History Main / CrisisOfFaith

* Drives a lot of the plot in ''Literature/DirgeForPresterJohn''. John tries hard to be a good Christian king of a kingdom of, in his view, heathen monsters. In the frame story, Hiob's faith is also shaken by John's account of Pentexore.

* ''TheSimpsons'' has had a couple. For example, in ''Homer The Heretic'', Homer decides going to church is too much effort, and starts his own religion. Then [[{{Anvilicious}} his house catches fire]], and he's rescued by Ned Flanders.

* In ''{{Signs}}'', Creator/MelGibson's character is a former Anglican priest who lost his faith when his wife died. [[spoiler: The TwistEnding makes him reconsider.]]

* ''SouthPark'': Kyle loses his belief in God after [[VillainProtagonist Cartman]] gets a million dollar inheritance and buys his own theme park, while Kyle gets diagnosed with hemorrhoids. His faith is restored when he sees Cartman lose all his money, which Stan interprets was a XanatosGambit by God to punish Cartman the whole time.

* In ''The Final Trumpet,'' an adventure for the InNomine RPG, the Archangel of Faith himself actually reaches this point, risking Armageddon in the process. Depending on the actions of the player characters, he may come back stronger than ever, or Fall completely to become the Demon Prince of Fanaticism.

-->Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ... How painful is this unknown pain—I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal, ... What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true.
--->-'''Mother Teresa'''

* In the ''QuantumLeap'' episode "Leap of Faith", Sam leaps into a priest, and Al is uncomfortable with the whole thing. He reveals that he left the church as a child, after prayer failed to save his father from dying of cancer, and [[NayTheist swore never to have anything to do with God again]]. However, he resorts to praying to God again when it looks like Sam's life is in danger.
* The protagonist of the DoubleMeaningTitle-d ''{{Signs}}''.

* In ''{{Signs}}'', MelGibson's character is a former Anglican priest who lost his faith when his wife died. [[spoiler: The TwistEnding makes him reconsider.]]

* In ''The Final Trumpet,'' an adventure for the InNomine RPG, the Archangel of Faith himself actually reaches this point. Depending on the PCs' actions, he may come back stronger than ever, or Fall completely to become the Demon Prince of Fanaticism.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the whole of [=ShadowClan=] stops believing in [=StarClan=] after a loner named Sol predicted a solar eclipse and [=StarClan=] weren't able to. [=ShadowClan=]'s leader Blackstar had already been having some doubts because life had been harder since the Great Journey, so it didn't take much for Sol to convince him that [=StarClan=] was powerless. They did start believing again, though, after some [=StarClan=] cats - [=ShadowClan=]'s last leader and medicine cat - spoke to Blackstar and his medicine cat.

* This is an ongoing issue for Scully of {{The X-Files}}. She was [[RaisedCatholic raised as a devout Catholic]] and already had a few issues reconciling her work as a scientist with her faith. When she joins the X-Files and paranormal events and aliens get thrown in, she struggles to strike a balance.

* In ''{{Signs}}'', MelGibson's character is a former Anglican priest who lost his faith when his wife died. [[spoiler: The TwistEnding makes him reconsider.]]

* ArthurCClarke's short story "The Star" is about a Jesuit priest who has a crisis of faith when he learns that the planet that had its morally good inhabitants killed by a nova was [[spoiler:the [[TheBible star over Bethlehem]]]].

* [[TheBible The Book of Job]] is probably the TropeMaker, being the origin of the "if your life sucks, God is testing your faith" [[AnAesop Aesop]].

* While {{House}} himself gets a pass for being a [[HollywoodAtheist misanthropic]] {{Jerkass}}, a wayward priest patient finds his faith again after seeing the [[RuleOfDrama fantastic series of coincidences]] that line up to save his life.

* The protagonist of ''[[{{Film/Priest1994}} Priest]]'' spends practically the whole movie in a CrisisOfFaith.

* This is an ongoing issue for Scully of {{The X-Files}}. She was [[RaisedCatholic raised as a devout Catholic]] and already had a few issues reconciling her work as a scientist with her faith. When she joins the X-Files and paranormal events and aliens get thrown in, she struggles to strike a balance.

* ''CombatHospital'' explores this one pretty thoroughly through an army chaplain who undergoes a crisis of faith as she serves in Afghanistan and sees the brutality of war up close and personal.

* This is an ongoing issue for Scully of {{The X-Files}}. She was raised as a devout Catholic and already had a few issues reconciling her work as a scientist with her faith. When she joins the X-Files and paranormal events and aliens get thrown in, she struggles to strike a balance.

* [[TheBible The Book of Job]] is probably the TropeMaker.

A character with a religious belief, whether it be fervent, casual, or [[CompressedVice never mentioned before or since]], loses it and spends an episode as an unbeliever until [[AnAesop learning a valuable lesson]] about faith. Thanks to the MoralGuardians, the ResetButton will be in full effect - after all, [[StatusQuoIsGod God Is the Status Quo]]. More {{Anvilicious}}ly, a HollywoodAtheist LongLostUncleAesop may be introduced, just to be [[EasyEvangelism enlightened]] and then never heard from again.

A more angry reaction may include SmiteMeOMightySmiter or RageAgainstTheHeavens. The character will most likely become either a HollywoodAtheist, losing all will to live or respect morality, or a NayTheist, accepting that God exists but refusing to worship him.

* ''CombatHospital'' explores this one pretty thoroughly through an army chaplain who undergoes a crisis of faith as she serves in Afghanistan and sees the brutality of war up close and personal.

* One episode of ''{{Daria}}'' has Quinn [[CompressedVice take a sudden interest]] in stories of angels, and she becomes convinced she has her own guardian angel when she happens to move just in time to avoid a dangerous accident. The problem is she comes to believe her angel will help her with ''everything,'' and becomes convinced that he's "abandoned" her when she embarrasses herself at a party. Daria puts aside her own feelings about the matter and helps Quinn decide she should only trust her angel for "big" issues.

* ''SouthPark'': Kyle loses his belief in God after [[VillainProtagonist Cartman]] gets a million dollar inheritance and buys his own theme park, while Kyle gets diagnosed with [[strike:terminal cancer]] a hemorrhoid. His faith is restored when he sees Cartman lose all his money, which Stan interprets was a XanatosGambit by God to punish Cartman the whole time.

* Inverted in ''JusticeLeague'', "The Terror Beyond", with Hawkgirl questioning her own [[NayTheist Naytheism]]. She's genuinely surprised to learn that Wonder Woman gets stronger by asking the gods for aide, and admits at the end that she doesn't understand why a teammate (who believed in an afterlife) was able to die with a smile. The episode ends with this subplot deliberately left hanging.

* ''SouthPark'': Kyle loses his belief in God after Cartman gets a million dollar inheritance and buys his own theme park. His faith is restored when he sees Cartman lose all his money.
* Inverted in ''JusticeLeague'', "The Terror Beyond", with Hawkgirl questioning her own [[NayTheist Naytheism]]. She's genuinely surprised to learn that Wonder Woman gets stronger by asking the gods for aide, and admits at the end that she doesn't understand why a teammate (who believed in an afterlife) was able to die with a smile. The episode ends with this subplot deliberately left hanging.

* ArthurCClarke's short story "The Star" is about a Jesuit priest who has a crisis of faith when he learns that the planet that had it's morally good inhabitants killed by a nova was [[spoiler:the [[TheBible star over Bethlehem]]]].