Basic Trope: A character avoids doing something by saying that it's against their religion.
- Straight: Alice, who hates gym class, claims that gym class is against her religion. She may be lying or telling the truth.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice claims that everything imaginable she doesn't like doing is against her religion, from pop quizzes to dental appointments to visiting her cousins.
- Everyone uses this excuse to avoid doing things that they dislike, and they never doubt each other.
- Alice is (supposedly) a polytheist, and claims that gym class is against her religions.
- Downplayed: Alice only claims that the gym uniform is against her religion; with a customized outfit (provided by her temple), gym class itself is just fine.
- Justified:
- Alice overheard someone else use this excuse.
- Alice considered several possible excuses, and chose the "Against My Religion" one.
- Gym class really is against Alice's religion, which only exists In-Universe and promotes intellectualism and not physical exercise.
- Alice decided to found a religion that prohibits gym class.
- Inverted:
- Alice runs laps with everyone else, even though it's against her religion and she'd rather not do it.
- Alice, who loves eating candy, claims that eating candy in class, which is against school rules, is required by her religion.
- Subverted:
- After Alice claims that gym class is against her religion, the gym teacher challenges that claim.
- Alice never said it was against her religion. She said it was against her principles.
- Double Subverted:
- Alice warns the gym teacher that she can have him charged for religious persecution.
- Religious principles, that is.
- Parodied:
- Characters use the excuse on each other, even when the other party obviously knows it's not true.
- Mr. Killmaster claims that respecting other people's religions is against his religion.
- "According to school policy, no more than two required classes may be against your religion."
- Bacon is kryptonite to Muslims and Jews, beef is kryptonite to Hindus, scissors and razors are kryptonite to Sikhs, etc.
- The main rule of Alice's religion is "never do anything you don't like".
- Alice tries this excuse, despite the fact that she's an outspoken atheist. Her gym teacher points this out.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Alice will claim that she cannot do certain things because they contravene her religion. It turns out that some of them, but not others, actually are against her religion. Then it later turns out there are other things her religion forbids — but she does them, anyway. In fact, there is even this one thing that her religion actually requires — that she claimed it forbade.
- Gym class is against Alice's religion some days, other days it isn't. (Either she changes religions like she changes shoes, or she's a Discordian and considers screwing with people's heads her sacred obligation.)
- Averted:
- No one makes any claims of anything being against their religion.
- All the characters are atheists or agnostics, so they don't say "this is against my religion" to avoid doing things.
- Enforced: "A doctor's note won't keep letting Alice out of class to save the world. Eventually, it will become clear that the note is fake." "Hmmm...but if her religion was against it, then they'd have to honor it!"
- Lampshaded:
- Alice's friend Jason says, "You know, Alice, I really don't like gym. Where can I sign up for your religion?"
- Alice's teacher asks, "Does your religion forbid being a pain in the ass?" She says, "No, sir, that's a sacred obligation to all true believers."
- Invoked: Alice decides to start a "religion" with her group of friends, which forbids everything they don't like doing.
- Exploited: Jason overhears this line from Alice, and starts using it even more than she does.
- Defied:
- Alice considers using this excuse, but knows that her religion allows gym class and that it's wrong to lie.
- The school principal makes it known, from the very beginning, that he reserves the right to challenge any claims of something being against the religion of any member of the student body or school faculty — and insists that requiring proof is not covered under the "religious persecution" charge.
- Discussed: "Damn, I hate gym class!" "Well, you could just claim that it's against your religion. It can't hurt to try, anyway."
- Conversed: "How come nobody thinks to ask Alice about her religion? I know that our school would never allow that excuse to just slide like that."
- Implied: Everyone asks Alice what excuse she uses to get out of things she hates, but she never tells them (or the audience). She is later shown "praying" in gibberish.
- Deconstructed: The school eventually catches on to Alice's excuse, and she gets into deep trouble.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice was telling the truth.
- Alice gets caught but doesn't get punished. Kids will be kids, right?
- Alice's punishment is an Unishment.
- Alice claims to practice a religion that is obscure in the region where the show takes place.
- Alice successfully founds the religion she claimed to practise. It becomes internationally recognized and kids everywhere use it to get out of gym.
- Played for Laughs:
- Alice belongs to a religion that considers highly dubious excuses to be a holy sacrament.
- Alice's "religion" is clearly made up on the spot, and it gets more bizarre, surreal, and internally inconsistent the more details she's asked to provide. Which doesn't stop her from accumulating a truckload of converts, all looking to her for guidance.
- Alice's use of this excuse is a Running Gag.
- Played for Drama: Alice continues to claim that things are against her religion, until her church actually finds out how she's disrespecting her religion. She is then banned from her church and humiliated in front of the entire town.
- Played for Horror: Alice goes into gruesome detail of the eternal punishment she will suffer if she takes gym class. Her coach turns white with fear at hearing it.
- Plotted a Good Waste: The plot centers around Alice converting to Islam, because it prohibits eating pork, which is something she dislikes.
Feel free to return to the main page of Against My Religion — unless, of course, that's against your religion.
