History Main / CrisisOfFaith

* ''Fanfic/TyrantlyEverAfter'': After everything she experienced during the events of ''[[VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten Disgaea 4]]'', [[RoseHairedSweetie Artina]] finds herself questioning the wisdom of God's design, given all the pain and suffering [[spoiler:the Fear System]] has wrought upon Celestia, human and netherworld alike. God's apparant silence on the matter doesn't help, as she's left wondering whether [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished she's being punished]] for trying to avert disaster.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake 1755 Lisbon]] was possibly the [[ShiningCity most splendorous city in the world]], having spent centuries funnelling their colonial wealth into majestic palaces, gold-laden churches, and gigantic art collections. On November 1st (All Saints Feast, one of the main Catholic holy days), the city was struck by one of the [[EarthquakesCauseFissures deadliest earthquakes in history]]. The [[HouseFire subsequent fires]] created massive firestorms, but the fires downtown were short-lived since a [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom tsunami]] put them out (the rest kept burning for five days). [[MonumentalDamage Palaces and churches alike fell along with 85% of the city]], the surviving 15% being basically [[TheCityNarrows the city narrows]] and the [[RedLightDistrict red-light districts]]... Not only Portugal but all of Europe went into a near-religious panic: for all they knew [[BoltOfDivineRetribution God had punished]] the [[HolierThanThou most pious people]] among one of the [[TheFundamentalist most religious nations in Europe]] while sparing the sinners, and the King himself only survived because he decided not to attend mass and went to the countryside instead.

** The short story isn't a full example, as it doesn't end with the priest getting his faith back. This was "fixed" for the television adaptation.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The red priest Thoros of Myr admits that by the time he came to Westeros he didn't believe in the Lord of Light anymore, but his faith returned after his last rites resurrected his friend Beric.

* On the same vein [[ThePlague The Black Death]], it made no distinctions between young or old, rich or poor, sinners or virtuous. Prayer, penitence, or flagellation did nothing to stop it; the Church which once was a source of leadership, unity, and comfort was powerless, with many of its members also succumbing to the disease. The blow to the faith would have severe social repercussions that would be felt for centuries.
* The horrifying grotesque reproductive methods of parasitoid wasps (which implant their larvae into a living host, and then it slowly eats the living victim from the inside before killing it and tearing its way out) led numerous 19th-century theologists, such as UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, to question the notion of a loving and benevolent God. Because how could God be all-caring if He created a being which has to inflict a CruelAndUnusualDeath on another just to be born?

* In ''Literature/{{Ardath}}'' by Marie Corelli, Theos Alwyn starts out with one. His quest leads him to experience two extremely vivid dream-visions, confirmed as definitely not AllJustADream, which convince him in the reality of God and, later, Jesus (although not mainstream church Christianity).

* The lead villain of ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' [[spoiler: Cardinal Rowen]] goes through one over the course of the story. He used to believe fervently in Zenith, the clockwork tower that the people live in, and believed in its plan. However, Sullivan shows the way [[spoiler: to control Zenith, and since it regulates the lifespan of a person through quartz, controlling life and death.]] Rowen goes from worshiping God to [[spoiler: [[AGodAmI being God]]]]

Of course, suffering a period of painful doubt is completely TruthInTelevision for people with a strong faith in any cause. Sometimes it's a painful transition that ultimately leads into a new outlook, and sometimes it's a period of existential angst leading to developing a deeper and more nuanced faith because of the experience. [[FlameBait This is not the place to debate these issues.]]

* ''ComicBook/JustAPilgrim'': The titular Pilgrim spends the first arc as a ReligiousBruiser, quoting scripture as he brings down the Lord's warth on a group of post-apocalyptic ''Film/MadMax''-esque raiders, sacrificing a convoy of settlers in the process. In the second arc, he encounters people with the means to escape Earth, and at first opposes it... but then meets what he considers proof positive that God is wrong ([[spoiler:jellyfish that evolved into PuppeteerParasites and took over a little girl]]) and spends the last few moments of his life renouncing God and telling the survivors to forget everything he'd said earlier while he pulls off a HeroicSacrifice. Creator/GarthEnnis is a noted atheist.

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* After spending the first half of ''Fanfic/AngelOfTheBat'' discovering and eventually embracing Christianity, Cassandra Cain's faith is nearly destroyed after [[spoiler: a TraumaCongaLine that includes admitting she has romantic feelings for her best friend Stephanie and learning that homosexuality is sinful; being cornered and beaten in battle by [[BigBad The Seraphim]]; and being subsequently tortured for just shy of two weeks to try and force her to surrender to his ReligionOfEvil. It takes confronting Christ (or maybe just a dream of him) and getting some heavy philosophy to convince her her faith shouldn't be given up yet.]]

* ''{{Film/Silence}}'': Rodrigues undergoes an extreme one over the course of the film after seeing how much all the Christians in Japan are suffering for the faith. Eventually he apostasizes to save others and it seems he has lost his faith completely. However, the ending reveals he privately remained a Christian to his death.

** Another example comes from Cloudstar, a cat from the distant past. His [[Literature/WarriorCatsNovellas novella]] ''Cloudstar's Journey'' features him losing his faith entirely in [=StarClan=]. Unlike most examples of this trope he never regains his faith until after his death.

* ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'': Mary starts to undergo one when it's shown that a religious experience can be induced by magnetic fields. When this happens to people all over the world at once, following the specific beliefs they have, she concludes that religion is bunk. Even before this, she disagree with the Catholic Church on many issues (as many liberal Catholics in North America do). This prompts her to decide her child with Ponter ''shouldn't'' be made capable of religious beliefs.

** Watching all of this is [[spoiler:Harry Dresden. While Harry has always had full believe in Magic, he has been a NayTheist towards God. This is even after meeting an archangel, three paladins, had a Fallen Angel in his head for a few years, died, and a few other things. But seeing Waldo running out there, he remembered words one of his paladin friends told him about having faith in Power of the Sword and not the physical form of the blade. Gripping onto that, he throws the hilt to to the religious mother held captive. The hilt misses her and ends up in the hands of Waldo as he is about to be killed by the bad guys. His actions and restoration of his Faith allow for the Sword of Faith to be reborn into a symbol which represents the ideals he so strongly believes in, a Lightsaber. He dispatches the bad guys and saves the day]].

* In the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Own Personal Jesus", Turk loses his faith in a just God after a hopeless Christmas Eve in the emergency room, but regains it after he finds a missing pregnant woman by intuition and helps her give birth. (Interestingly, Turk is the only character in the episode who professes strong religious beliefs in the first place, and the other major characters seem to look down on him for this.)
* In the ''Series/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.

* On one episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Neelix experiences a deep crisis of faith after dying, and being revived 18 hours later, without having experienced the afterlife his faith promised. After trying to come to terms with it, he [[spoiler: tries teleporting himself into space to die, [[DespairEventHorizon convinced that there really is nothing after death]], but Chakotay manages to talk him out of it]]. The episode ends without giving a firm answer about his beliefs one way or another.

* ''Series/MediciMastersOfFlorence'' may as well be called "Crisis of Faith: the Series." Cosimo struggles mightily with his guilt, morals and his personal identity in conflict with his family's needs.

* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': Mary Cooper has one in the aptly titled episode "A Crisis of Faith and Octopus Aliens". She reacts to a neighbor's young daughter dying in a car crash first by keeping busy volunteering at church, then she starts doubting why the girl's death is somehow part of God's plan, and gets so distraught that she stops going to church and saying grace. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness This change in character worries Sheldon]], and he manages to restore her faith by saying that, even though he doesn't believe in God, he's open to the possibility that there might be a creator.

** This is later reexplored in TheMovie, when Mal and company find [[spoiler: a dying]] Book, who implores Mal to believe. Mal reiterates that he doesn't believe in God or the Almighty, and Book shuts him down, saying he's not asking that Mal believe in God, but that he believe in ''something''.

* The lead villain of ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' [[spoiler: Cardinal Rowen]] goes through one over the course of the story. He used to believe fervently in Zenith, the clockwork tower that the people live in, and believed in it's plan. However, Sullivan shows the way [[spoiler: to control Zenith, and since it regulates the lifespan of a person through quartz, controlling life and death.]] Rowen goes from worshiping God to [[spoiler: [[AGodAmI being God]]]]
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has this for three of the major characters: [[LadyOfWar Cassandra]], [[TheSpymaster Leliana]], and [[CommandingCoolness Cullen]]. Cullen falters slightly due to [[spoiler: using faith to try and overcome his addiction to [[FantasticDrug lyrium]], at which he can fail if encouraged to take it again.]] Leliana and Cassandra worked with [[BigGood Divine Justinia]] to make the Conclave, only for it to fall apart in the beginning of the game. Leliana sees the whole thing as a cruel joke by a JerkassGod, while Cassandra begins looking for any sign of faith that would extinguish her doubts.

-->'''Leliana''': I was with the Hero of Ferelden when s/he killed the Archdemon. The Maker brought us together, and then... I watched her/him die. In that instant, I felt the Maker's presence grow cold. One moment, a cherished child. The next... abandoned.

** Ned Flanders himself has a brief crisis of faith in "Hurricane Neddy", when his house is destroyed by a tornado (in a clear homage to the Book of Job, mentioned above) and then again in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly", [[spoiler: with the death of his wife Maude]].

** 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 ThePlan by God to punish Cartman the whole time.

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/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 aid, and admits at the end that she doesn't understand why a teammate (who believed in an afterlife) was able to GoOutWithASmile. The episode ends with this subplot deliberately left hanging.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake 1755 Lisbon]] was possibly the [[ShiningCity most splendorous city in the world]], having spent centuries funnelling their colonial wealth into majestic palaces, gold-laden churches and gigantic art collections. On November 1st (All Saints Feast, one of the main Catholic holy days), the city was struck by one of the [[EarthquakesCauseFissures deadliest earthquakes in history]]. The [[HouseFire subsequent fires]] created massive firestorms, but the fires downtown were short-lived since a [[GiantWallOfWateryDoom tsunami]] put them out (the rest kept burning for five days). [[MonumentalDamage Palaces and churches alike fell along with 85% of the city]], the surviving 15% being basically [[TheCityNarrows the city narrows]] and the [[RedLightDistrict red light districts]]... Not only Portugal but all of Europe went into a near religious panic: for all they knew [[BoltOfDivineRetribution God had punished]] the [[HolierThanThou most pious people]] among one of the [[TheFundamentalist most religious nations in Europe]] while sparing the sinners, and the King himself only survived because he decided not to attend mass and went to the countryside instead.
* On the same vein [[ThePlague The Black Death]], it made no distinctions between young or old, rich or poor, sinners or virtuous. Prayer, penitence or flagellation did nothing to stop it; the Church which once was a source of leadership, unity and comfort was powerless, with many of its members also succumbing to the disease. The blow to the faith would have severe social repercussions that would be felt for centuries.
* The horrifying grotesque reproductive methods of parasitoid wasps (which implant their larvae into a living host, and then it slowly eats the living victim from the inside before killing it and tearing its way out) led to numerous 19th century theologists, such as UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, to question the notion of a loving and benevolent God. Because how could God be all-caring if He created a being which has to inflict a CruelAndUnusualDeath on another just to be born?

* The trope works even nowadays: read the "Spiegel" interview with German politics legend [[note]]if you don't know him - he was the one [[MoralGuardians responsible]] for taking WesternAnimation/PorkyPig down on German Television 1973 for "too much violence"...oh the irony! Later his own party introduced Private TV in Germany, making Porky Pig look like Gandhi in comparison...[[/note]] Heiner Geißler taken just before his death. He confesses to have lost faith in God bit by bit for the standard theodicy reasons.

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder: FanWorks]]

* ''Fanfic/RWBYScars'':
** Yang stopped believing in gods after her step-mother Summer was killed.
** Nora mentions that she became an atheist as a child because she couldn't believe in gods after being a street orphan and seeing her village destroyed. This changes as a teenager after Qrow reveals to her that that gods exist for a fact. The problem is that he doesn't know which gods of the various pantheons they are, so Nora begins exploring various religions.

* The trope works even nowadays: read the "Spiegel" interview with German politics legend [[note]]if you don't know him - he was the one [[MoralGuardians responsible]] for taking WesternAnimation/PorkyPig down on German Television 1973 for "too much violence"...oh the irony! Later his own party introduced Private TV in Germany, making Porky Pig look like Ghandi in comparison...[[/note]] Heiner Geißler taken just before his death. He confesses to have lost faith in God bit by bit for the standard theodicy reasons.

** Nora mentions that she became an atheist as a child because she couldn't believe in gods after being a street orphan and seeing her village destroyed. This changed as a teenager after Qrow reveals to her that that gods exist for a fact. The problem is that he doesn't know which gods of the various pantheons they are, so Nora begins exploring various religions.

* The protagonist of ''Film/{{Priest 1994}}'' spends practically the whole movie in a CrisisOfFaith.

** In another episode, Earl himself has a CrisisOfFaith in Karma. He gets out of {{Prison}} for doing something ''bad'', had spent all his lotto money on [[ItMakesSenseInContext a prom for the prison]] and then can't get back on his feet because no one wants to hire an ex-con. Meanwhile, his friend Ralph has been living it up, [[DeadPersonImpersonation posing as a senile old woman's dead]] [[FridgeHorror husband]]. Earl becomes frustrated because he was expecting to be rewarded for good behavior (which is why he embraced (TheThemeParkVersion) of Karma in the first place), but [[DudeWheresMyRespect hasn't experienced any rewards]].

** Another example comes from Cloudstar, a cat from the distant past. His [[WarriorCatsNovellas novella]] ''Cloudstar's Journey'' features him losing his faith entirely in [=StarClan=]. Unlike most examples of this trope he never regains his faith until after his death.

** Happens yet again in an episode dealing with Reverend Green, who used to be a violent gangster called "Hash Brown" before his HeelFaithTurn. Earl has committed multiple offenses against the man (stealing the church's organ, stealing Green's tool belt and then tipping over the port-a-john he was in, and finally sleeping with his wife while he was incarcerated), with each one making him angrier than the last until he snaps and returns to his criminal ways. Before it's too late, Earl reveals yet another list item involving the Reverend: shooting out the taillight on his truck. Turns out, the broken taillight resulted in Hash Brown being arrested and thus missing out on a deal that resulted in the deaths of his fellow gang members. Realizing that Earl had indirectly saved his life, he apologizes to his congregation and thanks Earl for saving him.

[[ReligionRantSong Songs on this subject]] often sound like {{Breakup Song}}s, the flipside of GodIsLoveSongs.

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/RoomiesItsWalkyJoyceAndWalky https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cropped_2208.JPG]]]]

* Lorgar of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' always needed something to worship. For most of the Great Crusade, he chose his GodEmperor father, deifying him and building monuments of faith in his name. But the Emperor, striving for a secular Imperium and hating those who saw him as a God, put a stop to this in the most faith crushing way. By destroying his greatest cathedral, and forcing Lorgar and his Astartes to kneel in the ashes. His faith in The Emperor destroyed, Lorgar needed a new thing to worship. And Chaos would be that thing, kicking off the fall of the Imperium.