History Main / ArtisticLicenseReligion

* Quite similarly, ''Nurses'' (a Canadian medical drama) also had an episode where an Orthodox Jewish man rejected a transplant due to the fact it might come from a woman or Arab. It was widely criticized for the same reasons, with the episode later being [[BannedEpisode entirely removed]] from streaming and reruns.

* ''Webcomic/LittleNuns'' In real life, a woman must be 18 or older before she can take the vows and become a nun. While young girls living with the church (perhaps as orphans) isn't unheard of, they wouldn't wear the habits until they take those vows. Also, nuns don't show hair under their habits, but this is likely [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality to help differentiate the characters]] (only two of the nuns, the Mother Superior and Star Nun, wear their habits correctly).

* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Margaret's "Bible Verses" about the "Raven Of Sin" and the Original Sin being sex are a bunch of made up nonsense that doesn't appear in any translation of the Bible (in the latter case the Bible explicitly says the first sin was eating the Forbidden Fruit). [[JustifiedTrope Justified,]] as it's mainly meant to show Margaret's rampant insanity.

* Chuck Austen on Roman Catholicism in the ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' comics.
** The villains in the story plan to get ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}}, a devil-looking mutant, installed as the pope then at a crucial time have his image inducer fail revealing him to be TheAntichrist while distributing communion wafers that when activated will cause people to dissolve, simulating the Rapture, which will cause all the Catholic Church to declare war on all the mutants, wiping out the mutants, breaking the Catholic Church, destroying Western Civilization, and causing all the former Catholics to join their church. This plan is either insanely stupid or surprisingly brilliant. It's insanely stupid because the villains were a small, breakaway faction of Catholicism with likely very little [[note]]read: absolutely zero, as they would be officially a schismatic group not in communion with the Church due to a number of delicts -- heck, ''Oral Roberts'' would have more pull in the curia than these yahoos[[/note]] actual power in the papal elections and therefore could not get Nightcrawler elected as pope, would require everyone in the Church to assume he is the Antichrist, and not, say, someone who replaced the pope, have these communion hosts [[note]]which are actually produced in multiples of locations, not just in some central bakery in the Vatican, as the Church of Humanity's plan would depend on[[/note]] distributed far and wide and not have anyone discover them, have Catholics spontaneously adopt the Rapture (as this is not part of Catholic Dogma, but originated in Protestantism[[note]]and not even just Protestantism at large, but a very narrow subset that emerged around 1890 or so[[/note]]), and that this will cause the collapse of Western Civilization even though large swaths of Western Civilization don't practice Catholicism, that all the Catholics will spontaneously lose their faith including the more secular and non-practicing ones, and that all these ex-Catholics will join their church, rather than the hundreds of other faiths out there. The reason why it's potentially brilliant is that it reflects how [[CrapsackWorld cynically accurate]] the reactions of the Marvel human population would be, and that having the Rapture really ''would'' cause problems because it would overturn a lot of previous dogma. If only they mentioned the latter bit.

*** Neither of the Baker Street Kids games reveal Herod's last name as "Antipas" (''The Boy Jesus''), nor did they reveal the other Herod's as "Agrippa" (''The Early Church'').

* The B-movie ''Film/LostSouls'' starring Creator/WinonaRyder. The filmmakers have admitted to making up the Bible verse that is central to the plot. One of the main characters is seemingly doomed to be possessed by demons because he hasn't been baptized. No one thinks to [[JustEatGilligan just baptize him and end the issue.]] Apparently, the director and writer thought Catholics can only be baptized as infants. Not to mention that baptism doesn't do jack to the possibility of being possessed. Its function is to prevent being condemned due to the Original Sin and to allow a person to receive other sacraments. It should also be noted that in extraordinary circumstances (as in when a person is likely to die unbaptised and there is no priest around), baptism can also be performed by a lay Catholic.

* In the ninth ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' volume, Tsuchimikado says specifically that a group of peasants' conversion to Christianity "wiped out their history, traditions and mental culture". [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_syncretism This is not]] how religion works, for many reasons -- most prominently the fact that not all parts of any given culture are religious. It's about on par with saying a Japanese Christian cannot eat ramen anymore because they believe in Jesus. The connection is simply not there.

** Taken one step further for a joke about how, without Christianity, Michelangelo's inspired paintings of the Sistine Chapel would be replaced by the art of John Hinckley. How did no one realize that the Sistine Chapel is a Christian church? Never mind that Michelangelo based many of his figures on ancient Greek carvings.

** In another episode, "Perennials," the suspect believes himself to be the reincarnation of a serial killer who died the day he was born, in the same hospital, and is killing the people he believes are reincarnations of the dead killer's victims, placing fly larvae by their bodies in the belief that it will make their souls be reborn into these instead of humans, so ending the cycle. Morgan states that "See, a fundamental tenet of reincarnation is that you can come back in any life form, not just human." Wrong-in some reincarnation beliefs, such as Hindus', this is true-others like the Druze, though, believe people are only reborn in human bodies, not animals. They also differ on whether people can be reborn into different sexes than they had before.

** Upon fatally shooting Ben, Victor claims that killing him [[SoulsavingCrusader "saved his soul"]]. If anyone in this film actually cared about real dogma, they'd realize killing Ben without giving him a chance to repent of his sins would be doing the opposite-putting it in great danger of damnation. Possibly justified in this case, seeing as Victor seems to have completely lost his mind at that point, so thinking logically wouldn't really be his strong suit.

* An episode of ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' revolved around an Orthodox Jewish girl who was unable to receive a heart valve transplant from a pig due to the animal not being kosher. However, under Jewish law, one is not only permitted but ''required'' to violate virtually any commandment if doing so is necessary to save a life. The episode drew swift criticism from Jewish religious leaders, with some even saying it endangered the lives of Jews who might avoid receiving medically necessary treatment due to the claims made in the episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'': The [[AnthropomorphicPersonification ghost of Halloween]], Samhain, has his name pronounced "Sam-hain" rather than the proper Gaelic pronunciation "Sah-wain" and in fact has nothing in common with the original pagan holiday other than, perhaps, the death of the year. This may be a case of SadlyMythtaken (i.e. a pagan holiday being demonized for a Christian audience) except that the imagery (jack-o'-lantern head) and overall personality (DarkIsEvil) have more in common with the [[OlderThanTheyThink modern-day]] [[PopculturalOsmosis conception]] of Halloween as a dark, scary, sinister holiday ([[LighterAndSofter when it isn't all about parties and candy]]) than its ancient much-debated roots which are lost in the mists of time. [[FridgeBrilliance So the mispronunciation and lack of connection to the original holiday may be intentional--because this is the ghost of what people have come to associate with Halloween, rather than its original meaning]].

* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Margaret's "Bible Verses" about the "Raven Of Sin" and the Original Sin being sex are a bunch of made up nonsense that doesn't appear in any translation of the Bible (in the latter case the Bible explicitly says the first sin was eating the Forbidden Fruit). [[JustifiedTrope justified,]] as it's mainly meant to show Margaret's rampant insanity.

* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' and ''Anime/HellsingUltimate'' did a better job of depicting the different schisms within Christianity, with the different secret monster-hunting organizations of Hellsing and Iscariot being a Protestant and Catholic organization respectively. Unfortunately, it also took the original schism between the Protestant and Catholic Churches (which ''did'' cause one of the most devastating periods in European history) and kept that same conflict going for centuries after the two sides had reconciled, with Hellsing and Iscariot quietly at war with each other and the Catholic Church commissioning a new crusade into England.
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'' has its whole plot revolve around the collection of a miraculously un-spoiled corpse that has been [[DismantledMacGuffin split into 9 pieces]]. Naturally, the pieces can merge with people's bodies and give them superpowers. It is heavily hinted by the narrator, and explicitly stated by several characters, but never ''technically'' confirmed by anyone with reliable authority, that the corpse belongs to Jesus. If true, then Jesus--who is perhaps most famous for coming back from the dead--was evidently only able to pull it off exactly once, in JJBA continuity. Then, instead of ascending to become one third of a Trinity, he traveled to America and died forever. JJBA lore tends to slip into ChristianityIsCatholic because of how frequently saints are mentioned (that's the backup explanation for who the corpse is), but, as was just mentioned, Catholicism kind of has Jesus not be a corpse.

* Creator/RowanAtkinson has a comedy routine in which portrays the Devil, welcoming people to Hell and sorting them according to the attribute that damned them. After welcoming a group of atheists ("I bet you feel like right nitwits"), he welcomes a group of Christians, explaining that "the Jews were right all along". However, neither Hell nor the Devil exist in Judaism's account of what happens after death.

** A particularly egregious example is the 2011 BatFamilyCrossover ''Judgement on Gotham.'' In this crossover, Azrael ([[Characters/BatmanSupportingCast Michael Lane]]) teams with the Crusader, a superpowered psychotic, in order to destroy Gotham City, which they perceive as a modern-day Sodom/Gomorrah (It's later revealed that they were manipulated into doing this by Comicbook/RasAlGhul, who apparently likes to play with Dominoes). In accordance to Literature/TheBible story on the topic, however, they decide to instead first see if there is one righteous soul in the city. So, [[SarcasmMode naturally]], they decide to test Batman (Dick Grayson), ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} (Selina Kyle) and Red Robin (Tim Drake). If they find one righteous soul, they'll spare the city.
** The problem is, in the original Sodom and Gomorrah story, God agreed with Abraham to not destroy the cities for the sake of ''ten'' righteous people. This then begs the question of why Azrael and the Crusader didn't just take a poll of the local Christian churches. We the readers are then expected to believe that: 1.) The biggest "sin" that the Sword of Sin (a sword that when plunged into a person's body reveals to both the victim and the wielder the sins of the victim) could dredge up from Dick Grayson was not helping some random guy from the circus when he was a ''kid'', as opposed to, say, fornication, lying, lustful thoughts, use of profanity etc. 2.) We are further expected to believe that Azrael and the Crusader sincerely think that they can find an individual without sin, which, according to Literature/TheBible, yes, ''the Bible'', is impossible with the sole exception of Jesus Christ (and his mother, Mary, as Azrael is Catholic, so he should know). 3.) In relation to point 2, we are then expected to believe that Tim Drake, who, as good a guy as he is, has lied, thought lustful thoughts, and used profane language, is "sinless." We are also expected to believe that [[OutOfCharacterMoment Tim is pretentious enough to even think he has no sins, which he does think, according to his opening monologue]]. 4.) We are then expected to believe that Selina Kyle, ''Catwoman,'' would fail the "sinless" test solely because she ''wouldn't kill her sister "in the name of God"'', as opposed to her history of stealing, fornication, etc., this test ''completely'' violating every rule of Christianity. The reason it's so ridiculous is that the entire premise of this crossover relies on Azrael and Crusader, the former being a staunch Catholic from boyhood, being completely ignorant of the Bible's most basic principles, to the point that ''Catwoman'' knows more about Christianity than they do ("God and God alone can judge").
** For the series in general, the codename itself is both this trope and ArtisticLicenseHistory. The Order of St. Dumas is an extreme Catholic organization splintering of UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar. ArchangelAzrael is not directly from Christian doctrine, but Judaism and Islam. The believers of the latter were who the Knights Templar were fighting against.

* ''Fanfic/AenrhienVailiuri'' ends on Jaleh Khoroushi, an Iranian Shiite Muslim, agreeing to a friendly drink with Tovan tr'Khev. Observant Muslims don't consume alcohol. The author's notes for ''Fanfic/PeaceForgedInFire'' admitted this was a mistake, and the story itself offered the explanation that [[FantasticReligiousWeirdness she gave up trying to keep halal on deployment years ago]].

** The pentagram is depicted as a unique Satanic symbol. In reality, the pentagram is actually a Christian symbol representing the five wounds of Christ. According to WordOfGod [[RuleOfCool he just thought the pentagram looked cooler]] and that it made the Demons more distinct. Similarly, the crescent moon is used as a symbol for Islam as a whole -- it's actually unique to Turkey. As above, WordOfGod is because it gave the Emirate of Mecca a distinct icon.

* ''FanFic/AngelOfTheBat'': Lots of this was intentionally invoked when creating the fictional [[ChurchOfEvil Church of the Voice of God]]. Their outlandish claims include the Catholic Church imprisoned, censored and killed Enochian Occultist Edward Kelley, that the man-turned-angel Enoch has only a few living descendants and that darkness is inherently evil, none of which are found in any religious teaching. Being a Catholic himself, the author got most of their teachings properly, though admitted through the text to giving a bogus explanation of The Eucharist because the character describing it had lapsed.

** In Exodus, Moses and Aaron are 80 and 83 years old, respectively, at the time of the plagues. While Moses is shown to have spent at least several years as a shepherd, he is still a young man when he confronts Rameses here.[[note]]This change is probably due to the shorter lifespans on the Pharaohs' part--an 80-year old Moses would've been very unlikely to have confronted the same prince he grew up with. That said, the Pharaoh of the film is clearly meant to be Rameses the Great, who lived to be 90. It's worth noting that the actual identity of the Pharaoh of Exodus is somewhat unclear, though it's usually said to be Rameses, and that this pharaoh is actually distinct from the one Moses fled from after murdering an Egyptian, who is known as the Pharaoh of the Oppression.[[/note]]

** The concept of Plenary Indulgence is portrayed completely wrong. Multiple characters who ''should'' know better (angels and a cardinal) describe it as a clean slate, and the forgiveness and removal of all sins. It is not. Plenary Indulgence is the removal of the need for temporal punishments of sins that have ''already'' been forgiven. It does not remove nor wipe out a person's sins. One might argue that Bartleby and Loki failing to understand the concept properly [[FridgeBrilliance is part of the joke.]] Also, Metatron calls himself a "Seraphim" and reveals two wings. The singular of "seraphim" is "Seraph," and they have six wings.
** Interestingly, a lot of the film's plot runs on the fact that Azrael, through Bartleby and Loki, is ''intentionally'' exploiting loopholes and using everyone's beliefs against them. The Cardinal is using the concept of Plenary Indulgences wrong, the whole "God is infallible" idea being proved incorrect has no basis in any official teachings, and half the stated rules and consequences happened (in-universe at least) centuries after the Bible began to be written. It's a humungous BatmanGambit running on nobody being 100% in the know about what was and wasn't possible, with the only omnipotent being in existence (God his-/herself) being [[ItMakesSenseInContext stuck in a coma]]. It's entirely possible that Azrael's entire plan would have turned into a big pile of nothing anyway, with God just being mildly miffed that Bartleby and Loki were schucking God's edicts ''again'', but having some [[MercyKill sympathy]] once Loki actually got the chance to realize his wrongdoings and repent.

** The church, which is meant to be a strict fundamentalist Catholic church (so much so that the congregation protests about the ''brother'' of a gay man attending until he's forced from the church by a priest), takes the ideas of karma and negative energy seriously. Specifically, "negative energy" is a concept whose definition varies between esoteric groups, while "karma" is a belief found in religions whose origins stem from India (e.g. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism). Neither concept is discussed in the Bible and you would be hard pressed to find any Christian denomination that teaches them.

* The B-movie ''Film/LostSouls'' starring Creator/WinonaRyder. The filmmakers have admitted to making up the Bible verse that is central to the plot. One of the main characters is seemingly doomed to be possessed by demons because he hasn't been baptized. No one thinks to [[JustEatGilligan just baptize him and end the issue.]] Apparently, the director and writer thought Catholics can only be baptized as infants. Not to mention that baptism doesn't do jack to the possibility of being possessed. Its function is to prevent from being condemned due to the Original Sin and to allow a person to receive other sacraments. It should also be noted that in extraordinary circumstances (as in when a person is likely to die unbaptised and there is no priest around), baptism can also be performed by a lay Catholic.

* Mrs. Carmody in the film adaptation of Creator/StephenKing's ''Film/TheMist'' was described as crazy within the film, but anyone vaguely familiar with Christian scripture or theology should have been able to make a pretty convincing argument against her, on her own terms. While the main characters criticize Mrs. Carmody's ravings that it's the Rapture (and that human sacrifice is required to appease God), at one point a tough biker-guy volunteers to go on an expedition outside: his parting shot was that for the record, he did believe in God, but thought Carmody was a lunatic. This contrast was all-too-brief because this man was killed shortly afterwards.

** A friar isn't a lower degree of monk who hasn't leveled up to taking vows (that's a novice). Monks are members of monastic orders who profess the three vows (poverty, chastity, and obedience) and live in a cloistered ascetic community (like the abbey that Van Helsing says Carl has never left). Friars are members of mendicant orders who profess the three vows and live in the community at large, moving around as necessary to do their work. Carl's right, he's not a monk; but his brown habit and tonsure clearly mark him out as a Franciscan friar (Order of Friars Minor), which very definitely means a vow of chastity (though the way he says this to a woman implies that he's just taken advantage of her ignorance).

* ''The Courage To Love'' has a dramatic scene in where a newborn may soon die. As the priest wouldn't come quickly enough, the parents urge the midwife to baptize her, despite her saying she can't. In fact, it can be performed by a layperson (that's the only one that is allowed by the Catholic Church) specifically as such emergencies arise. This dates back to the Middle Ages. As the midwife is a Catholic, and they were often the ones doing this, she should know it can be done. She ends up doing so anyway, but this is treated like she's breaking the rules (in a good cause).

* ''Film/SundaySchoolMusical'', as one might expect from a Creator/TheAsylum mockbuster, does not seem to understand what "Sunday school" is. The term refers to classes held prior to or during a church service for the education of Christian doctrine and beliefs. However, the film instead seems to think that the term refers to a Christian school (i.e., an otherwise-normal Monday-Friday school which is run by a Christian institution).

* The main conflict in the Hugo-winning science fiction novel ''A Case of Conscience'' by Creator/JamesBlish depends entirely on the "fact" that the Catholic church rejects evolution. In fact, the Catholic Church (in the 1940s) said the theory and religion are not mutually exclusive and that the church has no problem with the theory. Compared to certain Protestant sects Catholicism has taken a very moderate stance on the controversy -- they were originally neutral on the subject but later came down in favor of it (in fact, English Protestants both supported and rallied against the theory in more or less equal measure). The church made no official pronouncement about the subject at all until Pius XII adopted a neutral attitude. This is more a case of Theology Marches On than a pure example of this trope, but the central character is a Catholic priest who is freaked out by the existence of an alien species that appears to be without sin yet have never known Christianity: in RealLife, the Vatican issued a statement to the effect that it was definitely possible humanity would find such a species out there in the universe, and the idea of sinless aliens actually works within Catholic theology since they would not share Adam's curse. ([[FridgeLogic Wait]], would that mean that humanity's [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is sin?![[note]][[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy Yes, it is]].[[/note]]) The claim that the Catholic Church/the Pope opposes evolution is still used today. Especially egregious considering that [[http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P19.HTM evolution is part of the Catholic catechism.]] Or, you know, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel Gregor Mendel]]? That guy with peas who figured out the theory of genetics and was also an Augustinian friar. He not only had no objection to evolution, but wrote Darwin of his findings as evidence bolstering this. Unfortunately, it was lost in his voluminous correspondence, but rediscovery of Mendelian genetics helped to prove its validity.

* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'': Horowitz takes a few liberties with the belief system of the Incas, several Native American myths, some Ancient Chinese legends and even the theology syllabus of Roman universities in order to work the cosmology of the series into them. Also, in a more nitpicky example, he claims that the five-pointed star symbol of the Gatekeepers has "nothing to do with Christianity", which isn't strictly true--a few examples of early Christian artwork do use a similar five-pointed star as a symbol of Christ. It would still be a bit odd to find it carved on a secret door in the Vatican, but it wouldn't be as unbelievable as the book implies. The Incan tumi given to Richard is described as having a sharp point. Tumis do not have points; the blade is semicircular.

* In ''The Love and Death of Caterina'' by Andrew Nicoll, a Roman Catholic priest prays in his room to ''saint'' Maximilian Kolbe and then performs the sacrament of extreme unction according to the old rites. Extreme unction was changed into annointing of the sick (and the whole rite changed) in 1972, while Kolbe was canonized in 1982. If the priest was praying to ''servant of God'' Kolbe, that would be fine.

* ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'': In the third book, it's mentioned a few times that Samirah never bathes while fasting, and she talks it as though it is a dogma. Except what she does is unnecessary; fasting in Islam requires you to abstain from many things, but bathing is not one of them. She ''may'' attempt to avoid drinking water while gargling, but it's a long shot unless you deliberately want to do it.

** An angel scold the boys for believing that the Antichrist will be the son of Satan. "Your [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] gets more wrong than it does right," he explains. Except... the Bible never describes the Devil having any children and it also fails to mention a singular figure called "the Antichrist." The former is a piece of popular folklore and the latter is a name applied to the two Beasts described in the final book of the New Testament. You'd think an angel would know better.

** A more specific example: in the episode "3", a character writes "John 52:54" on a wall, and Mulder is immediately able to bring the verse to mind. Problem is, it's actually "John 6:52-54" he's thinking of, and "John 52:54" doesn't exist.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Very many in the Bar Mitzvah episode: the fact that the service ends after Frederick finishes reading his ''haftara'' (there is a whole other prayer service that follows); the fact that a dinner is apparently served then (this service is in the morning); Martin taking photos in a synagogue on the Sabbath (even in a Conservative synagogue he would be asked to stop). In-universe Frasier gets tricked into phonetically reading a prayer in what turns out to be Klingon.

--> '''Ted''': Barney, the three days rule is insane! I mean, who even came up with that?
--> '''Barney''': ...Jesus.
--> '''Marshall''': Barney, don't do this. Not with Jesus.

** In "Providence" Roger meets Father Alexandre Ferigault, who's a French Catholic priest held captive by the Mohawk because he offended them in not performing baptism on the son he fathered with a woman of their tribe. He tells Roger that is Catholic doctrine as he's not in a state of grace, due to violating his vows by conceiving the boy. This is wrong, though. Catholic doctrine says that a sacrament stays valid regardless of the spiritual state of the person who performs it, because in their belief it's God, not the human being, who has done it. The opposite view, called Donatism, is actually condemned as a [[UsefulNotes/HeresiesAndHeretics heresy]] by the Church. Although it's implied that the priest's own self-loathing for having an affair is what's really motivating him and making him a DeathSeeker.
** The Mohawk people in the show are depicted as being unfamiliar with Christianity and the doctrine of the religion. In reality, the Haudenosaunee as a whole had known of Christianity for well over 150 years by this point, and had had many dealings with missionaries already. A significant number would already have converted.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S1E10CornerOfTheEye Corner Of The Eye]]" Father Royce objects to Father Jonascu's healing ability being a divine gift by saying only Jesus had that power. However, in Catholic belief many Apostles and later saints healed the sick miraculously too.
* ''{{Series/Cursed}}'': While this is a parallel universe, the culture does also seem intended to be based on that of early medieval Europe. Thus, some departures from real world medieval Catholicism are noteworthy:
** The Red Paladins, a Catholic order of warrior monks, are portrayed as crucifying Fey and then burning them alive on the crosses. Historically, Christians considered imitating Christ by even letting ''themselves'' ever be crucified abhorrent. It was something to be avoided if at all possible. Thus, according to tradition, Peter was crucified upside down at his request (with an upside down cross becoming a symbol of the Pope afterward because of it). Similarly, Andrew was said to be crucified on an X-shaped cross (such a symbol is now called the St. Andrews cross after his name). While not impossible attitudes differ in another world, this would be more likely viewed as blasphemous. [[BurnTheWitch Burning at the stake was generally used]] against "enemies of God" like heretics and supposed witches, similar to the Fey in their view here. Fey here are burned ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and]]'' crucified.
** Father Carden believes that the Weeping Monk can be saved, despite being Fey. Yet other Fey never receive a chance for this-Carden specifically says no mercy must be given to them. While that might make sense if they're perceived as irredeemable demons, it also contradicts what he claims. This could be viewed as simply Carden's own bigotry, but this stance is portrayed as having the ''Pope'''s sanction, which goes against the Catholic doctrine, which says any person (non-humans were in fact discussed by theologians at times) must be given an opportunity to accept Christianity. Human pagans also seem to be killed without mercy like Fey, rather than at least attempts at converting them being made.

** Taweret, the goddess of childbirth and fertility, also takes the role of [[DontFearTheReaper psychopomp]] and TheFerryman of the boat leading to the Field of Reeds, when it is originally the role of a few overlapping deities: the boat's captain Aken / Kherty, and the actual ferryman Aker / Mahaf. That said (possibly in a case of in-universe justification), Taweret is shown to be fumbling around with the protocol of the job, suggesting that she was saddled with the duty against her will due to the shifts amongst the Ennead throughout the millenia. [[spoiler:The fact that many other deities were also imprisoned in ushabtis much like Khonshu before him helps explain this as well.]]

* "Psalm 69" by Music/{{Ministry}} opens with a priest telling his congregation, "Open your prayer guides to the Book of Revelation, Psalm 69." There are no psalms in the Book of Revelation. Those would be found in the Book of Psalms. And the Psalms and Revelation are found in Literature/TheBible, not in a "prayer guide". And no, if any, Christian denominations use a "prayer guide" during services, although some use a Book of Common Prayer. Though the Book of Common Prayer does include a Psalter (The Book of Psalms laid out for communical recitation). Seems they might have a passing familiarity with Anglicanism? The Book of Revelation/Psalm thing... yeah that's a big screw up.

* The Australian band the Hoodoo Gurus. Hoodoo is a set of spiritual practices, traditions, and beliefs which was created and concealed from slave-owners by enslaved Africans in North America, while a guru is a teacher in indian-originated religions.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'': In the opening fiction of ''Historical: Liberation of Terra II'', a character, identified as a member of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith [[note]]itself a case of HistoryMarchesOn: as of 2022, the body was renamed the ''Dicastery'' of the Doctrine of the Faith, the story was published in 2013[[/note]] says the following: "By the authority vested in me by the Curia and His Holiness I excommunicate you and condemn you to eternal Purgatory". No actual Catholic would say that. Religious authority ultimately flows from Jesus Christ through the Pope and the bishops and not the Curia (which itself is roughly analogous to the US or UK Cabinets). Purgatory, in Catholic dogma, is not eternal, as it is where souls on their way to Heaven go to be cleansed of the effects of venial sins and already confessed and absolved mortal sins. The excommunication bit is also dodgy, as excommunication is a remedial penalty for Catholics that means they cannot receive any of the sacraments until they seek lifting of the penalty from an authority competent to lift the excommunication. It is not another term for "damned to Hell".

* ''VideoGame/NamuAmidaButsuUtena'' -– Artistic License -- Religion: The Game. While it does [[ShownTheirWork show its work]] in terms of Buddhist deities, their positions and their relationship, it depicts them as good-looking animesque people engaging in modern-day SliceOfLife antics inbetween fighting evil.

* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKingsII'': Leaving aside the AlternateHistoryWank caused by the game's reliance on random events and gameplay options such pagan reformations and the Jews retaking the holy land, the game is overall pretty good at accurate portrayal of religion (aside from faiths where we have little data, such as Eastern European pagan beliefs). Still:
** The game's portrayal of European Christianity in starts before 1066 is the source of arguments over whether it's appropriate to have Catholicism and Orthodoxy be separate denominations before the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism Great Schism]] (when the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch excommunicated each other in 1054). Truth is, it's hazy: while in the earliest starts particularly they were officially considered the same church, there were already differences in practice and doctrine such as autocephalous national Orthodox churches[[note]]Essentially each nation's highest cleric pays homage to the Ecumenical Patriarch but in practice governs his own independent hierarchy. This contrasts with the more centralized Catholic church where everybody obeys the Pope.[[/note]] and giving services in the vernacular[[note]]The Catholics insisted on Latin well into the Renaissance when nobody but educated people spoke it, while the Orthodox church was already teaching in the local tongues.[[/note]] Of particular note is Orthodox characters' ability to mend the Great Schism[[note]]making Catholicism into the heresy of Orthodoxy[[/note]] at earlier dates than it actually took place.
** Outside of Christianity, the game conflates Germanic paganism with Norse paganism (they were related but distinct, especially at the early start dates). It should be noted that the religion used to be called "Norse" until the ''Charlemagne'' DLC, which added a start date set in 769 and the pagan kingdom of Saxony in Germany. The devs preferred to merge both religions rather than create two separate ones, one which would be exclusive to a startdate and in a singular region in Germany.
** The Yazidis are considered a Sunni heresy in game, despite being completely distinct and independent of Islam in real life. The same issue is present for Manichaeism, which is implemented as a heresy of Zoroastrianism rather than a separate faith. To mitigate this somewhat, Yazidism gets its own set of holy sites and unique creation conditions for its equivalent to the caliph. ''Jade Dragon'' likewise gives Manichaeism and other Zoroastrian heresies its own mechanics.

** African Paganism is the in-game representation of the paganistic native beliefs of several ethnic groups living in modern-day Niger and Chad, including the Mandé, Hausa and Songhai people. Its selection of deities as of ''Holy Fury'' includes [[TricksterGod Anansi]] and [[HollywoodVoodoo Vodun]] patrons, which are features of native religions from the Gulf of Guinea some ways away. This geographical distance applied to Europe would mean the Bolghars (early-game Tengri pagans in modern-day Romania and Bulgaria) would be able to worship Odin and Ukko.

** The Catholic church did not aprove the persecution of witches until [[TheLateMiddleAges the end-date of the game]]: Official Catholic teaching between the 11th and 15th centuries was that there were no such things as 'witches' or 'magic' and anyone believing in either was a heretic, a pagan, or mentally ill.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' features a Shinto shrine in Night City's Japantown. Unfortunately, apart from the Torii gates, its design seems to be mostly based on a Buddhist temple, and is manned by what looks to be Buddhist monks.

*** The "Abraham's Visitors" segment claimed that God told Abraham that he would destroy Sodom before the men left (translation error), when the Bible actually says that after the two angels left for Sodom, God said that he was going to investigate Sodom to see whether the complaints against it were true.
*** The "Sodom and Gomorrah" segment misinterprets Zoar's "small place" as "little city". It also omits the fact that when the men of Sodom wanted to sexually abuse the angels, Lot tried to make an offer to hand his two daughters to them, but they rejected the offer and wanted to sexually abuse him along with them. The segment also claims that Abraham helped God rescue Lot and his family (translation error), when the Bible actually says that the Lord was mindful of Abraham's request to save them by bringing them out of Sodom.

*** The "Binding of Isaac" segment claimed that God himself appeared to Abraham, who was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, and told the former to "Put down the knife, for I know you love me most of all" (translation error), when the Bible says that it was actually the messenger of God who told Abraham not to kill Isaac before continuing, "I now know how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
*** The "Bride for Isaac" segment got some facts wrong: it does not mention the death of Sarah, it misinterprets a nose ring as "golden earring", and it claims that Rebekah's father (Bethuel) "invited [Abraham's] servant in", when it was actually her brother Laban who invited him in.

*** The "[[PartingTheSea Crossing of the Red Sea]]" segment claimed that when the Egyptians were pursuing the Israelites in the Red Sea, God "made the wheels fall off" their chariots (translation error), when it actually says in the Bible that God looked through the pillars of fire and cloud in a gaze that threw the Egyptians into a panic and made the chariot wheels get stuck in the mud.
*** The "Bread from Heaven" segment[[note]]which was actually the journey through Shur, Elim, and Sin[[/note]] claimed that the people cried out, "Must we die without water?" (translation error) when they discovered that the water was bitter (they actually said in the Bible, "What are we to drink?"); it misinterpreted a "piece of wood" as "a tree" that would be thrown into the water to sweeten it (another translation error), when the Bible actually said that Moses was shown the aforementioned piece of wood and threw it into the water to freshen it up.

*** The segment of the molten calf keeps misinterpreting "molten calf" as "golden calf". It also claims that after Aaron's confession God immediately sent a plague on the people as punishment, when the Bible actually says that after Aaron's confession for letting the people run wild, Moses summoned his fellow Levites and ordered them to slaughter their 3,000 idolators (which the segment never told us); and that on the following day God sent a plague on the remaining idolators as punishment.
*** The "Tabernacle" section claimed that every day God would meet up with Moses in the tabernacle to tell him what to do, which is a translation error and something the Book of Exodus' Chapters 35-40 never say (it also mistakes the "tent of meeting" with "tabernacle", which is also a poor interpretation of Exodus 33). It also claimed that the tabernacle had "seven gold lampstands" (another translation error), when the Bible actually says that it only had one lampstand with seven lamps (or six branches; that segment confuses the Old Testament's "one lampstand" with the New Testament's "seven golden lampstands" and got both Testaments mixed up).

*** The "Saul Is Spared" segment never mentions that it was not the first time that David spared Saul, but rather the second time, nor does it mention that Abner was the son of Ner; and claims that Abishai told David, "Let me kill Saul" (he actually said in the Bible, "Today the Lord has delivered your enemy into your hands; now let me pin him to the ground with one strike of the spear; I will not need a second thrust"); that David told Abishai "No, God chose him to be king. God must take his life some day" (David actually said, "Do not strike him down, for who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him down, or his time will come to die, or he will go into battle and perish"); and that David said, "Wake up, Abner!" (translation error; David acually shouted, "Abner, won't you answer me?").

*** The "Purchase of a Threshing Floor" segment claims that David said to Gad, "We can't be punished by all the men" (translation error; David actually said, "Let us fall by the hands of God, for he is most merciful, but let me not fall by human hands"); mistinterprets "plague" as "bad disease"; claims that the angel of death move to Araunah's threshing floor ''before'' he tried to destroy Jerusalem and was prevented from doing so (when it was said the angel actually went to the threshing floor ''after'' his failed attempt to destroy the land); and never mentions that Araunah was a Jebusite.

*** The "Queen of Sheba" segment never mentions that Solomon's fleet of ships brought him apes and baboons along with gold, silver and ivory.

** The "Annunciation of the Lord" segment of ''The Boy Jesus'' (Series 1; 1984) claims that the Virgin Mary was frightened when she saw St. Gabriel the Archangel appearing before her, when the Bible actually says that she was troubled at his greeting of "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you," and pondered what sort of greeting it might be (Luke 1:29).
*** The "Simeon and Anna" segment claimed that Anna's husband died "Eighty-four years ago", when many other Bibles say that his death made her a widow "until she was eighty-four". This and other segments mistranlated "salvation" as "Savior", as well.
** In ''A Week That Changed the World'' (Series 2; 1986), the "Cleansing of the Temple" segment claims that the blind and lame came to Jesus at the temple on the morning after he cleansed it (a translation error). It also claims that Jesus said, "My house is a house of prayer. That's what the Bible says" (another translation error and anachronism), when the Bible actually says that Jesus quoted the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah in driving the moneychangers out of the temple.
*** The segment in which Jesus' authority is questioned has some translation errors, like when it is claimed that Jesus asked the Pharisees, "Who told [St.] John the Baptist to do what he did? God or the people?", when the Bible actually quotes Jesus in saying, "Where was John's baptism from? Was it of heavenly origin or of human origin?"
*** In the "Anointing of Jesus" segment, there is a mention of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (but with no relation that they are siblings and no mention that Jesus raised him from the dead), and it is claimed that Mary and the woman who anointed Jesus are not the same person, when the Bible says otherwise.

*** The "Arrival in Samaria" segment claimed that godly men "risked their lives to bury Stephen" (another translation error), and that Simon the Sorcerer claimed to be "the Messiah, God's Son", when the Bible actually says that he claimed to be "someone great" and was "the 'Power of God' that is called 'Great'" (Acts 8:9-10).
*** The "Philip and the Ethiopian" segment claims that the eunuch (which the game doesn't mention by name, nor is there any mention of the word "eunuch" anywhere) read about sheep being led to the slaughter and lambs before shearers in the book of the Prophet Isaiah, when the Bible actually says that the eunuch was reading about a silent man (referring to Jesus) being led to execution.
*** The "Saul Is Converted" segment claims that God appeared to Ananias and sent him to heal Saul, when the Bible actually says that it was Jesus, the Son of God, who appeared to Ananias.

*** The "Imprisonment of St. Peter" segment claimed that King Herod himself killed St. John's brother, St. James the Great, when in actuality it was Herod's guards who did the deed on his orders (it also claimed that Herod single-handedly slaughtered the soldiers who failed to find St. Peter, when in actuality Herod had said soldiers tried and executed by other soldiers). It also mentioned Mary and her son John Mark and Rhoda living in the house, but failed to mention that St. Peter told them to tell St. James the Less and his brothers about his escape.

*** The "Paul Is Stoned" segment has some errors, like when it claims that Saints Paul and Barnabas tells the pagans in Lystra that they are proclaiming "the Good News about Jesus", when the Bible actually quotes them in saying that they are telling the good news that the pagans should turn away from idols to worship the living God; that some people from Antioch and Iconium spread lies and slander against Paul, making the crowds believe their lies (something the Bible never says); and that "the Christians came to help Paul when he was stoned by the crowds" (another translation error).

*** The "Lydia's Conversion" segment claimed that Lydia asked St. Paul and his companions to baptize her (another translation error), when the Bible actually says that after Lydia and her household were baptized by them, she offered them an invitation to stay at her house.

** In "Left Behind", Flanders brings up three Bible-related topics to discuss with Homer: Jesus, Ecclesiastes, and baby Jesus. The context and wording of "Wanna talk about Ecclesiastes?" makes it sound as though the writers thought this was a name of a character.

** It strange that this one church Stan happens to go to apparently has the power to ban people from ALL of Christianity including different forms, branches, and sects of Christianity. Which isn't even remotely possible.
** In fact, the whole episode falls in this categories (seriously you can have a drinking game with the number of examples this one episode provides). For example, why would the weapons that are needed to kill the Antichrist be at the Vatican, when the Antichrist isn't even Catholic doctrine? Another example would be that Stan was not allowed to enter the Vatican because he is no longer a Christian. [[SarcasmMode Yeah that's right, non-Christians are not allowed to enter this Catholic building]] when in real life anyone can enter the Vatican, even in restricted areas, so long as you buy a ticket. Also, the Bible never talks about Satan having children (though it's been a popular folk idea). And to top it all off, at the end we see the Antichrist sporting the upside down cross, even though it's not really a Satanic symbol (while it's true that most people don't know this, but one would assume that the Antichrist of all people would know). In fact, an inverted cross is the symbol of the ''pope'', after the legend in which St. Peter (traditionally viewed as the first pope) was crucified upside down so his death would not resemble Christ's (though to be fair, a mainstream Christian belief about the occult is that any corruption of a symbol is occultic, hence why simply putting a circle around the Star of David makes it evil, as it is a corruption of the original intent, according to this belief. Things like Black Sabbaths and reversed citations of the Lord's Prayer are such corruptions). It even appears on the Papal throne. It's even been taken by anti-Catholic Christians to be a sign that the Pope is the Antichrist, making this doubly ironic. This also raises the question of why would the Vatican even care if a Protestant (a person from a completely different branch of Christianity) is banned from there.

** The writers are obviously a pretty big fan of RuleOfFunny, but his use of Jewish symbols is, unsurprisingly, way off the mark. In at least a couple episodes of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' he shows Jews wearing prayer shawls at the wrong times (either outside of prayer, or at nighttime services when they are not worn), and on ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' at one point, in a fantasy cutaway, it shows Cleveland reciting Kol Nidre, the Aramaic annulment of vows that begins Yom Kippur, by reading it from a Torah scroll. It is a legal declaration, not a Biblical passage, and is certainly not found in the Torah (it's not even in the same language).

** In the episode "The Road to the Multiverse" Stewie and Brian traveled to a universe where Christianity never existed. The world is considerably more advanced than in our world. Their justification for this was if Christianity was gone there would be no "Dark Ages". This is wrong on two counts. First, the Dark Ages is just a general term for the time between the fall of the Roman Empires and the Late Middle Ages, not a period of religiously-motivated intellectual stagnation (indeed most historians have stopped calling it "The Dark Ages" for exactly that reason). Second, most of the progress made in science and philosophy during that time period in the Christian world was made by clerics of the Catholic or Orthodox Churches, often because only they had the technical expertise and money to create new books. Saying that the world would have made 1000 years progress in technology is a silly statement to make anyway, which [[RuleOfFunny may well have been the intention.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'': In the opening fiction of ''Historical: Liberation of Terra II'', a character, identified as a member of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith [[note]]itself a case of HistoryMarchesOn: as of 2022, the body was renamed the ''Dicastery'' of the Doctrine of the Faith, the story was published in 2013[[/note]] says the following: "By the authority vested in me by the Curia and His Holiness I excommunicate you and condemn you to eternal Purgatory". No actual Catholic would say that. Religious authority ultimately flows from Jesus Christ through the Pope and the bishops and not the Curia (which itself is roughly analogous to the US or UK Cabinets). Purgatory, in Catholic dogma, is not eternal, as it is where souls on their way to Heaven go to be cleansed of the effects of venial sins and already confessed and absolved mortal sins.

** In Exodus, Moses and Aaron are 80 and 83 years old, respectively, at the time of the plagues. While Moses is shown to have spent at least several years as a shepherd, he is still very much a young man when he confronts Rameses here.[[note]]This change is probably due to the shorter lifespans on the Pharaohs' part--an 80-year old Moses would've been very unlikely to have confronted the same prince he grew up with. That said, the Pharaoh of the film is clearly meant to be Rameses the Great, who lived to be 90. It's worth noting that the actual identity of the Pharaoh of Exodus is somewhat unclear, though it's usually said to be Rameses, and that this pharaoh is actually distinct from the one Moses fled from after murdering an Egyptian, who is known as the Pharaoh of the Oppression.[[/note]]

* In ''Literature/TheHammerAndTheCross'', Harry Harrison introduces Thor as the [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse god of smiths]], something very much not within the historic Thor's domain. He needed a god of blacksmithing, and the Norse simply didn't have one: the closest approximation, [[Myth/WaylandTheSmith Wayland]], being highly inappropriate for the modified Norse religion that forms the core of the story.

* In ''Theatre/ManOfLaMancha'', the comic musical number "I'm Only Thinking of Him" is traditionally staged with Antonia and the Housekeeper making confessions to the Padre from booths located on opposite sides of him. Some confessionals [[AluminumChristmasTrees really are designed and built this way]], but because the penitents' privacy may not be compromised, the two sides would never actually be used simultaneously as portrayed by this staging.

* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'': The [[ArabianNightsDays Taftani]] craft of mages are described as a Zoroastrian-descended group with a dislike for monotheism -- when in reality Zoroastrianism was one of the first monotheistic religions. Considering the neopagan leanings of much of {{Creator/White Wolf}}'s writing team, this may have been a case of WriterOnBoard.

** Also, the antichrist Nightcrawler was supposed to be mistaken for was from the pop culture version of a particular interpretation of Revelation - an interpretation, needless to say, not held by Catholicism in general, which considers that part of the book to be thinly-veiled criticism of the Roman Empire.

* The ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' often do this to any religious ideology besides Jack Chick's own version of Christian fundamentalism (which is rather extreme, even for normal fundamentalism). When he does his research, it is usually from unreliable or discredited sources -- sometimes even his own version of Christian fundamentalism. As a result, not everyone is convinced his works aren't an elaborate parody. It helps that he is so cryptic a person that absolutely nothing is known about him. Wikipedia even suggests that "Jack Chick" might have been the "pen name for an unnamed author or authors". Examples of Artistic License - Religious Studies from ''Chick Tracts'' include:

** The pentagram is depicted as a unique Satanic symbol. In reality, the pentagram is actually a Christian symbol representing the five wounds of Christ. According to WordOfGod [[RuleOfCool he just thought the pentagram looked cooler]] and that it made the Demons more distinct. Similarly, the crescent moon is used as a symbol for Islam as a whole - it's actually unique to Turkey. As above, WordOfGod is because it gave the Emirate of Mecca a distinct icon.

* In ''Film/{{Priest|1994}}'' (1994, dir. Antonia Bird) a major part of the plot involves a girl confessing that her father sexually abuses her, and the priest's (who also happens to be gay, just for the zeitgeist) subsequent attempts to protect her without breaking the Seal of the Confessional. This is incorrect according to the Canon Law of the Roman Church, but is commonly misunderstood (even by priests!): the seal applies only to confessed sins. The girl was not confessing a sin (her father raped her), and the priest was therefore not bound by the seal. Later, the father himself comes along to "confess" (actually to gloat). This is likewise not bound by the seal, as it applies only to genuine confessions - the father was gloating, not confessing, and was therefore not entitled to protection.
* Part of the massive backlash at Creator/RolandEmmerich's ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'' was how it perpetuated the belief of many RealLife Christians (and others) who have tried to connect the end date of the Mayan calendar with their own belief of Judgement Day. The Mayans never equated the end of their calendar with the end of the world. After all, the Georgian calendar "ends" on December 31st, and no one interprets that as the end of the world. Myth/MayanMythology had nothing resembling an apocalypse, ignoring the inherent absurdity of Christians looking to a non-Judeo-Christian source for their eschatology.

* ''{{Film/Ladyhawke}}'': Imperius is described as a monk, but his background reveals he used to take confessions. In real life, a monk has not taken Holy Orders and thus cannot take confessions - he would need to be a priest to be able to hear confession and give absolution (of course, it is possible to be both a monk and a priest, but you would be more likely to refer to yourself as a priest in the same way that someone with credentials as both a paralegal and a lawyer would probably not mention the paralegal part). However, this might be intentional, as Imperius is later revealed to have become TheAtoner for committing the crime of betraying secrets of the confessional [[spoiler:(or so he thinks)]] - which hints he may have previously been a priest, only that he renounced his priestly vows and became a monk to repent, as it was done in the time and setting.

* ''Film/{{Wendigo}}'': The wendigo in this film ''does not'' act like an actual wendigo in Native American legends: It is said that a wendigo is a malicious spirit that will possess humans to [[IAmAHumanitarian eat other humans]]. While the wendigo in the film ''is'' malicious and torments all the characters [[spoiler: such as chasing Otis and it's implied its influence is what drives Otis to go after George and his family]], it never once makes them go cannibalistic.

* The main conflict in the Hugo-winning science fiction novel ''A Case of Conscience'' by Creator/JamesBlish depends entirely on the "fact" that the Catholic church rejects evolution. In fact, the Catholic Church (in the 1940s) said the theory and religion are not mutually exclusive and that the church has no problem with the theory. Compared to certain Protestant sects Catholicism has taken a very moderate stance on the controversy - they were originally neutral on the subject but later came down in favor of it (in fact, English Protestants both supported and rallied against the theory in more or less equal measure). The church made no official pronouncement about the subject at all until Pius XII adopted a neutral attitude. This is more a case of Theology Marches On than a pure example of this trope, but the central character is a Catholic priest who is freaked out by the existence of an alien species that appears to be without sin yet have never known Christianity: in RealLife, the Vatican issued a statement to the effect that it was definitely possible humanity would find such a species out there in the universe, and the idea of sinless aliens actually works within Catholic theology since they would not share Adam's curse. ([[FridgeLogic Wait]], would that mean that humanity's [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is sin?![[note]][[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy Yes, it is]].[[/note]]) The claim that the Catholic Church/the Pope opposes evolution is still used today. Especially egregious considering that [[http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P19.HTM evolution is part of the Catholic catechism.]] Or, you know, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Mendel Gregor Mendel]]? That guy with peas who figured out the theory of genetics and was also an Augustinian friar. He not only had no objection to evolution, but wrote Darwin of his findings as evidence bolstering this. Unfortunately, it was lost in his voluminous correspondence, but rediscovery of Mendelian genetics helped to prove its validity.
* It's a pretty minor example, but in ''Literature/AmericanGods'', there are a couple of examples of Creator/NeilGaiman basing his presentation of a god on Victorian-era interpretations of Myth/SlavicMythology instead of the original. One example is the idea of Bielbog being the "good god" brother of the "dark god" Czernobog. Modern evidence is that the former didn't actually exist in Slavic tradition. Probably justified [[spoiler: as Bielbog is an [[JekyllAndHyde alternate personality]] of Czernobog]] in Gaiman himself admitting that he had sparse evidence of Myth/SlavicMythology and so had to use artistic license. There's also the issue that [[spoiler: Loki]] is given some association with fire. This is the result of [[ArtisticLicenseLinguistics a bad etymology]], most likely originating from the story where Loki ends up in a contest against Logi who is the personification of fire, and probably a bit of association of him with [[HijackedByJesus Lucifer]]. This one, as with the previous example could also be attributed to [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve things becoming true if people believe]] in this universe. [[FridgeBrilliance Which means]] that they're representations of the originals brought by Slavic immigrants to America. Many of whom [[FridgeBrilliance would have immigrated in the 19th/early 20th centuries]]. Presumably, the original Slavic gods are still in Eastern Europe. The book makes it clear that America can clone or reincarnate gods while the originals are still in their home countries.

* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', the climax of the trilogy hinges on the second Fall of humanity, in which it's prophesied that Lyra "will disobey" and thus become a "second Eve" (from Literature/TheBible). What she actually does is [[spoiler: fall in love and make out with Will.]] She may have had sex, but even WordOfGod on the subject is "maybe, maybe not," sometimes slanted more toward the [[http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/1071125644900.html not]]. The issue is that if you leave out the sex between unmarried teenagers, there's nothing in her actions that the Bible considers sin or "disobeying" at all. Even that may not be a sin since it's supposed to happen prior to another Fall-- Adam and Eve are implied to have had sex before the theft ("be fruitful and multiply" and all that).

* In the ninth ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' volume, Tsuchimikado says specifically that a group of peasants' conversion to Christianity "wiped out their history, traditions and mental culture". [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_syncretism This is not]] how religion works, for many reasons- most prominently the fact that not all parts of any given culture are religious. It's about on par with saying a Japanese Christian cannot eat ramen anymore because they believe in Jesus. The connection is simply not there.

** Actually, and this may surprise, there is a patron saint of vampires - however, it is a very obscure story and deals with the saint killing the vampire, meaning one would invoke him to protect yourself from vampires.

** The first episode written by Kathy Reichs had "Wiccans" who were all-female, descended from the Salem "witches," and who stole corpses and used bat bones in their ceremonies. Even though the corpse stealer was portrayed as a blasphemer that did curses for hire and was feared and pitied by the less [[spoiler: deliberately]] psychotic Wiccans, the rest still fails.

* Then there's that episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' where Mr. Eko tells Claire that the dove that appeared after Jesus' baptism signified that John had cleansed Jesus of his sins. Actually, being the Son of God, Jesus was sinless, and the Dove was another way that God claimed Jesus as his son. This can partially be explained by Eko [[spoiler: not being a real priest, but actually a drug runner who caused the death of his brother (who was an actual priest) then became a "priest" to atone for this.]] Guess he didn't have much time to learn theology... This may also be a belief in the heterodox idea of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoptionism Adoptionism]] [[spoiler: which again shows he is not a real Catholic priest]].

* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'': The [[ArabianNightsDays Taftani]] craft of mages are described as a Zoroastrian-descended group with a dislike for monotheism- when in reality Zoroastrianism was one of the first monotheistic religions. Considering the neopagan leanings of much of {{Creator/White Wolf}}'s writing team, this may have been a case of WriterOnBoard.

* ''VideoGame/NamuAmidaButsuUtena''– Artistic License - Religion: The Game. While it does [[ShownTheirWork show its work]] in terms of Buddhist deities, their positions and their relationship, it depicts them as good-looking animesque people engaging in modern-day SliceOfLife antics inbetween fighting evil.

* ''VideoGame/PonyIsland'': Asmodeus is the demon king of lust, but he doesn't seem all that interested in love or sex over [[spoiler: testing your wits in the most horrendous way possible]]. Also, Beelzebub is another name for Satan, in this game they're different demons altogether.

** PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E7TheTwoMrsNahasapeemapetilons The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons]]", when, in an attempt to stop his Hindu friend Apu's arranged wedding, Homer, who overheard Apu saying that "only the gods can stop this wedding now", ([[PaperThinDisguise poorly]]) [[GodGuise dresses up as]] Ganesha- sorry, "Ganesh", and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR28AVY63wU&t=5s demands that the wedding be stopped as it angers him, or "All will die"]]. Nobody buys it for a second. Anyone familiar with Hindu mythology would know that Homer got the characterization completely wrong, as Ganesha is usually worshipped as a bringer of fortune and remover of obstacles.

** When Homer and Bart convert to Catholicism in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E21TheFatherTheSonAndTheHolyGuestStar The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star]]", Marge is given a glimpse of Catholic Heaven (with Mariachi, Pinatas, spaghetti dinners, Irish pubs, Riverdance, and drunken fist fighting) and Protestant Heaven (portrayed as a boring country club with badminton and croquet, and everyone talking in vaguely East Coast accents). At one point it's revealed that Jesus himself has been hanging out in Catholic Heaven a lot, leading one of the Protestants to cluck, "He's gone native" - which would suggest that Jesus is a Protestant, despite living 1,500 years before Protestantism existed. [[RuleOfFunny Which is the joke.]]

** PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E7TheTwoMrsNahasapeemapetilons The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons]]", when, in an attempt to stop his Hindu friend Apu's arranged wedding, Homer ([[PaperThinDisguise poorly]]) [[GodGuise dresses up as]] Ganesha- sorry, "Ganesh", and demands that the wedding be stopped as it angers him, or "All will die". Nobody buys it for a second.
-->'''Wedding guest:''' You are not Ganesh! Ganesh is ''graceful''! ''[rolls up his sleeves and chases after Homer, who ScreamsLikeALittleGirl and flees]''

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' borrows symbols and names from Christianity, but that's where the similarities end.

*** The "Bereans Accept Paul" segment misinterprets "Scriptures" as "Bible". It also claimed that when Paul had been escorted to Athens, he himself told Silas and Timothy to meet him as soon as possible (a translation error), when the Bible actually says that Paul's escorts came with instructions to meet him as soon as possible.