state. The people openly wept about this being an option, but he insisted on it being kept in. I am pretty sure that they really want to have the Dalai Lama as their dictator. You can't fault him for not adhering to democracy while ignoring the actual will of the people.
****Wait, are you talking about the constitution that was adopted by the Tibetan government-in-exile in ''1991''? Because that would mean that the vast majority of Tibetans who voted for that constitution never actually lived in pre-occupation Tibet...
*****I don't think anybody's arguing that if the Dalai Lama went back and started ruling Tibet to-morrow it would be at all like it was until 1959. Simply, these things change. The Dalai Lama himself was just as ignorant about the world at large as the rest of the Tibetan population in those days.
****Then there's the more recent ban on the worship of Dorje Shugden -- a major deity in the history of Tibetan Buddhism -- on the advice of an oracle who claimed the practice would harm the Dalai Lama's personal health (and, therefore, the cause of Tibet). Worshipers of Dorje Shugden regularly protest and plead to this day for a lift on the ban, which they say has led to intense persecution in their communities, including violence and death threats. The Dalai Lama has refused to respond to any such pleas or indeed to condemn the persecution.
***Regarding the Japanese Christian massacre - that was less influenced by Buddhism and more by political considerations. Basically, the shogunate needed to keep the people loyal, especially since it was still a relatively young government, and foreign influences weakened this loyalty, especially Christianity with its emphasis of utter loyalty to God over government, family, etc. Buddhism factored in little if at all.
***Maybe so, but contemporary accounts have shown that Buddhist monks were all to happy to help the Tokugawa in doing so.
****Which makes sense, if you also read what the christians did before the wind turned against them. Burning ships upon ships filled with irreplaceable buddhist relics (the actual reports from the missionaires report this with glee), trying to make daimyo do massive forceful conversions, and so on. The christian missionaires created the emnity of the buddhists by their own actions...on purpose. They knew very well what they were doing.
***Oh, and the fact that the Dalai Lama pertains to a certain sect of Buddhism, not to mention China and Japan and whatnot also have their own versions as it spread.
**Otto, from ''A Fish Called Wanda'' also claims to be Buddhist... although he's probably a sect of one within the religion proper...
***He's also at least partially just an idiot putting on airs, since it's revealed in a confrontation with his girlfriend that he doesn't actually appear to really understand or even know a lot of the philosophy he claims to practice.
**On SouthPark, ''God'' is a Buddhist. And yet [[RuleOfFunny only Mormons are allowed into heaven]]. [[spoiler:Saddam Hussein also gets sent there, but it's a punishment.]]
***God being Buddhist is somewhat justified. I mean, who's ''he'' got to worship?
**Westerners who adopt Buddhism are often portrayed as trendy, shallow, credulous yuppies who swill $7 coffee drinks and call their therapist to reschedule while they drive their Volvos to yoga class.
***But Buddhism discourages a desire for material possessions...
***That's where the scorn comes from, that not content to be just regular yuppies but that they're self hating hypocritical yuppies.
**Don't forget Inara in ''{{Firefly}}''... Or do space Buddhist hookers not count?
***Then again, her Buddhism is informed at best and gets mocked on the one occasion it's brought up ("''Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony, and a plastic rocket, and...''").
****It's Mal. He doesn't believe in DudeNotFunny.
*''Catholics'': Following the revelation that parts of the Church hierarchy were complicit in covering up child abuse by their own priests, a growing trend has been to depict priests as being child abusers and pedophiles.
**{{Moviebob}} ripped the new ''XFiles'' movie for, among other things, having the pedophile ex-priest be the most ''likable'' clergyman in the film.
**''{{Amen}}'' is a good example of this phenomenon. The Reverend Gregory, who has devoted his life to the church, is treated with respect; Deacon Frye, who is devoutly religious but has not devoted his life to the church, fits the stereotypes listed earlier. There's also an exception: Gerstein, who is devotedly religious but takes action against the Holocaust because he thinks killing people will send Germany to Hell.
**Calamities of Nature [[http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=355 points out the hypocrisy of people being outraged]] about Tiger Woods in light of the Catholic Church's problems with sex abuse.
**Nightcrawler of ''{{X-Men}}'' is often portrayed as a devout Catholic, in stark contrast with his demonic appearance. He is one of the subtler examples, though.
***Unless the writer is Chuck Austen.
***[[DisContinuity Who did what now?]]
**There was a period a few years ago when seemingly every crime show on television had a pedophile priest, [[RippedFromTheHeadlines in response to the real-life scandals.]] It still often comes up today, though it's usually averted in some fashion.
***Oh, LawAndOrder. Did you ''really'' need to have [[spoiler: Detective Mike Logan]] as victim of a pedo priest during his youth?
**[[TheXFiles Scully]] seems to have got through okay, though this may be because A) she's a main character and B) she wasn't particularly devout until much later in the series.
**[[{{Bones}} Seeley Booth]] is Catholic, though the most that has been made of his faith is his and Brennan's frequent arguments about the validity of faith and belief vs. science and rationality.
***Actually, StephenKing never seems to target Catholicism at ''all'', as none of King's horribly self-righteous pseudo-religious characters seem even ''similar'' to Catholics, but more so over-the-top extremist Fundamentalist. Carrie's mom and Mrs. Carmody both have more in common with JackChick or Fred Phelps, meaning they'd probably despise Catholics as much as they despised anyone else they considered sinful. As for the Children of the Corn, well...their religion is so mutated from what seems to have only ''once'' been a form of Christianity that they would probably kill ''most'' Christians, Catholics included, who happened upon their little town, since their beliefs are even more twisted and removed from mainstream Christianity than those of Mrs. Carmody and Mrs. White ''combined''. And that says a lot.
**Cardinal Glick from ''{{Dogma}}'' is shown to be rude, shallow, and pretty cynical. Appropriately enough, he was played by the late GeorgeCarlin. Bethany spends the beginning of the movie feeling rather PO'd towards Catholicism in general (since she thinks that God's a bit of a jerk for letting her life get so screwy) and the actual divine beings are all shown to be foulmouthed and a bit nutty, but the ultimate point made is that the religion itself isn't bad, just that some people interpret it badly.
**Bishop Lilliman from ''VForVendetta''. Though technically Anglican, he still falls under the pedophilia of the Catholic priests. Every Sunday, he hires an underage girl, has her brought to the cathedral, and does... things.
*''Mormons'': Need a joke about polygamy? Then they're your target (even though almost all of them gave it up over 100 years ago).
**Though [[{{Twilight}} Stephenie Meyer]] may not have helped matters much...
***It's a good way to tell who in the hatedom is a truly bigoted jerk, though.
**And any joke about Mormons lets you make one about their belief that Indians are Jews.
*** Hey, they saw it in that movie that Jew made, right? Else, why would the Indian chief played by whatshisname...Mel...Gibson? No wait, he hates Jews...oh, never mind the [[BlazingSaddles Indian chief with them Jewish letters on his headband]]. Yeah, caught my son watching it. It was abominable I'll tell you. Oh, yeah, MelBrooks, that's the name. Despicable. [[spoiler:For those living under a rock, [[DontExplainTheJoke I didn't write that]].]]
**Then there are the stories about Mormons that range from missionaries scouring the globe for women to kidnap and imprison as sex slaves in their temples to being mistaken for the Amish.
**Some of us Mormons also have a little chuckle at our own expense. Our supposed dullness and green Jello with carrots in it. If you can't have a little laugh at yourself, then you're far too serious.
*** Agreed. And the Jello thing is TruthInTelevision. This troper's mom had green jello with shredded cheese in it as a kid, and a family friend had jello with mixed vegetables in it...
** It's also perfectly acceptable to abuse Mormon missionaries knocking on your door or walking in the street; after all, they're bugging you, and they can't retaliate.
** And don't forget the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_garment magical underwear]] that will protect you from evil.
** All that financial support for California's Proposition 8 pretty much cemented the LDS as {{AcceptablePoliticalTargets}}
*''Explicit atheists'': [[DidNotDoTheResearch Even though it cannot really be defined as a religion, it's often lumped as one anyway]]. It's hard to find a happy, well-adjusted, or optimistic individual on (American) television who is an openly avowed atheist. Not appearing to practice or even mention religion at all is fine for everyone, but 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, or even that they severely doubt God exists. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the one of the most prominent real-life atheists, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, was also known for her abrasive personality. In fact it is notable that very few TV atheists are portrayed as having come to this conclusion by dispassionate consideration of the evidence but, much more likely, they have some tragedy in their past such as a DeadLittleSister. As a corollary, such characters often reverse or at least re-examine these views after something good happens to them (often in a VerySpecialEpisode or a DoTheyKnowItsChristmasTime) even if nothing in the episode suggested a supernatural influence. See, for example, House on ''{{House}}'', Mal on ''{{Firefly}}'', or the film ''{{Signs}}''. Less prevalent in Europe were non-religious people make up for a sizable portion of the population. See also HollywoodAtheist.
** Well, to tell the truth, most of the 'verse in Firefly is atheists, and only 2 people on the ship are stated to be religious, and one is Shepard Book, [[spoiler: who is a former Operative]]. It's quite likely that Book and Inara are the only religious people on the ship. If this is correct the most optimistic person to ever exist is an atheist, which is an aversion.
**Averted in the TBS show ''SavingGrace'', where for being a show about an occasionally bitter atheist in the slow process of being "saved" by an actual angel with Special Powers, and as of season two is dating another atheist. They get treated awfully well by the TV show. The main character may be bitter, but the boyfriend is openly avowed and rather happy and well-adjusted without being bitter or having a dark past to drive him to it.
***Is it really an aversion if the path to her happiness needs to include "salvation"? That's more playing it straight.
**ScienceFiction series are often exceptions, since many were ''written'' by atheists, and may go so far as to posit a future where mankind "[[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions no longer needs gods]]".
***A slightly subtler version of this is Garibaldi on {{Babylon 5}}, whom we only learn is an agnostic at the end of the first season, when someone else mentions it. His character, an Italian teetotaling semi-BoisterousBruiser, is more stereotypically Catholic.
***{{Malcolm Reynolds}} hints at being an atheist, especially around SheperdBook, and his past indicates that this is because of the war.
***See also NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus
***And even the Christian writers tend not to interject God himself into the equation, not just because the sci-fi demographic is godless heathen bastards but because it just gets in the way of multicolored shooty things and wondering what's on the other side of a wormhole...and going in anyway. If a character is religious, he will instead spout relevant Biblical verse, or a quote by a medieval Catholic priest of some notoriety.(which also serves as a "we haven't changed so much since then" kind of reminder to both the remainder of the cast and possibly the reader as well.)
**Possible aversion in ''{{Karin}}'', in that vampires are immune to crosses because "{They're} pretty much atheists".
***Since the only vampiric weakness shown in ''{{Karin}}'' is sunlight it's likely that crosses are included in the "worthless crap" bin.
**As is Klinger from ''[[{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'', where many of the cast had subverted "There are no atheists in foxholes" for the sake of war-weary cynicism. (Though in one of the places where it's specifically mentioned, it's because it's noted Klinger is bowing his head in prayer after a touching event, and he claims he's given his agnosticism up for Lent.)
**One episode of ''{{Metalocalypse}}'' included the Church of Atheism being picketed by Agnostics. Toki and Skwisgar's nihilism is occasionally poked at through the series as well.
**Sanya in the DresdenFiles places a spin on this trope. He's charismatic and well-adjusted, unlike the majority of fictional atheists. However, in an epic feat of rationalization, he manages to be both an atheist and a Holy Knight, standing against the forces of evil with a sword given to him by the archangel Michael that contains one of the nails that fixed Jesus to the Cross. He explains to Harry, "I have met many strange and mighty things since I took up the sword. If one called them 'aliens' instead of 'angels,' it would only mean that I was working in concert with powerful beings?not necessarily the literal forces of Heaven, or a literal Creator. A philosophical fine point, true, but I am not prepared to abandon it. What we do is worthy, without ever bringing questions of faith, religion, or God into the discussion."
**[[{{Bones}} Dr. Temperance Brennan]] is probably one of the most well-treated atheists on television. She frequently states her rationale for why she doesn't believe in a God in a calm manner - unsurprising, considering she's an anthropologist above all else - and nothing has ever been made of her being "wrong". She and her Catholic FBI partner get into frequent arguments over her atheism, but over the seasons, he's come to tease her affectionately over it.
***The arguments usually aren't "over Brennan's atheism", though... they're usually started because she'll occasionally come close to ''picking a fight'' with him over some aspect of his belief. This stands in contrast to how she's shown to not only be knowledgeable but openly respectful of pretty much every religion but the Jesus-as-savior ones. She tones it down later as she seems to realize she's antagonizing Booth for no particular reason, and it's [[WildMassGuessing entirely possible]] there's a FreudianExcuse for why she has issues with Catholicism.
**Austin James, the InsufferableGenius hero of the 1988 series ''Probe'', was an avowed atheist who came to his belief (or lack thereof) through reason and deliberation. Or, as he put it:

***It is important to note that ''Probe'' was created by science fiction legend Isaac Asimov, who once gave the very same reason for his own views on religion.
**Maddie Hayes of ''Moonlighting'' is an atheist who is one of the main characters of the show and is generally treated as an excellent human being, with no negative background regarding religion, making her an aversion of this.
**Sooo at some point amidst the numerous examples of atheists being treated "awfully well", are we going to get some of them actually being treated like in the heading description?
***That's what the HollywoodAtheist page is for.
** Most of the characters in ''The Secret Life of the American Teenager'' seem to be, at the very least, non-believers in any major religion, except for Grace, who is the show's village idiot and meddler simply because she's "The Christian," so I think the show is an aversion of treating Atheists as bad.
*''[[ChurchOfHappyology Scientologists]]''.
**And these days, by extension, TomCruise.
***Most notably on ''Superhero Movie''.
**''SouthPark'' might have had the best laugh possible about Scientology -- they simply animated what the Scientologist beliefs are -- that is, that the evil intergalactic space overlord Xenu placed a bunch of space rebels into spaceships that looked like McDonell-Douglas DC-8 jetliners, dumped them in volcanoes on Earth in the prehistoric past, killed them all with ''nuclear weapons'', and the ghosts of these dead space rebels are the cause of everything bad that ever happens to us. Oh, and humans are really space-gods, but these ghosts infesting us are causing us to be mortal. They even had a huge sign flash on screen during this segment -- ''[[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer This is what Scientologists actually believe]]''.
***However, I did some thorough research on the religion for an English project, and found that the story of Xenu (also known as the "Wall of Fire" or " Incident II"), while no doubt a part of the Scientology belief system does not make up the entire crux of Scientology. It's like saying one of the bible stories is the entire bases of Christian belief despite other numerous sources. Still, there's quite a lot of solid evidence that the foundation seeks just to milk potential believers for their money, rather than genuine belief.
****It does form the entire basis for the auditing process, which is one of Scientology's most sacred and most common rituals, and explains where "evil thoughts" come from. It may not be the "entire crux" of Scientology, but it is a major part of it, much like, say, Exodus (and the 10 Commandments contained therein) is a major part of Christianity. The really screwed up part of it, though, is that, despite it being such a large part of Scientology's belief system, the average Scientologist doesn't find out about it until they've already invested years upon years, and thousands upon thousands of dollars, into the religion.
**OrderOfTheStick had a subtle jab at Scientology (or more accurately, at one of its basic books, "Dianetics") in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0195.html this strip]].
**Type "chanology" on Google, and you'll see how ''[[strike:the entire Internet]] [[strike:4chan]] Anonymous'' is currently at war against the Scientology!
**Perhaps the best part is that the founder of the Church of Scientology has publicly stated that he did so as a joke.
**Not to mention the Anonymous protests at LRonHubbard's birthday, almost single-handedly bringing anon into the public eye, although they tend to be taken too seriously by newsgroups.
***Can't remember whether it was Penn or Teller, but one of them certainly stated that the main non-bad thing about the ''Challenger'' disaster was that it blew "that useless, evil rat bastard" L. Ron Hubbard's obituary off the front page.
**The TV show "Dinosaurs" had a subtle jab at this as well, with "L. Mother Hubbard" advertising his book "Dino-Netics: The Science of Selling Books". Nice little two-fer for comparing L. Ron to a fairy-tale teller, and the idea that he only wrote the book to SELL the book.
**In the second episode of ''Californication'', Hank is talking to a woman whose husband just left her for another man. Hank sympathetically says, "Well, it could be worse. He could have left your for a Scientologist." The woman then says, "I'm a Scientologist."
** There ''are'' Scientologists who hold the religions' beliefs, but are opposed to the church and its founder's actions.
*''Satanists''. Although really, Anton Szandor [=LaVey=] kinda selected the trappings of his religion specifically to piss off the {{Muggles}}, so you get what you ask for.
**It should, however, be mentioned that actual Satanism, and Satanism the way it is portrayed in popular media, [[DidNotDoTheResearch are wildly different things]].
***This is true, though not something [=LaVey=] would have a problem with. He'd say that if you're too dumb to figure it out, he didn't want you in his movement anyway.
****In an extension of the above, Satanists who ''aren't'' [=LaVey=]ans. There are three main denominations of Satanism. [=LaVey=]an as mentioned above, the Temple of Set, and Luciferianism (either theistic or atheistic). ''None'' of us act like the fictional Satanists and almost all of us ''loathe'' the very few [[NietzscheWannabe fake ones]] who do, for obvious reasons.
**The word Satan was Hebrew for 'the enemy', and is not to be confused with Devil Worship; so Satanism is the following of a non-Abrahamic religion in God.
*''Polygamists'': If a religion in the United States practices or advocates polygamy, expect everyone in the media to immediately assume that they are perverts. Recently, due to some RealLife convictions of one leader of a polygamist religion, it is also assumed that any religion that advocates polygamy also forces young girls to "marry" old men.
**Isn't that mostly what they ''did'' do?
***There's a little bit of TruthInTelevision about it: in a lot of places where polygamy is or was practiced, you pretty much ''have'' to be rich in order to be able to feed, clothe, and house more than one set of wife + kid(s), and considering how long it can take to make enough money you're likely going to be notably older than your second/third wife.
*''Followers of New Age beliefs'': Portrayed as the most unsympathetic of {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s, with a huge side order of GranolaGirl, unable to finish a sentence without mentioning crystals, auras, star signs, vibrations, past lives, and/or spirit guides. Also note that the media lumps Neopagans, such as Wiccans, in with "New Agers." (When it doesn't portray them as having [[DealWithTheDevil made a pact with Satan]], that is.)
**One time on ''{{Buffy}}'' a group of religious (as against spellcasting) group of Neopagans Willow meets in college are portrayed as idiots who have no idea what they're talking about. Willow and Tara, who simply alter the fabric of realist with no religious connotation at all are portrayed as far wiser.
***TruthInTelevision. Trust me, the scene was not far wrong. That type is known as the College Pagan, the Fluffy Bunny, or the Shirley MacLeaner among the pagan community I hung out in. Also, Willow did invoke various gods and goddesses, so there were definitely religious connotations with her spellcasting.
***What I've always figured is that in a world with ''actual magic'' (of the "instantly altering reality" kind), the same standards wouldn't necessarily apply.
**An episode of Burke's Law had a bunch of self-proclaimed witches dressed up as Glinda the Good and holding the cheesiest ritual ever. The hippie/pagan household I was living in at the time cracked up because we all knew people like that.
**TheSimpsons in "Rednecks and Boomsticks" didn't even seem to know how to parody the Wiccan coven of teenage girls Lisa stumbles across. One minute they're the epitome of stereotypical airhead teenybopper fluffy bunnies, the next they're portrayed as mysterious and ethereal beings of intimidating power (instead of, y'know, just acting like NORMAL teenagers who just happen to be pagan) - until of course [[spoiler:the angry mob of townsfolk who thought they had the power to make everyone go temporarily blind found out it was just moonshine in the water supply]].
**In an episode of ''KingOfTheHill,'' Bobby makes friends with a group of Neo-Pagans. The leader turns out to be a BasementDweller in his 20s.
**Another fun stereotype is the "I'll hex/magically cause suffering to/curse you if you cross me" one. [[DidNotDoTheResearch Rule of three]], anyone?
***[[DidNotDoTheResearch It's unfortunate, the number of Wiccans who think that the rule of three is not an entirely Wiccan invention, and that most other Neopagans believe in it.]]
**Perhaps because New Age = TheForce - TheDarkSide
**Alternatively, they'll be ruthless con artists cynically manipulating people into buying AllNaturalSnakeOil through a veneer of self-righteous airy-fairy drivel.
** Inversely, Norse and Germanic neopagans, also known as Heathens, are often assumed to be white supremacists or neo-Nazis, becuase of their use of Germanic symoblism which has been historically appropriate- much to their dismay and disgust- by such groups. It doesn't help that there ''is'' a vocal racist minority among the Heathen community, which the rest earnestly attempt to distance themselves from.
*''The Amish'', as well as other Plain People (Mennonites, Hutterites, Baptist Brethren, Plain Quakers, and others), not because they are often considered worthy of scorn but simply because, as they isolate themselves from popular culture and modern technology including television and the internet, and so are not in a position to become aware of any slights made against them. Because of said isolation and their old-fashioned lifestyles, many mock them as being backward and simple, though only, of course, in forms of media they do not read.
**{{Weird Al}}'s song and music video "Amish Paradise," a parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". The facts presented in the song are in fact [[ShownTheirWork technically correct]], though [[RuleOfFunny naturally presented in humorous fashion]].
***Further {{Lampshaded}} on a segment of ''ALtv'', where Al, after the video played, declared: "If I offended any Amish people out there, I just want to say...'''''you're not supposed to be watching TV! What are you doing?...Get back to work!'''''"
***As someone raised Mennonite, I have to point out that Weird Al (and the person who wrote this original entry...) makes the mistake of confusing Amish and Mennonites. Mennonites range from almost-Amish groups, such as the Holdemans (some friends of my family were kicked out of a Holdeman congregation... for not voting to kick someone else out), to very liberal congregations who believe in evolution and gay marriage.
**''{{TheBobAndTomShow}}'' featured a band called The Electric Amish, who sing Amish-themed parodies of classic rock songs (such as Barn to be Wild, Give Me Three Pigs, Proud Gretta, and Black Bonnet Girls). They also tell [[StylisticSuck terrible Amish jokes]] in between verses and take frequent shots at Mennonites. The incompatibility of a batch of Amish guys forming a rock group is frequently [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by them not knowing that they're on air or telling each other to hide from the local parson. The general idea is that they're basically everyman type characters who happen to be Amish, but there are definitely jokes at the culture's expense.
**Iain Banks's book ''Whit'' fits the trope.
**The movie ''Kingpin'' is built around this trope, too.
**An episode of ''DextersLaboratory'' sent Dexter to what he thought was a summer camp at a high-tech farm, but turned out to be an Amish farm run by a very morose and boring family. Sent into withdrawal by the lack of science, Dexter built a potato-powered lamp and the family tried to [[BurnTheWitch burn him as a witch]].
**Amish have a lot of other problems that are more or less ignored, such as the practice of shunning or genetic difficulties such as six fingered dwarves because of the founder effect, markedly higher levels of child sexual abuse, and excessive inbreeding due to failures to use exogamy, even with Amish of other villages. It's also notable that Amish are not entirely Luddites, only that new technology has to be approved first to make sure it does not interfere with religion.
***Due to the way that the church hierarchy functions, where the actual line between "interference" is drawn varies from community to community. For example, in some areas, an Amish home may utilize an electric generator, batteries, propane, kerosene-powered refrigerators, or thermal solar collectors. It should be kept in mind that pretty much no Amish sect views technology as inherently evil.
***The Amish are more or less only against technology that does not have primarily work-related purposes. Hence, a truck to bring the harvest to your local wholesaler might be alright, but a nice comfy Volvo station wagon just to ferry your family to church is not so alright. Which is not so bad, after all...
***This Troper visited a museum/educational center in her area about/run by the local Amish families, and they stated that in medical emergencies they do go to hospitals outside of their community and have one communal telephone for emergency purposes. So it stands that, at least in this area, some technologies are accepted for certain purposes, but not for day-to-day uses.
***CraigFerguson often says that the only group you can make fun of on TV is the Amish. The reason he gives is that they don't watch late night TV.
*''Muslims'' suffer tons of this. Since (and arguably because of) 9/11, the common portrayal of a Muslim [[AlwaysMale male]] is that of a religious fanatic and sexist who wants nothing more than to spit on the American flag, cover up his wife and chant threats in [[BlackSpeech some Middle Eastern language]].
**Perhaps an edited JeffFoxworthy bit will help illustrate:

**Sayid Jarrah on ''{{Lost}}'' is mostly an exception--while he ''is'' a very flawed person, he's no more screwed up than the rest of the characters and generally portrayed sympathetically.
**[[LieToMe Lie To Me]] had an episode related to radical Muslim bombings, and the characters were treated in a highly sympathetic manner. In the end it turned out to be [[spoiler: the cousin of one of the victims]] who was [[spoiler: planting bombs in the money collecting tins carried by the young members of the church]], which horrified the rest of the community. They discussed quite frankly the fact that people distrusted the Muslim community even though the majority of them, even the most conservative ones, were appalled at what happened and mourning the loss of two of their young members that were killed while [[spoiler: carrying the bombs without knowing it]]. It contrasted the government's view of the 'bombers' with the view of people who were able to see and interpret the facial expressions of all the people involved.
**** Subverted with Comedy Central. South Park thought that the censorship of Muhammed would be an acceptable target. They were wrong. Comedy Central censored them hard. Recently, they've become a much less acceptable target.

*''Hare Krishnas''. Does anyone here know what they actually believe? I'll bet everyone's familiar with them, but only as punchlines. Hint: they're called 'Society for Krishna Consciousness'. Calling them Hare Krishnas is like calling Catholics "Hail Marys".
**The main thing most people are familiar with is a ''TheFarSide'' strip portraying one disguising himself as an ostrich egg to avoid detection.
**And perhaps that part in ''[=~Airplane!~=]'' where the Hare Krishnas pull a page out of the Jehovah's Witness book, combined with the classic two-bit "doesn't take no for an answer" salesman. If I remember correctly, at ''least'' one gets punched in the face for being a right nuisance. Probably two.
** They also show up in GrandTheftAuto2. As one of the factions you can work for. About as serious as their depiction of the insane, TheMafia, TheMafiya, TheYakuza..
**A Hare Krishna even shows up as a zombie in the original ''DawnOfTheDead.'' He stares at one of the lead characters but stops short of trying to eat him, possibly due to his beliefs.
**Averted in ''National Lampoon's Class Reunion'', where a member of the class shows up dressed like one of these, yet acts exactly like any other old classmate you might run into at a reunion.
*''Jehovah's Witnesses'' - Generally used as the punchline of something or other, much like the Krishnas. Everyone knows of them, but no one knows anything about them.
** [[OrphanedPunchline But I never even saw the accident!]]
**What is known about them is pretty funny. They knock on doors and harass people, they don't celebrate birthdays, and they believe that giving or receiving a blood transfusion is evil. They also aren't allowed to vote, which is probably for the best.
*** Harassment is what it seems like if you go out of your way to avoid talking to them, because they keep coming back until they get a hold of you. If you actually speak to them and ask them not to come back, they put you on a list of people to stay away from. The rest of that is all true.
**Atheist ex-Witness here: Jehovah's Witnesses have no secret beliefs, and are more than happy to talk about them; if you actually want to know what they believe, it's not that difficult to find out.
**Practicing Witness here: Yes, it's true, and we're all aware of the inherent irony of nearly complete obscurity in plain sight. I don't suppose there's anything further to be done about it. On the plus side, it certainly minimizes the Acceptable Target lines of attack.
*''Agnostics, Deists, and Religiously apathetic'' - Seen as wishy-washy fence-sitters by religious folk and atheists alike ([[SarcasmMode because all things in life have no middle ground]]). The main reason for identifying as such is that the existence of God is inherently unknowable and is either not worth trying to prove or not worth caring about.
** Or, for that matter, presenting any (or all) as a middle ground between theism and atheism.
** There's further irony in realizing that agnosticism and belief are not actually mutually exclusive (You might not know the answer but you can still (not) believe in it anyway). This frequently leads self-identifying agnostics and atheists/theists to attack each other, not realizing for the longest time (or at all) that they are both on the same side of the argument, just identifying under different groups.
*''Unitarian Universalism'': Unitarians, though a relatively small religious group, tend to get poked fun of primarily for "believing nothing". This is a gross over-simplification of the modern Unitarian avoidance of dogma and strict religious rules that other religions have. Of course, a large portion of its adherents are wealthy/white/gay/hippy-ish/all of the above anyways, so there are a number of 'AcceptableTargets' to shoot at. It also helps that Unitarians tend to laugh louder than anyone at the jokes. It doesn't help that few people know what the heck a Unitarian is.
**On one episode of 'MASH', Colonel Potter calls the head of chaplains at the Pentagon to lobby for Father Mulcahey to get a promotion. After the call goes through, Colonel Potter says "He answers his own phone, must be a Unitarian."
**On 'TheSimpsons' at the church ice cream social, Reverend Lovejoy asks Lisa if she wants to try the new "Unitarian flavor ice cream". She gets handed an empty bowl and says "But there's nothing there." and the Reverend responds "Exactly."
***Another joke is when Bart goes over to Rod and Todd Flanders and play the only video game they have where you shoot Bibles at cavemen and other heretics to convert them. It leads to this joke, Bart: "Aww man I missed!" Todd: "Nah, you just winged him and made him a Unitarian."
**A particular favorite joke at This Troper's Unitarian church: "Why are Unitarians so bad at singing? Because we're always reading ahead to see if we agree with the lyrics."
**A good example of the anti-dogma jokes: "For Unitarians, "tradition" is how you did it last year. "Firmly established tradition" is when it holds on for two years. After three years, it's "the way we've always done it.""
**When asked what Unitarians believe in, This Troper replied, "What have you got?"

*''Episcopalians'' and ''The Church Of England'' : Are pretty sometimes seen as ineffectual "anything goes" types who will completely contradict their own dogma whenever its convenient. [[{{NeverLiveItDown}} That's if people still aren't cracking jokes about Henry VIII.]]
** {{The Simpsons}} shows an Episcopal church with vibrating pews.
** RobinWilliams on his own Episcopal faith:

** EddieIzzard has his brilliant Church of England monologue, as well.
*''Mainline Protestants'' Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists and Baptists (if they're not feuding), and their splinter groups are often times depicted as bland and interchangeable, assuming they're not {{The Fundamentalist}}. Expect tiny churches, beige decor, lots of small town gossip, big zany hats and rehashing of generic WASP stereotypes. African American churches are considered somewhat exempt because of their role in the civil rights movement, but they might still be chewed out on some of the more contentious issues (homophobia, gossip, phony faith healing, etc..) ; expect a loud, joyous, clapping choir, a flamboyant preacher, audience participation so involved people are fainting in the aisles... and even bigger, zanier hats.
** {{A Prairie Home Companion}} runs on this, pretty much using "Lutheran" as a euphemism for WASP or Midwestern.
** An obscure stage musical called ''Crowns'' is entirely centered around Black church ladies and their flamboyant hats.
** [[{{King Of The Hill}} Bobby Hill]] has to go see the reverend because Hank can't remember exactly what Methodists are supposed to believe.
** In case of Southern Baptists, see DeepSouth and AcceptableNationalityTargets. Hyper-conservative (albeit not to the same extent as the Amish), fire-and-brimstone, and generally still acting like the Civil War and civil rights movement never happened. On the other hand, they're usually also portrayed as intensely involved in and committed to the community - the entire population of an American South town going to the same church on Sunday, from the mayor to the dog catcher, is TruthInTelevision in parts of the South.
** Christian teens are commonly the antagonists in alot of teen programs (Saved, Easy A) or have to give up their beliefs to become a "better" person (Glee, Secret Life). **Commonly, kids in abstienence groups are portrayed as judgemental hypocrites; this possibly is meant to be critical of having opinions on sexually active peers, or critizing the demonization of contraception, but usually comes off as being "abstientent is directly wrong," and that you are either stupid or selfish for not "doing it," and the advantages abstience has over contraception (it's cheaper, has no side effects, and has more probability to work) are rarely brought up. However, most main female characters usually will be a [[VirginPower virgin]] and proud of it, but never for religious reasons.

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