Fantasy Counterpart Religion

Some writers created fictional religions for their settings. Religious subjects in fiction are a sensitive issue. Targeting certain religious groups, and how it's done, may cause Unfortunate Implications or have the work Banned in China, or induce an Audience-Alienating Premise. The creator(s) often will wish to comment on real-world religion without directly commenting upon on them.

They have various ways to get around this:

1. The work is located in an entirely fictional universe, thus no Earth religion could exist there. Examples: A Song of Ice and Fire and Star Wars.
2. The setting is so long ago (see Medieval Prehistory and Istanbul (Not Constantinople)) that any religions that existed there are already forgotten. Examples: Conan the Barbarian and The Lord of the Rings.
3. In Science Fiction stories set in the far future, it is expected that religions have changed or have no followers and/or humanity has Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions as religious literalism. Or, on the opposite end, have adopted new ones. Examples: Dune by Frank Herbert and Futurama.

This trope is for in-universe mainstream religions. For religions that are considered cults in-universe, there's already Cult. Settings After the End where trivial things from our culture are misidentified as sacred fall under All Hail the Great God Mickey!. For specific counterparts to the Church of Scientology, check Church of Happyology.

A Sub-Trope of Fantasy Counterpart Culture and Sister Trope to Fantasy Counterpart Myth. May be involved in a Fantasy Conflict Counterpart. Compare with Fictional Political Party for the political version. Super-Trope to Crystal Dragon Jesus (in which the religion is more or less a substitute for Christianity), Fantasy Pantheon (for a made-up polytheistic religion), Interfaith Smoothie (a fictional religion influenced by two or more from the real world).

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Beastars: The dominant religion in the setting is the worship of Dinosaurs, with many rituals being very Shinto-esque. Interestingly, Christmas canonically exists, but when its existence was actually relevant to the story (the climax of the final arc takes place on the 25th of December) it goes completely unmentioned and instead the holiday everyone is celebrating is "Rexmas".
• Fullmetal Alchemist: The Ishvalan religion seems to be Crystal Dragon Islam. The Ishvalans have a vaguely Middle Eastern feel, and they are monotheists who worship a deity called Ishvalah, which sounds a lot like Allah (as well as Ishvar, the Sanskrit word for "god"). They are also heavily based on the Ainu people of Japan; the author has described them as essentially what would happen if the indigenous Ainu settled in a Middle Eastern environment.

Comic Books

• Lady Death: Maklu is a religious figure that vaguely resembles a demonic Buddha and he is worshiped across the Labyrinth by both humans and demons. Though not much is known about him and his religion, it's presumed he is a benevolent being despite his hellish visage, with some of his ardent followers such as Satasha serving as companions to The Heroine. The look of the demonic Buddha is very similar to that of Real Life Tantric Buddhist and Hindu deities.

Fan Works

• In Chasing Dragons, the Faith of the Seven continues to serve as a counterpart to Christianity. Following the various schisms, the main (Baelorite) branch is more clearly based on Catholicism, with the Jonothorians being a counterpart to Lutheranism, the Rymanists being a counterpart to Calvinism, and the Old Faith being a counterpart to Presbyterianism/Puritanism.

Films — Live-Action

• The Jedi aesthetic and motifs in Star Wars are based on aspects of Buddhism and Taoism:
  • The Jedi believe that one must surrender anger and negative thoughts and note that the Dark Side is driven by those negative attitudes. A true Jedi must not be driven by passion and emotion but rather surrender one's drives and desires. This resembles parts of Buddhism namely its identification of desire as one of the great sources of strife. It however differs in that Buddha's recommendation was moderation and not full and total repression which is what the Jedi actually encourage, and which leads to Anakin Skywalker's conversion to the Dark Side.
  • The structure of the Jedi Order resembles many monastic traditions, from those of Christianity to Buddhist and Taoist orders, including the requirement of celibacy (Jedi can't marry or have children, nor fall in love). The Force, in so far as it is a non-anthropomorphic godless cosmic force, likewise reflects Eastern beliefs (similar concept of the Chinese Chi and Hindu Prana). The ins and outs of "Forceism" can be found in detail here. It is notable that this did not start out this way, as the Jedi and their traditions were a relatively undeveloped backstory element to the plot of the original trilogy, but expanded over time into its present form as successive movies and materials expanded upon the nature of the Jedi, the Sith, and the Force.
  • The Prequel trilogy adds Christian elements in the figure of Anakin Skywalker - a prophesied savior figure conceived without a human father.
• The Orcish religion in Bright is a mix of Christianity and European pagan faiths. They worship Jirak, an orc that united the free peoples and saved the world from the Dark Lord, while their priests dress themselves like Celtic druids.

Literature

• Nearly all Animal Religions of The Katurran Odyssey are technically forms of Crystal Dragon Jesus since the only deity proven to exist thus far is the Fossah. Still, the individual belief systems differ significantly from each other and closely resemble real-life religious practices:
  • The religion of the lemurs of Bohibba follows traditional Malagasy practices closely, with Corrupt Church elements more closely akin to those seen in Christianity.
  • The religion of the Patah is really vague, but they do consider the stars sacred and "true magic". Since their culture is based on Islam and Zoroastrianism it can be inferred that they are similarly monotheistic.
  • The Boskiis are shamans, their complex rituals akin to those of Indonesian and Papuan religious paths.
  • The Dourahn have generally Buddhist aesthetics, and once worshiped a pantheon of gods, but now have discarded those in favor of self and ancestor worship.
• J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings:
  • Many of the Valar — the god/archangel-type figures who rule over the world — are inspired by the gods of Classical Mythology. Yavanna, the creator of plant and animal life and referred to as "Queen of the Earth", is inspired by harvest and earth goddesses such as Gaea and Demeter; Aulë the Smith, the lord of metal and craft, is reminiscent of the smith-god Hephaestus; Ulmo, the fearsome and temperamental ruler of the seas, is inspired by Poseidon; Namó, the grim and unyielding ruler of the afterlife, draws inspiration from Hades, while his realm (a place of dreariness and waiting) is not unlike the Greek underworld. There is also the addition of a form of reincarnation — it is possible for deceased elves to be reincarnated, and indeed a few characters in the books are reborn in this manner. Valar worship is practiced by Elves and Men. Still, in keeping with Tolkien's Catholic beliefs, there is one creator on top of everything who fits the Abrahamic conception of God-Eru Iluvatar. The Maiar and Valar are something akin to angels. This includes having fallen ones like Morgoth and Sauron.
  • The Dwarves worship only their creator god Aulë: thus, they are monotheistic (or technically henotheistic, as they do not deny the existence of other gods). This is one of various other links supporting the theory that the Dwarves were based on the Jews.
• Isaac Asimov's "Blind Alley": The Emperor believes in a philosophy created by Aurelion. The context of the statements implies that it is a religion (one of the characters describes it as a cult). Those that wish to help the aliens on "humanitarian" grounds are all believers in the religion.
• Isaac Asimov and Janet Asimov's The Norby Chronicles: The Wells brothers are Solarists, which involves meditations on the belief that everything in the world (more accurately, everything everywhere) is connected. They have a religious observance that is supposed to happen at sunrise on the Equinox, but their attempt to do so in the first book is disrupted when they’re attacked by terrorists. Aside from those two points, religion doesn't impact the story.
• Frank Herbert's Dune:
  • The Bene Gesserit are a mysterious order of powerful women who develop strong mental abilities for years of discipline and practice. Their leaders are called Reverend Mothers and seems to be extremely influential in the Empire. As such it has certain similarities with the Catholic Church (to be specific, he derived it partly from the Jesuit Order), but also has similarities with some female Pagan orders like the Vestals, and of course, they are called witches by their detractors.
  • The Fremen of Dune's worship of the Muad'Dib has many similarities with Islam in its first centuries, as it has a messianic figure for a desert-dwelling tribal people.
  • It should however be noticed that the Dune novels also establish that many modern religions survive into the time 25,000 years in the future in which the events of the novels happen, but in most cases, they are mixed. For instance, you have faiths like Buddislam (Zensufis, Zenshiites, Zensunnis) and Mahayana Christianity. The aforementioned Fremen are Buddislamic, with belief in both a single god and reincarnation, since the religions merged. It's said a Second and Third Islamic movement preceded Buddislam that grew more mystical and unified the two faiths.
• Fordism in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the cult and worship of Henry Ford. Huxley was trying to do a commentary on extreme capitalism and what would be a too radically hedonistic society. Some commentators have found similarities between Fordism and Ayn Rand's Objectivism.
• H. P. Lovecraft's fiction abounds with strange gods and creatures, an entirely fictive cosmos whose deities are merely advanced alien and/or interdimensional beings who cannot be understood by human minds.
  • Lovecraft did admit in a letter that he saw what he described as his "Yog-Sothothery" (which fans call the Cthulhu Mythos) as a "parody religion" and aspects, The Call of Cthulhu was based on Roman-era Mystery Cult, as well as Pre-Christian Mesopotamian beings like Dagon and Baal (the former being adopted for one of his beings). Likewise, the revival of Cthulhu has been seen as a take on the Antichrist.
  • Nyarlathothep is a Satanic Archetype being a more worldly being who incarnates in human form, is usually dressed in black and unlike other elder beings who are indifferent to humanity, delights in inflicting cruelty on humans.
  • Some have seen occult influences, for instance, Yog-Sothoth's description as a being composed in lights and spheres is seen to be a reference to Kabbalah and the Tree-of-Life.
• George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, enjoys taking aspects of real-life religion and making decomposites of them:
  • The Faith of the Seven is Westeros' version of the organized Christian Church, being that it has institutions organizing a common doctrine, regulating practices of priests, complete with monasteries and nunneries (called Septries) with a High Septon being elected by high-ranking Septons. Its doctrine with one god in seven aspects is an elaboration of the Holy Trinity. However, the Faith lacks many other features familiar from the history of the Catholic Church or Christianity overall, namely a Christ figure and a Passion Play on which the religion is built, as well as a veneration of saints. Likewise, in terms of how the Church is directly under control of the Crown, it is significantly weaker than the Church was in the Middle Ages. In this aspect, it may be more akin to the relationship between some Orthodox churches and the Church of England with their respective states (probably the latter especially, since Westeros mirrors Britain).
  • The Old Gods, praised by the Children of the Forest and the First Men before the Andals brought the Faith of the Seven from Essos and still worshiped in the North in a somewhat syncretic fashion. This religion is clearly based on pre-Christian European paganism and frequently invokes shades of various druidic and pagan faiths of pre-Christian Europe, as well as other animist religions such as worship of trees on which faces are carved and a past that includes human sacrifice.
  • The worship of R'hllor, which comes from outside the Seven Kingdoms, is stated by the author to be based on Zoroastrianism and Catharism, and indeed bears a common ground with those religions in being dualistic, worshiping a god of light in an active struggle against a god of darkness. It even has the focus on fire, typical of Zoroastrianism. In practice, however, it is diametrically opposed to these religions' principles, and more closely resembles a parody of zealous Abrahamic religions, especially polemic allegations against Christian heresies such as the Borborites.
  • Mother Rhoyne, still worshiped by the remaining Rhoynar: a Mother Goddess of nurture and nature, clearly based on the matriarchal prehistoric Mother Goddess cults theorized in the early-to-mid 20th century and which newer neopagan religions worship.
  • The Drowned God, worshiped in the Iron Islands, seems similar to Norse god Odin who is also known as the Hanged God because he hanged for nine days of the Yggdrassil. No surprise in that the Ironborns are the Fantasy Counterpart Culture of the Vikings. It's also inspired by Christianity in that the Drowned God is a dead-and-resurrected God,^note Although dead-and-resurrected may also apply to Odin and other Pagan deities and the religion emphasizes identification and emulation of the Drowned God's ordeal, and the fact that baptism, or dunking beneath the water, is a major part of their religious practice. Other parts of the religion, and the Iron Islands on the whole, is more or less a kind of Lovecraft-inspired cult.
  • The Faceless Men worship Death itself, named the Many-Faced God. Similar to several death-worshiping cults of Asia like The Hashshashin and the Indian Thugs. However, those were a part of Islam and Hinduism respectively. The Faceless Men are explicitly syncretic, seeing all gods as simply aspects of theirs, and this is reflected in their temple, which holds the statues of many major deities.
• The Esperathian Church of Anticipation in Reflections of Eterna is based heavily on Catholicism, down to its own self-governed Holy City and The Pope. Their dogma is based on anticipating the second coming of The Maker and the subsequent final judgement. There is also the Ollarian splinter church, which is based on Anglicanism and is headed by the king of Talig (instead of the Pope), who also appoints its bishops.
• The Elenium and The Tamuli:
  • The Elene church is a Catholic substitute. There is no direct proxy for Jesus himself, though. With no Jesus proxy around, David Eddings is thereby free to parody dogma by making the Elene Church a massively complex and encroaching institution worshiping an aloof and distant sort of god. One of the other, more interventionist gods actually complains about the fact that the Elene God is a crotchety old bugger obsessed with making up rules. Mind you, that's the worst thing she has to say about him, and they seem to have a decent working relationship. The religious hatred among their human followers was the followers' own idea.
  • The Eshandist Heresy, an early offshoot of Eleneism, is located in a region that is reflective of the Arab region, and its leaders are compared in an unsavory way to Islamic prophets.
  • On the neighboring continent, an offshoot of Eleneism is similar to Orthodoxy in its requirement for the higher priesthood to be drawn from monastic clergy and its rejection of the western Elene Church's leader's primacy over the church.
  • The Styrics have many common traits with Jews: largely without a homeland, persecuted and frequently slaughtered by Elenes for no very good reason, plus they eschew eating pork. However, their actual theology is polytheistic, and their relationship with their gods is more personal than that of Judaism.
• The Quintaglio Ascension trilogy features a species of intelligent Tyrannosaurs who worship a planet as "The Face of God", discovered by the Prophet Larsk (whose descendants are the imperial rulers of their people), which they make a ritual pilgrimage to view. In some ways, it's more like a fantasy Islam: the prophet, the secular rulers staking their claims to power through relation with him, and pilgrimages. However, it has a clergy that seems more like Catholic Christianity, although they are portrayed as pretty corrupt (they are the only Quintaglios able to lie, for instance). However, they also have the bloodpriests who kill seven out of eight hatchlings to keep the population under control, which has no real counterpart in either religion (although many cultures have practiced infanticide, just usually not ritually). The discovery that the Face of God is merely a planet explicitly parallels Galileo. In addition, there's a religion that exists underground at first which was the dominant one before worshiping the "Five Original Hunters" with a prophesied savior known as "The One". Both religions worship a Goddess that created all things, sacrificed parts of herself to create the Quintaglios, and has Sacred Scrolls as their scripture.
• Conan the Barbarian: Whereas Mitra is the most worshiped god among the "civilized" Hyborian nations, other deities include:
  • Crom for the Cimmerians, which has some Irish/Celtic influences. He is not the only Cimmerian god, as Conan also occasionally swears by other gods like Morrigan, Dadga, and Macha.
  • Ymir is the Top God for the Aesir and Vanir tribes representing the Nordic people. Ironically, he is a Composite Character of Odin and Ymir the Frost Giant that was slain in the creation of the world in Norse mythology.
  • Being based on Ancient Egypt, Stygia also reveres similar gods like Set (who serves as Greater-Scope Villain for this setting) who shares the same name as the Egyptian god but is closer to Apophis, The Anti-God in Egyptian mythology and also represented by snakes.
  • Shamanism and ancestor worship is practiced by the Hyrkanians, much like the Central Asian Mongolic tribes.
  • There is a Hyborian version of Hinduism that teaches about the system of karma and reincarnation, the difference is that its central god is known as Asura, and it's practiced primarily by the Vendhyans (i.e. Hyborian Indians).
  • The Shemites revere pagan deities reminiscent of the non-Hebrew Semitic deities from Canaan.
• The Chronicles of Narnia has often being accused of associating the Calormene religion (whose god Tash serves as the setting's Satanic Archetype) with Islam since its people have heavy Arabic/Turkish influences and borrows similar practices - for example, their ruler is styled Tisroc who descended directly from Tash, similar to historical caliphs who were regarded as successors to Muhammed and the spiritual leaders of all Muslims. However, the Calormen are actually polytheistic unlike Muslims, who are strictly monotheistic and this is more in line with medieval perceptions of Islam or polytheistic faiths of pre-Islamic Arabia. Tash is also presented as a Satan analogue, which only furthers the dark implications, and it's said any good worshipers of his are really worshiping Aslan (or vice versa) since they are diametrically opposite in nature.
• Hands Held in the Snow: The Church is very much a Fantasy Pantheon variation on the Catholic Church. They are a large semi-political organization that almost everyone follows, and priests take a Vow of Celibacy.
• The Cold Moons is a novel about badgers fleeing human extermination. It's based on actual badger cullings but is also heavy on Jewish imagery (especially the story of Moses). The badger version of Hell is even outright called "Sheol".
• This is mixed with Religion is Magic in the Uncommon Magic series. Sagery, practicing magic as dictated by a pantheon of venerated sages, is Catholicism. Moshites are Jews in all but name, as they are an ostracized minority associated with "ugly" features like sharp noses and wavy dark hair.
• The Priory of the Orange Tree prominently features the Six Virtues, a blend of medieval Catholicism with the stories of King Arthur and St. George, as the primary religion of the European FantasyCounterpartCultures, especially the England analogue of Inys.
• A Memoir by Lady Trent:
  • Segulism^note from Hebrew Segol, meaning "treasure" or "chosen people", a form of pseudo-Judaism, as the dominant religion. There are two branches, the Temple-worshippers (or Bayitists^note from Bayit, Hebrew for "house", but can also mean Temple), who practice animal sacrifice and are centralized around a major Temple (like Judaism before 70 CE), and the Magisterial branch, which is based on Rabbinic Judaism. The Magisterials worship in "Meeting Houses" (a literal translation of synagogue), and the Bayitists in Tabernacles. Both sides also have missionaries called sheluhim^note Hebrew for "emissary".
  • There's also Amaneen, an alt-Islam, though it seems to only be practiced in Akhia (alt-Arabia).
• In the Doctor Who New Adventures, the Ice Warrior gods are based on the gods of ancient Egypt (or rather, in-universe, the ancient Egyptians and the Ice Warriors both worshiped Sufficiently Advanced Aliens called Osirians). Despite this, the Order of Oras (Horus) in Godengine is a rather Christianity-like faith, preaching peace and humility, and with a monastic structure (although mixed gender and without the celibacy). When the Doctor points out that the real Osirian Horus was arrogant and vengeful, and wouldn't have said any of the aphorisms the Order attribute to him, the Abbot replies that he knows that, but that doesn't make the aphorisms themselves wrong.
• Kingdom's Disdain: The Book of Law and Promises resembles The Bible.
• To Shape a Dragon's Breath: Due to the Norsmen being the major colonizers of Europe and Roman empire to spread Christianity (and in fact, no Greco-Roman history at all), the dominant faith of the Anglish is based on Norse Mythology. Anglish people invoke the names gods such as Joden, Fyra, and Enki, and annual festivals such as Jule, Valkyrjafax, and Fyrafax are based around their gods and the seasons. While other faiths exist—Zhina, of Kindah background, believes in one god with many prophets and doesn't eat pork or other unclean animals—the Norsmen superiorly believe their faith and its Just So Stories to be the most accurate and truthful ones.
• Watership Down by Richard Adams: The rabbits worship Frith, who appears to be the closest thing they have to God. In addition, they also have El-ahrairah, an odd mix of Jesus Christ and Noah.
• In the Dungeon Punk novel The Sleeping Dragon by Jonny Nexus, the main religion is the Church of the SkyFather, which is a satire on modern Christianity, being more interested in PR than the existence or otherwise of the SkyFather, and having a Pedophile Priest scandal they're trying to downplay. The fact the main priest character actually believes means he's seen as an old-fashioned embarrassment. The desert lands to the south have the Church of the Sacred Box, the two brief references to which rather unfortunately define it entirely by misogyny and terrorism.
• Hive Mind (2016): Hiveism, the belief that the Hive as a gestalt is a divine force that guides people. It includes a belief in reincarnation, with people rejoining the Hive until being reborn into a newborn child or (in an alternate doctrine) becoming an inspiring spirit for someone going through Lottery. It is the only official religion in the Hive; other religions are considered non-conformist organizations, although not forbidden.
• There are many examples of this in books by Guy Gavriel Kay:
  • Jaddites are analogues to Christians: they worship Jad, the sun god; they have sanctuaries and chapels and an organized clergy with monastic orders who generally do not marry; eventually there are two Jaddite Patriarchs – one in the west in Rhodias (Rome) and the other in the east in Byzantium (Constantinople); and they even have the "Heladikian heresy", a doctrine about the story of Jad's son Heladikos, whose worship is eventually outlawed by the Patriarchs.
  • Asharites are stand-ins for Muslims: they worship the "stars of Ashar" and venerate Ashar himself, a mystic and prophet who left his home to wander in the desert before returning with the received wisdom of star-worship.
  • Kindath are Jews, and worship the two moons (in the universe in which many of these books are set, there are two moons, one white and one blue) as sister goddesses. They're depicted as wanderers – though without a clear homeland or desire to return to it as in Real Life – and experience oppression at the hands of Asharites and Jaddites to varying degrees depending on place and time. A few times it seems they also venerate the stars but don't seem to worship them in the same way the Asharites do.
  • In Lord of Emperors, an analogue to Zoroastrianism is depicted in the Bassanid homeland of Rustam, a physician. We don't know much about religious practice, but the theology involves a cosmic battle between good and evil, with a goddess called Anahita (literally the name of an actual divine figure in Zoroastrianism, associated with healing, wisdom, and fertility) and a god called Perun (possibly an allusion to Varun, the "deliverer from evil"). Worship involves fire ceremonies.
  • In Under Heaven and River of Stars (set in a different world from the one in which we see Asharites, Kindath, and Jaddites), we see analogues to Confucian and Taoist philosophies, including ancestor veneration and filial piety. Allusians to pre-Islamic Turkic animism and shamanistic traditions are also present.
• Dragonvarld: Unlike in Seth, the religion of Idlyswylde seems to be based on Medieval European Christianity, as God is mentioned to be worshiped. The poor view magic as demonic, with the educated believing it's fraud and superstition, which also reflects their common attitudes. Also they have a chivalric tradition, while holy pilgrimages are made sometimes to seek divine aid, practices that also existed among Christians of the era. Tonsured monks exist in Idylswylde, suicide is considered a mortal sin as with traditional Christian ethics, and people invoke Our Lady or Holy Mother like Mary too, along with the saints generally. Ermintrude even quotes from the Book of Ecclesiastes once. Satan is believed in also, and demons. When an army believed to be made up of demons is marching against them, people proclaim this is the Apocalypse.

Live-Action TV

• Babylon 5:
  • Foundationism is a new religion among humans. Details of the religion are never given but what is known is that they consider that God is in all religions and that they take the best from each one. A particular ritual, taken from the Australian aboriginals, it's described as: the person, having discovered they have lost themselves, would leave everything and start walking and keep on walking until they (metaphorically) meet themselves. The person would then sit down and have a long talk with their "self", about everything they have learned and felt until they run out of words (the walkabout).
  • The Narn have different religions but the most presented in detail is G'Kar's, who is a follower of the philosophist G'Quan, and it seems to be similar to Taoism. After himself writing a book, it starts a new religion despite his opposition to the idea (one follower nearly assassinated G'Kar when he spoke against this).
  • The Minbari religion is based in pantheism and they have a belief in reincarnation similar to many Eastern religions (they're explicitly right-souls do exist that reincarnate).
  • The Centauri religion is more of a pagan polytheistic religion with 50 official gods (and one unofficial based on a noble man who bought his way in the pantheon). This resembles the ancient Roman religion as the Centauri are essentially Space Romans, and like them it's mentioned they deify many past emperors.
• Star Trek:
  • The Klingon religion: a warrior-based religion where honor and courage are quintessential and warriors are rewarded with an afterlife of glory fighting alongside their god Kahless in the halls of Sto-Vo-Kor. Obviously based on the [Hollywood version of] Norse religion, just change Kahless for Odin and Sto-Vo-Kor for Valhalla.
  • The Bajoran religion: spiritual worship of the Prophets who are not gods, but (at least for the Bajorans) enlightened beings, with a well-organized religious hierarchy and a common leader. Probably a counterpart of Buddhism with Catholic-inspired clergy, plus a caste system in the past like Hinduism. Also, they have demonic beings called Pah-Wraiths who some worship as well, an idea very analogous to Hollywood Satanism.
• Game of Thrones:
  • The Lord of Light, a fire deity whose followers insistently describe him as the "one true God" in opposition to an evil counterpart god, bears a strong resemblance to Zoroastrianism and Gnosticism.
  • The Ironborn's faith of the Drowned God, inspired by Scandinavian mythology, is a monotheist religion based on a god who died (drowned) but came back to life and is eternally at war with the satanic Storm God, similar to the Norse religion worship of Odin's death by hanging in the Ygdrassil, resurrection of the warriors after death and the war against chaos represented by the Ice Giants and other Always Chaotic Evil forces of the Cosmos. This resurrection is the basis for the Ironborn's creed "What is dead may never die," and their practice of baptism in sea water. They also believe that if they serve the Drowned God well (by keeping to the Good Old Ways of Rape, Pillage, and Burn) they will be reborn into his halls beneath the sea after their death.
• The Orville:
  • The Krill religion, which is heavily based on Judeo-Christianity and Islam. Their temples look very similar to chapels and they have a holy book, and the idea that only Krills have souls is very similar to the concept in Abrahamic religions that only humans have souls. The fact that Krill are warrior-like, follow a single god (monotheism), and make chants very much similar to Allah'u'akbar is not very subtle in the message that Religion Is Wrong.
  • The religion shown on the ship in "If the Stars Should Appear" seems to resemble Christianity, as they have a holy book and one creator god, along with the nastier aspects of certain historical Christian churches, such as a theocracy and Inquisition-like authorities.
• Carnival Row: Burgish people follow a man called "the Martyr" who they frequently invoke (who's depicted as hanged) and seems pretty similar to Jesus. Faerie meanwhile have a "Saint Titania", who shares the name of a mythical fairy queen (plus the idea of saints may mean it's similar to Christianity as well). The place Ritter Longerbane is laid in state seems very much like a church, and there is organ music in the background too. Some of the Fauns also are part of a religious sect that engages in self-flagellation as the Medieval era saw. They have a holy book and provide charity for poorer members of their people in a manner akin to many churches too. In their case, it takes a darker turn as the sect turns out to be bent upon a violent anti-human revolt. Fauns also have their Haruspices, female clerics named for Roman ones who prophesied the future by examining animals' entrails, especially livers (which comes up in the series).
• The Mandalorian: The series makes many parallels between Mandalorian culture and religion and Judaism. To wit: they are a coalition of diverse tribes driven out of The Promised Land and who suffered horribly under a totalitarian regime. The fact that they vary in their fidelity to the Way^note a literal translation of "halakha" (Jewish law) reflects the different degrees Jewish groups follow things like Kosher Law: for Bo-Katan Kryze removing her helmet in front of others is an everyday occurrence, for Din Djarin it's sacrilege.

Tabletop Games

• Ironclaw:
  • The Church of S'allumer is patterned after the medieval Catholic church, with some of the heterodoxies (and heresies) being directly named after real ones.
  • Lutarism is based on a mix of Germanic and Celtic mythology combined with a bit of animism.
  • The Phelan have druids.
  • "Book of Horn and Ivory" introduces Malachism, an obvious parallel to Islam, and opposed to all forms of magic.
• In Rocket Age the main Martian faith seems to resemble Hinduism or Buddhism. It has a reincarnation system built along caste lines with an end goal of ascending to heaven to be amongst the Ancients.
• Iron Kingdoms:
  • The Church of Morrow is this setting analogue for Christianity.
  • The Thamarite cults are a weird blend of theistic and LaVeyan Satanism, with a vaguely-Objectivist moral philosophy, emphasis on magic, and worship of the Morrowans' Satan equivalent (and Morrow's twin sister).
  • The Menites are more of an Interfaith Smoothie; they worship the creator of humanity, Menoth, exclusively, and are the religion that Morrowans grew out of, making their religion an obvious counterpart to Judaism (complete with being a persecuted minority in strongly-Morrowan Cygnar). They also have elements of the more sinister side of Catholicism (their Scrutator priest-judges are heavily inspired by the Inquisition, and they really like burning heretics), and in the Protectorate, they have elements of Islam (they even recently converted the Idrians, the setting's resident Arab equivalents) and possibly Mormonism (forming a new nation in the desert after the rise of a new prophet and violent conflict with America-equivalent Cygnar).
• Warhammer features lots of examples:
  • The Cult of Sigmar is a Christianity analogue if Jesus was like Conan the Barbarian.
  • The Chaos Gods are like a more malevolent version of the Norse pantheon, including an Odin analogue being filled by Khorne promising a Warrior Heaven for his followers that fall in battle.
  • The Nehekharan Gods are obviously based on the Egyptian pantheon with its similarly named gods Ptra (Ra) and Basth (Bastet).
  • The Kislevite religion and the Great Orthodoxy are based on Slavic paganism and Orthodox Christianity.
  • The Lizardmen worship Sotek, a snake-like deity akin to the Aztecs' Quetzacoatl.
  • It's also implied that Warhammer's version of Islam is practiced by the nation of Araby, though other than being described as a monotheistic faith manifested by its chosen prophets, not much else is known about it. The equivalent of the Crusades happened when a daemon of Tzeentch tricked an Arabyan sultan into attacking the Empire, but little else is known about it.
• Pathfinder has a few of these:
  • The faiths of Irori, Gruhastha, and Korada and the philosophy of Sangpotshi all have a strong Buddhist flavor.
  • Tamashigo is basically Fantasy Shinto.
  • The church of Sarenrae and the faith of Namzaruum both resemble Islam in different ways. The church of Sarenrae has mosque-like temple architecture, dervishes, calls to prayer, and even a Hashshashin-equivalent, as well as being a religion of fantasy Middle-Eastern origin that is currently international in scope, but most popular and influential in its world's versions of the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and south-eastern Europe. The cult of Namzaruum is more obscure both in-universe and out, but its ecclesiastical structure is headed by a caliph and its priests call themselves imams.
  • The Yamabushi, hermit monk followers of the Tian Xia mountain god Yamatsumi, are named after, and inspired by, a real Japanese ascetic tradition.
• The Draconic religion in RuneQuest is Buddhism with serial numbers filed off. The draconewts and human converts seek the enlightened state of True Dragonhood through meditation and rebirth, and the True Dragons seek a state of oneness with the Cosmic Dragon Ouroboros, much like many Buddhist sects seek oneness with Vairocana Buddha.
• In 7th Sea, most religions in Theah are monotheistic, worshipping a god named Theus and following the words of his Prophets. The dominant religion is the Vaticine Church, also known as the Church of the Prophets, which is Catholicism at its most crusadery (notably, they're based in the Spain-counterpart rather than Italy, with accompanying Inquisition). There are also the Objectionists, founded by Mattias Leiber, who likewise follow the three Prophets, but do not believe that the Vaticine Heriophant speaks for Theus, as the equivalent to Protestants. The Church of the Second Prophet in the Crescent Empire, which does not accept the third Prophet, is Islam. The Ussurran Orthodox Church of the Prophets is the Russian Orthodox Church. Non-Theus religions include druids in Avalon, an equivalent to the Norse pantheon in Vestenmannavnjar, and the Path of the Golden Soul in Cathay which believes in a cycle of rebirth in pursuit of inner peace, similar to Buddhism.

Video Games

• There are two major religious and spiritual beliefs in the Dishonored series:
  • There is the Abbey of the Overseers which is a take on Christianity in its organized religion, based more on the Anglican Church than the Catholic Church, i.e. it is patronized and supported by the Crown and has simultaneous repressive and progressive aspects, i.e. a history of attacking dissenters, heretics, and persecuting magic users and witches (the latter of which was something Protestant Christianity did far more than the Catholics) while also patronizing and supporting science and using mathematics based devices in their activities similar to the Anglican Church which did support the Royal Society in the 1700s.
  • Worship of the Outsider involves creating makeshift shrines made up of wood and other household parts and fashioning them in private and secret while collecting strange runes and charms in the hope for luck and fortune. This resembles Haitian Voudou religion in the creation of shrines and syncretic ritualism, as well as in the manner in which Outsider worshipers generally hide their faith in the privacy of their homes since it is an Illegal Religion by the state. Outsider worship is also associated with witchcraft and the occult similar to the Hollywood version of Voudou.
• In Dragon Age:
  • The Andrastrian Chantry is a fantasy version of the Catholic Church, except with a Gender Flip on the power dynamics with women at the center with Andraste, the martyr who founded it, its priestesses being required to be celibate, and a female leader known as The Divine. It also underwent an internal fracturing, with Tevinter having its own version of the Chantry with a male leader, rather like the split between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
  • The Qun resembles Confucianism with its dedication to societal order above all else, and each member fulfilling a designated role in that society.
• Dragon Quest IX: The main religion in the game has some resemblance to Christianity, but has some other religions as well: Zenus (the Almighty) saw that humanity was turning to evil, and decided to destroy them. His daughter managed to persuade him otherwise by turning herself into a World Tree: she would only return to her true form if humans did enough good deeds (releasing benevolessence, gathered by the angelic Celestrians and returned to the tree). However, Zenus ends up split into various aspects (which become the higher-end grotto monsters).
• In the Fallout franchise, the Church of the Children of Atom share a surprisingly high number of similarities to many ancient Egyptian cults (as highlighted here), most prominently those based around the worship of the creation god Atum.
• The practices of the Halonic Church of Ishgard in Final Fantasy XIV greatly resemble those of the medieval Catholic church. Although Halone is one of twelve acknowledged gods, devotion to one other than her is frowned upon. The state is a theocracy run by the Archbishop (who wears a pope-like miter) and religious precepts are enforced by the Inquisition, who use a number of tortures and other cruel and unusual measures to expose and punish heretics (although "heretics" here are "those aligned with dragons"). The Halonic Church also has many canonized Saints, mostly those who have committed heroic deeds in the Forever War against the dragon horde, but for humanitarian and faith-based reasons as well.
• The main religion of the Britain of Guenevere is a kind of monotheistic goddess worship presided over by priestesses. It seems to be a mix of real-world paganism with a monotheistic Christian aspect.
• In the Pokémon world, some religions seem to worship Pokémon, typically powerful Legendaries. The anime has a few Buddhist parallels early on, but the game religions don't really seem to be based on anything. However, there is a church-type building in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, where the people talk in a rather preachy manner too.
• The Kyrati religion in Far Cry 4 shares a few traits with Dharmic religions and at the very least seems derived from Hinduism, which isn't surprising given it's located in the Indian sub-continent.
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses has the Church of Seiros, which, as one of the most powerful institutions on the continent of Fódlan, with its own army and the role of keeping the peace, bares more than a passing resemblance to the Vatican. It was founded and named for Saint Seiros, who claimed to have been given a revelation from the Goddess who was watching over Fódlan.
• Anbennar: The Corinite faith is an odd example in that it very closely mirrors a real-world faith in terms of impact on the setting and relation to its origin while not being at all theologically similar — it is a clear take on Protestantism in that it starts out as a reformist tendency within the dominant religion (the Regent Court) of the Europe-analogue (Cannor), this causes a schism, and the schism leads to a religious war in the Holy Roman Empire-analogue (the Empire of Anbennar) and the Corinite side ends up forming national churches instead of the more transnational organisation of its mother faith. In terms of theology, however, it is a polytheistic faith with occasional monolatric tendencies whose chief mundane charge against the Regent Court is insufficient militancy against evil and whose main theological divergences is advocating for a different successor to the Top God position than the one the mainstream Regent Court adopts.
• Nurity, the main religion featured in Suzerain, is a monotheistic religion with traits inspired by both Christianity (the worship of Saints and Priests, the religion's founder being supported by a group of dedicated Disciples, the Eleven Pillars of Nurity being analogous to the Ten Commandments) and Islam (the religion's founder being a divine messenger with their encounter with God being similar to Muhammad's first revelation, the two major denominations being split on the topic of whether the teachings of the original founder's successor should also be considered of divine origin).
• The Legend of Zelda initially started out as directly using Christianity in the first game, but with A Link to the Past, apparently started using a loose adaptation of Christianity for its Creation Myth, with the Golden Goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore being a counterpart Holy Trinity and with structures such as the Sanctuary and later the Temple of Time clearly being Christian churches. By Skyward Sword however, this was then revised into a closer counterpart of Shinto, with the Golden Goddesses being remembered but not directly worshipped, while actual worship is instead reserved for the lesser patron goddess Hylia, who is established to be the ancestor of Hyrule's royal family. Hylia is also given a rival associated with storms named Demise in this revision.

Web Comics

• In El Goonish Shive, a mention is made of the beliefs of a Uryuom religion which like many real major world religions has a significant impact on the laws that get passed where it is widely practiced.
• Kill Six Billion Demons: The multiverse is clearly very heavily inspired by Hinduism, with a multitude of gods that are technically the same being, themes of balance and mirrored forces, and so on. At the same time, it is not actually attempting to be Hinduism. It does have a few Christian elements, with angels as upholders of the Law and devils as powerful tricksters that exist outside it.
• Marble Gate Dungeon: The faith of Solus the Highfather is essentially identical to Earth Christianity, down to having a Jesus-style figure known as the "Prime Martyr".
• unDivine gives us La Divinidad, basically a Spanish Carribean style quasi-Christianty.

Web Original

• SMPEarth: Braphogism, a religion following the deity Slam. It is best known for its odd fixation on fecal matter. It Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.

Western Animation

• Futurama: The First Amalgamated Church, the combination of all the mainstream world religions into one ála New Age. It also features Robotology, a religion specifically for robots which is the main focus of the episode "Hell Is Other Robots" and which is mostly a pastiche of Christianity with robot and machine terms sprinkled everywhere. Although they are never seen in full detail, Professor Farnsworth also mentions "Voodoo" and Oprahism as mainstream religions in the future.
  • The Latino dub changed Oprahism for Waltermercadismo.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender is an interesting case. The concept of an "Avatar" is one taken from Hinduism and Buddhism, meaning a god who has taken mortal form. However, there are many separate philosophies across the world which seem to hold elements from other Asian, Pagan, and Native American belief systems. Specifically, the mythology of Aang as the Avatar is lifted directly from The Dalai Lama, down to reincarnation and being chosen at a young age by ancient toys and heirlooms from the previous Avatar's possessions. The creators even named him "Buddha Boy" as a working name before they came up with "Aang".
  • In The Legend of Korra, the Avatarverse's cosmology is basically made into a blend of Shinto, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism: as with the previous series, nature spirits are abundant, but the two most powerful ones are embodiments of light and darkness that are constantly fighting for control of the world. And the Avatar is the light spirit's fusion with a human soul.
• In Sealab 2021, the Church of Alvis is what happens when one takes Jesus, has him be born in the American frontier, gets him drunk, and gives him guns. Other religions are mentioned that are more or less parallels to real-life religions (ex: "Alvis was himself a Kreb!" in a parallel of Jesus being Jewish). Reportedly, the writers of Sealab did want to use the real-life religions in the Christmas Episode "Feast of Alvis", but Standards and Practices wouldn't let them, so they made all these religions up instead...which arguably makes the episode funnier, and makes Murphy (the most ardent Alvian) look even more like a nutjob.

  Sparks: Your "lord"? It's a baby with a freaking gun, roasting over a flood light!

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