History Main / FlatEarthAtheist

* Pick ''any'' Christmas movie or ChristmasSpecial in which Santa Claus is real and actively delivers presents to a large fraction of the world's children, yet the vast majority of adults do not believe in him. Let me review the situation: Mysterious packages show up under Christmas trees that Mom and Dad certainly don't remember buying. Little Sally in the hovel next door ends up with an expensive doll in her stocking despite her parents barely being able to afford necessities and keeping the doors locked for fear of burglars. Yet despite these otherwise inexplicable occurrences, people dismiss Santa as a fairy tale or "stuff for babies."

** On a more general note, [[AppliedPhlebotinum Devil Fruits]] are regarded as mythical in certain parts of the East Blue. While devil fruits and their users are rare, especially outside of the Grand Line (where the main adventure takes place), most of the world's most prominent military figures and the most widely known and feared pirates do possess devil fruit powers, and there is known scientific literature seemingly available to the general public describing devil fruits and their effects.
* Seto Kaiba in ''Anime/YuGiOh'' says ScrewDestiny to the long history of Duel Monsters and of his rivalry with Yugi, even when he is told outright ''and'' went through the entire Millennium World arc. Of course, he goes on to found Duel Academia, a school existing solely for the purpose of being a roach motel for {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, but not until the main ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' series itself is over.

* In ''Manga/BlackButler'' Ciel makes [[DealWithTheDevil a contract with a demon]], promising his soul to said said demon. He is not unaware of this fact. Yet, in the anime version, somewhere between dealings with soul collecting {{Shinigami}} and psycho {{fallen angel}}s, he, while ''siting next the demon he sold his soul to'', claims that he '''doesn't believe in souls'''. (Note that this is not true in the manga.)
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Tsunade states the [[{{Obake}} ghouls and ghosts]] are "just a bunch of hooey". But she's ''saying'' it to the guy with [[SealedEvilInACan a demon spirit sealed inside him]]. Also, Tsunade's grand-uncle and one of her ex-teammates know resurrection jutsu. And her two immediate predecessors as Hokage each knew how to summon a {{Shinigami}}. And her dead boyfriend had invented a jutsu to temporarily transform himself into something akin to a ghost.
** To be fair, this is only seen in the {{Filler}}, which can be rather bad, particularly the later episodes.

* Doctor Terrance Thirteen, the Ghost Breaker, is TheDCU's preeminent FlatEarthAtheist (''literally''), earnestly believing that aliens (like Superman), magicians (like Doctor Fate) and supernatural beings (like the Spectre) simply don't exist at all. Needless to say, he's treated unilaterally as a joke. Ironically, in his original appearances before continuity held sway (that is, before TheDCU was firmly established as a SharedUniverse where nearly all DC properties resided), the ghosts and magicians he went up against always ''were'' fake and his skepticism was presented as a virtuous trait; but when continuity started drawing all DC books into one reality, he was first shown the spirit of his dead father by the Spectre, then he was teamed with the very mystical [[ThePhantomStranger Phantom Stranger]], and from then on he was always wrong, simply because the Stranger's very existence demanded it be so. Dr. 13 currently lives outside of the time stream, aware of his own fictional nature; he is teamed with an alien, a vampire, a French caveman, and a talking vampire gorilla with Nazi leanings, his daughter is a rather powerful witch, and he believes none of this.

** Of course he's meet the DC comic staff so he knows they're all fiction.
** Dr. 13 frequently alternated in stories where the Phantom Stranger appeared opposite him showing a prior story that was pure trickery he'd revealed only to have things a bit more supernatural (obviously) much of but not always when they were together. He also once disproved that ghosts haunted a house by showing it was actually ALIENS using the house as a stopover point as they teleported across the universe. He's pretty much always been the example of the devout worshiper of science whose blind-spot always has him refusing to accept the evidence of supernatural things because he operates under the (obviously proven wrong) premise that nothing supernatural actually exists.

* In the MarvelUniverse, {{Science Hero}}es like IronMan and [[AntMan Hank Pym]] acknowledge that Thor ''might'' be an actual god (though they tend to think of him and all other mythological beings as closer to {{sufficiently advanced alien}}s; Thor was actually {{retcon}}ned to be this by WarrenEllis, but who knows if it stuck) and that characters like Comicbook/DoctorStrange, The Beyonder, and the Scarlet Witch are doing ''something'' beyond their comprehension. That doesn't mean they're comfortable with not understanding what's going on, don't stop looking for ways to explain it, or that they're specifically religious. The closest we ever get is one or two incidents of straight-up desperation praying after all viable options have been exhausted. The only science hero that has no problem accepting all of this is [[TheHulk Bruce Banner]].
** Though it should be noted, this is a relatively recent development and there are several older stories where these guys have little problem accepting magic and gods, or at least being convinced of it rather quickly. {{Flanderization}} in action.
* ComicBook/{{Quasar}} started out his series as an atheist/antitheist, but after the seminal "Cosmos In Collision" storyline a couple of years in, he became more of an agnostic ("Maybe I'm not the atheist I thought I was. Maybe I just haven't discovered the god that's right for me..."). This was likely helped by the fact that in said storyline, [[spoiler:he died and was resurrected]]. It should be noted that God in the Marvel Universe is called The One-Above-All who [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith appeared to the Fantastic Four]] as Creator/JackKirby, a person they know.
* Touched on by the ''CityOfHeroes'' comic books. A sizable portion of the eponymous city has been overrun by zombies powered by the magics of ancient evil "gods", another group of mages literally summon ghosts and devils and gods regularly within city limits, and one of the major canon heroes literally makes his armor out of demons. Many heroes still scoff at the concept of Prometheus and Zeus when talking to the former is an important part of making the local phlebotinum work again.

** It should be noted Bill has never outright dismissed or challenged Thor's claims to godhood and made this statement after witnessing the damage of religious wars. His people were destroyed over the struggle between the traditional religions and the new belief of Bill as a god, the Skrull invasion of Earth in the name of their god, a madman causing genocide in the name of his religion, and further Skrull infighting over whether to follow the traditional Skrull gods or take Bill as their new god.

* Not quite atheism, but in ''Film/ErikTheViking'' Harald the Missionary, who accompanies the Vikings on their quest, staunchly refuses to believe in the Norse gods and their mythology... even when they're ''standing outside the gates of Valhalla''. Of course, he ''can't'' see it, because he doesn't believe in it (he is a Christian, after all), but it certainly causes a great deal of frustration with his crewmates. Turns out to be a plot device when the Missionary is the only one who can leave Valhalla to save them all, since he doesn't believe in it.
* In a somewhat {{fridge logic}}al example, Han Solo from ''StarWars''. At the start of ''ANewHope'' he doesn't believe in TheForce, despite the fact that the Jedi were a major power in the galaxy up until about 19 years ago (Han would likely be a little boy at this point and probably never have met any Jedi). Though in fairness two decades of Imperial rule likely all but wiped Jedi from the history books. Also, the Jedi were basically SpacePolice with PsychicPowers, not the clergy of a religion that most people followed. Their abilities alone did not necessarily prove the existence of a SentientCosmicForce that controls all destiny. Plus the fact that they were so completely wiped out could contribute to Han's skepticism about just how much they lived up to their reputations:

** Walter Peck in the first movie firmly refuses to believe in ghosts even when his own actions cause the rampaging ghost menace in the first place (or maybe he had his denial blinders on). Not to mention the hundreds of eyewitnesses who have seen ghosts and seen the Ghostbusters at work. Peck's accusation that the Ghostbusters use gas to cause hallucinations is made without the slightest shred of evidence.
** In the sequel, the Ghostbusters have been shut down as frauds and many characters don't believe in ghosts. This is despite NewYorkCity having been attacked by a giant marshmallow man at the end of the first movie, which hundreds of people must have witnessed, not to mention possibly being captured on film.

*** Of course, Granny's standard approach to gods is that just because they exist is no reason to go around worshiping them - it only makes them start putting on airs.

* Richard from ''The SwordOfTruth'' series denounces the concept of an afterlife where people are rewarded or punished for their actions, because "nobody has ever come back from the grave to describe conditions in the next life." This despite having personally conversed with the spirits of the dead at least ''three times'', and even having ''gone to the underworld and come back''.
* In Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheElenium'', the Elene people believe in only one God and their religion is [[CrystalDragonJesus almost exactly like the Catholic Church]]. Their God doesn't respond directly to them and they never see him. However, they do live on a planet with about 1,000 other gods. What is really weird is when the Church Knights (the military arm of the Church) need magic to fight magic, they get four priests from four of the other gods (who, again, the Church says don't exist) to teach them magic. And that magic is basically praying to the other gods (who according to them don't exist) for spells. Other races of people do find the Elene religion strange that way, especially the ones who actually meet ''their'' gods. Amazingly enough, Eddings gets it to work.

* The Tolnedrans in the ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'' worship a God that loves money, which sent them down a road to love money more than Gods, so that they're effectively atheist businessmen, and their God couldn't be happier with them. Most Tolnedran characters will cling to their atheism no matter how much the world's supernatural elements prod at them, including a scene where General Varana spends an entire tactical meeting facing away from the other commanders so that he won't have to see the sorcerers he's working with shapeshifting and casting spells.

* The Mi-Go, Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Fungi from Yuggoth'', appear to be an entire race of these, at least according to some CthulhuMythos materials. Though they live in a world overflowing with monstrous, supernatural beings with horrific powers, rather than worshiping them as gods like most mortals aware of their existence, they plan to use their science to either control or destroy these entities. In contrast to the hopelessness that surrounds any human confrontation with the Mythos' various horrifying creatures, you get the feeling that the Mi-Go might just have some chance of pulling it off, probably because, unlike humans, their science is not inhibited by old-fashioned limitations like ethics. When you think about it, they may just be the scariest damn things in the entire Mythos.

** She later starts training a religious apprentice, Willowshine, who knows that Mothwing's an atheist and interprets mystical dreams and omens for her. It should also be noted that Mothwing did originally believe in [=StarClan=] and see them, but her brother (an evil, manipulative bastard) convinced her that they weren't, and even after he dies, she can't quite bring herself to trust in them again. Essentially, she ''wants'' to believe in [=StarClan=], but she can't risk getting her hopes dashed again.

** Though it should be noted, the terms "unbelievers" and "atheist" had broader meanings back in the day, and referred to {{Nay Theist}}s and people who might believe God (or gods) ''existed'', but did not ''have faith'' in Him / them.

*** Well, in at least two separate episodes, Q tries to pass himself off as a god. In the DS9 episode Q-Less, Vash mentions that he's referred to as the "God of Lies" on at least one planet he's visited. Also in the TNG episode "Tapestry", Q appears to Picard (after he's mortally injured in an ambush) saying that he's God and they are now in the afterlife. Of course, Picard laughs in his face saying he couldn't accept that. The episode itself is very ambiguous as to whether the whole this was All Just a Dream and Q never comments on the events in later appearances.

* The show ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' is much like ''The X-Files'' in how it features Flat Earth Athiesm. Dean is the primary example. While he very easily believes in the supernatural (hence the name of the show) and Hell, he simply flat-out refuses to believe in things like angels, Heaven, and God. "Gods" are simply very powerful monsters, but you can still "gank" them. Dean is forced to face his lack of belief after he returns from Hell, when faced with the angel Castiel. Cas becomes a regular on the show, as does their "prophet" Chuck [[spoiler: who is later implied to actually be ''God''.]]. Even the demons (re Lucifer, who is actually a FallenAngel) end up stressing the fact that God exists--[[HaveYouSeenMyGod He might not be there]], but He does exist. Lucifer goes on this long-winded schpiel about his devotion to his Father (God) being the reason for his falling from Heaven (though its more or less stated that he was really just jealous that God seemed to love [[PunyEarthlings humans]] as much as he loved angels). Dean, while eventually admitting to the fact that God exists, never fails to ruffle the feathers of all the angels he comes across, simply for the fact that they are, as he puts it, "dicks" (though it should be noted that nearly all of the {{Jerkass}} angels seem to believe GodIsDead, or at least has abandoned everyone This is where at least 60% of the humor from season 5 onward comes from, still managing to question the core accuracy of the Bible ([[CriticalResearchFailure although they quote the Bible for things it doesn't actually say]]), or just religion in general.

**** Actually, the Third Edition setting book for Forgotten Realms made it clear that not having a specific patron deity (but acknowledging the gods were real) or worshiping a dead god wouldn't get you that Fate Worse Than Death, you had to specifically and sincerely deny the existence of the gods (or be a total hypocrite, like say you do when you sincerely betray everything that god stands for). Basically as a soul is sitting around the waiting room of the afterlife, an angel/devil from a god that is at least a little sympathetic to the souls personality and beliefs will show up to take him away. Only the ones who don't get picked up after quite a while because no deity wants to have anything to do with that soul get turned into bricks in a wall for all eternity.
*** In the new edition, an entire continent as well as two countries has been brought over from a world where gods haven't existed for about 30,000 years, so anyone from there might have a justification.

** The ''{{Eberron}}'' setting [[AvertedTrope avoids]] this trope entirely. Divine Magic is the product of faith, Arcane Magic is just a force of the world. Someone with the proper training could have divine magic if he believed enough. It's even possible for clerics to turn from their religion and keep their spells. In fact, some mortals (and undead) have set up faiths centered around them, and their clerics get divine magic. Gods do not take physical form (except for one, The Traveler, and even then it's more the stuff of myth, like in ancient Greece). There are miracles which ''could'' be the work of the gods, but that is open to interpretation. In the setting, the actual existence of gods is up to a character's belief, as the gods do not act as proactively as they do in the Forgotten Realms, for example. Fiends are the original occupants of the material plane, and their religious implications are downplayed. Angels and Devils are just Outsiders. There are even some books that suggest the gods are based on the legends of certain Dragons.

** The Tau also qualify -- they believe in the power of logic and science, and refuse to believe in the idea of the truly supernatural, even after repeated battles with Chaos, the Eldar, and the Sisters of Battle. Bear in mind that these races employ, respectively, daemons and humans mutated by the Dark Gods (and sometimes both in the same creatures), living avatars of a war god present as figures of molten iron carrying a giant sword and an ever-bleeding hand, and what can only be described as divine magic to the point of one of their heroines self-resurrecting and having a few beings tantamount to angels.

** Of course, [[spoiler: he's absolutely right, as the "miracles" are just another form of the Soul Arts. "God" is actually the ancient demon known as [[BigBad the Old One]].]]

** Note that Planescape, as mentioned above, is a ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve setting, where belief literally shapes reality (and clerical magic is just one form of reality-shaping). Grace draws her power from the Sensate Philosophy.

** What's rather interesting to note is that he was a significant source of belief anyway, if used properly; while he claimed not to believe in you, you could pick him up anywhere he was -- even if he was outside of your control, which is something you can't do for anything else in the game, except for your creature. He also extended a small radius of influence around him, so in effect, he ''was'' a believer, he just didn't like you.

** Their "conversion" actually started in the previous expansion, ''Wrath of the Lich King''. Before the invasion of Northrend, the gnomes were pure science and logic, and though they knew about the Light and other higher powers they preferred to belief in their own ingenuity and were unaware of the history of their race. That is, until the discovery of Mecha-gnomes, the Curse of Flesh created by the Old Gods, and the revelation that they were created by the Titans as clockwork beings who were then made organic by the Curse. Basically, [[AceOfBase "I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes"]]. The gnomes have begun to open up more towards higher powers, including the Light, and now we have Gnome Priests.

*** One Dwemer tale tells of a Dwemer who tricks Azura with a box containing a mirror. After she correctly guesses what the box holds, he opens the box and the mirror makes it appear as if the box was empty [[note]]It's an old magic trick, the mirror is at an angle ergo when you look in the walls of the box are reflected and look like the other sides walls and flaw, so it looks like the box are empty.[[/note]], 'proving' she is fallible and so not a god. He dies that night, a smile on his face. Of course, the Dunmer tell a different story: Azura sees through the tricks and strikes him down there and then.

* The original ''GuildWars'' campaign (Prophecies) has a wonderful moment where an NPC rants about how she doesn't believe in any Gods after your latest mission goes awry. This is a bit ridiculous, since she's standing next to a person who can revive the dead using the power of faith and lives in a world where praying at a shrine will grant you improved skills. Mind you, since the plot of that campaign can be summed up as: [[NiceJobBreakingItHero "Oh hey, you just made everything worse! Again!"]] it may be safe to assume that the Gods are helping you just so that they can point and laugh when you fail.

*** Of course, the Sylvari have the innate ability to bring huge trees to life, so they aren't completely unreasonable in wanting proof those hounds come from a higher power.

* Eridan in {{Homestuck}} lives in a world which canonically contains ghosts, telekinesis, clairvoyance, psychic mind control, dragons, telepathy, time-travelling demons, trolls who spontaneously sprout butterfly wings enabling them to fly, [[CosmicHorror Cosmic Horrors]], vampires, and sgrub/sburb itself. But he doesn't believe in magic. That stuff's totally fake.

* ''[[OneOverZero 1/0]]'' featured the character Marcus, who became so angry at the comic's creator Tailsteak that he willingly acquired a fourth wall -- an inability to hear Tailsteak, see the comic's layout, have real-world knowledge, basically to realise in any way he was a character in a comic. Marcus remained stolidly convinced he was the OnlySaneMan despite Tailsteak's continuous creation of life, inventing laws of physics, and generally interfering with the comic's world in an obvious fashion. Ironically, to rationalise all the ghosts and golems and such, Marcus eventually had to create his own increasingly-convoluted religion. Eventually, he reaches such levels of StrawmanPolitical (very clearly representing atheism, agnosticism, pantheism, and polytheism at various points) that [[LampshadeHanging Petitus chews out the Christian author]] for his {{anvilicious}} AuthorTract.

** It should also be noted that the [=MUniverse=] contains multiple religions, each with its own distinct (and in some cases conflicting) mythology/theology, all of which are apparently real. So it's fairly easy to see how people might get confused. To quote the author:

** Hawkgirl, who does not believe in anything supernatural despite winning a fantastical battle against Doctor Fate and personally knowing a zombie, not in gods despite meeting and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu killing]] [[PigLatin Icthultu]], and not in souls despite being taken over by the literal soul/s of ancient SnakePeople who literally put their souls into a gem, and [[WonderWoman knowing]] [[ClassicalMythology Wonder Woman]].
** WonderWoman and Aquaman are used by the [[WriterOnBoard Writers on Board]] to dump the idea that faith is a hollow thing that brings happiness when in actuality WonderWoman is based in the blessings of ClassicalMythology with a real Hera and bracelets made of [[MadeOfIndestructium Zeus's Aegis]] on her wrists, while Aquaman stated that his Atlantis was based in the use and misuse of magic, resulting in his trident and in a temporary age of peace for the Earth from monsters like [[HPLovecraft Icthultu]].
* In ''TheSimpsons'', although {{God}} and Jesus Christ have been shown to exist, and Homer has had numerous run-ins with the Almighty, he's ''still'' able in the episode "HOM-R" to construct a mathematical proof of God's nonexistence while trying to devise a flat tax proposal. This is of course just another of the many times where the show openly [[NegativeContinuity ignores continuity]] for [[RuleOfFunny the sake of a quick joke]].
** Of course, since he has an IQ of 105, it's likely the proof is not valid, but it's upsetting enough that Ned Flanders can take one look and ''think'' it is.

** Not to mention in the episode "I Dream of Jesus", where Jesus had dinner at the Griffin household, among other interactions.

* In an episode of ''SpongeBobSquarePants'', Squidward says he doesn't belive in ghosts (or more specifically the Flying Dutchman), which is odd considering the Flying Dutchman appeared to the entire town in the Halloween episode and Squidward was zapped over and over and tortured by the Flying Dutchman in another episode.
** To be fair though, ''Spongebob'' has almost no continuity worth mentioning.
* Another {{Batman}} example comes from the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "Revenant". An invisible force is terrorizing the school, which Terry's friends think is a ghost. This conversation ensues:

* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': Despite having met genies, leprechauns, ghosts, witches, and so forth, Gadget Hackwrench insists there's no such thing as magic. Of course, this usually only happens in episodes where [[ScoobyDooHoax there isn't any supernatural phenomenon but you're meant to think there is]]. When magic really ''is'' going on, she usually keeps her opinions on the matter to herself.

* Kid Flash in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. Mind you, he's perfectly okay with pocket dimensions and MindControl existing, he just thinks everything has to have a scientific explanation behind it. Partly Justified in that one of the Flash's enemies was a Time Traveller posing as an EvilSorceror (and actually served as TheDragon in the episode in question) and because this skepticism seemed to only last a single episode - on every other occassion magic shows up, Kid Flash is (to all appearances, at least) a lot more accepting of the reality of it all.

** Taken to hilarious extremes, for the sake of a joke, in one Rankin-Bass movie in which a young atheist mouse says he doesn't believe in Santa...despite Santa having ''a phone number'' and a ''staff of people to answer any calls''. When he says this, the athe-mouse's dad gives him a look that is the 70's animated special equivalent of "Wow you're a spectacular retard". Mind you, this is a world where Santa is '''so clearly and explicitly real''' that when he ''tells'' the town's mayor he won't come here this year due to the athe-mouse insulting him in a newspaper (yes...) the mayor attempts to build a huge beacon to tell Santa how much they're really, really sorry. In other words, Santa is at least as real as any other businessman the town is trying to curry favor with. And the mouse kid still didn't believe it till his father showed him '''everyone else in town did'''. The irony? [[KnowNothingKnowitall Athe-mouse is the SMART one in his family]] ([[BlatantLies by his reckoning]]). Yikes.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has a scientist named [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess]] [[AnthropomorphicFood Bubblegum]] who [[MagicVersusScience disbelieves in magic]] (or more accurately, unexplanable forces; she believes that anything can be explained by science and anyone using "magic" lacks the scientific knowledge to know the nature of what they're doing). ''But'' keep in mind that she lives in a bizarre, colorful HeroicFantasy land full of talking [[EverythingTalks objects/animals]], spells, interdimensional portals, potions, and wizards.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has a scientist named [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess]] [[AnthropomorphicFood Bubblegum]] who [[MagicVersusScience disbelieves in magic]] (or more accurately, unexplanable forces; she believes that anything can be explained by science and anyone using "magic" lacks the scientific knowledge to know the nature of what they're doing). ''But'' keep in mind that she lives in a bizarre, colorful HighFantasy land full of talking objects, spells, interdimensional portals, and wizards.

* In an issue of DC's ''Checkmate'', a wizard describes magic to an atheist skeptic as "the cheat codes to the universe".

** In the {{New 52}} ''ThePhantomStranger'' title, he's been reinvented as a "scientific occultist" in the mould of [[{{Ghostbusters}} Egon Spengler]]. His ancestor, the ''orginal'' Terrence Thirteen in ''[[JonahHex All-Star Western]]'', on the other hand, is the ultimate Flat-Earth Atheist: at one point his ''ghost'' chides the modern-day Terry for believing in the supernatural.

** In the {{New 52}} ''PhantomStranger'' title, he's been reinvented as a "scientific occultist" in the mould of [[{{Ghostbuster}} Egon Spengler]]. His ancestor, the ''orginal'' Terrence Thirteen in ''[[JonahHex All-Star Western]]'', on the other hand, is the ultimate Flat-Earth Atheist: at one point his ''ghost'' chides the modern-day Terry for believing in the supernatural.

** Oh course he's meet the DC comic staff so he knows they're all fiction.

** Hawkgirl, who does not believe in anything supernatural despite winning a fantastical battle against Doctor Fate and personally knowing a zombie, not in gods despite meeting and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu killing]] [[PigLatin Icthultu]], and not in souls despite being taken over by the literal soul/s of ancient SnakePeople who literally put their souls into a gem, and [[WonderWoman knowing]] [[ClassicalMythology Wonder Woman]].
** WonderWoman and Comicbook/{{Aquaman} are used by the [[WriterOnBoard Writers on Board]] to dump the idea that faith is a hollow thing that brings happiness when in actuality WonderWoman is based in the blessings of ClassicalMythology with a real Hera and bracelets made of [[MadeOfIndestructium Zeus's Aegis]] on her wrists, while Aquaman stated that his Atlantis was based in the use and misuse of magic, resulting in his trident and in a temporary age of peace for the Earth from monsters like [[HPLovecraft Icthultu]].

** Hawkgirl, who does not believe in anything supernatural despite winning a fantastical battle against Doctor Fate and personally knowing a zombie, not in gods despite meeting and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu killing]] [[PigLatin Icthultu]], and not in souls despite being taken over by the literal soul/s of ancient SnakePeople who literally put their souls into a gem, and [[WonderWoman knowing]] [[ClassicalMythology Wonder Woman]].
** WonderWoman and Comicbook/{{Aquaman} are used by the [[WriterOnBoard Writers on Board]] to dump the idea that faith is a hollow thing that brings happiness when in actuality WonderWoman is based in the blessings of ClassicalMythology with a real Hera and bracelets made of [[MadeOfIndestructium Zeus's Aegis]] on her wrists, while Aquaman stated that his Atlantis was based in the use and misuse of magic, resulting in his trident and in a temporary age of peace for the Earth from monsters like [[HPLovecraft Icthultu]].

** Hawkgirl, who does not believe in anything supernatural despite winning a fantastical battle against Doctor Fate and personally knowing a zombie, not in gods despite meeting and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu killing]] [[PigLatin Icthultu]], and not in souls despite being taken over by the literal soul/s of ancient SnakePeople who literally put their souls into a gem, and [[WonderWoman knowing]] [[ClassicalMythology Wonder Woman]].
** WonderWoman and Comicbook/{{Aquaman} are used by the [[WriterOnBoard Writers on Board]] to dump the idea that faith is a hollow thing that brings happiness when in actuality WonderWoman is based in the blessings of ClassicalMythology with a real Hera and bracelets made of [[MadeOfIndestructium Zeus's Aegis]] on her wrists while ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} stated that his Atlantis was based in the use and misuse of magic, resulting in his trident and in a temporary age of peace for the Earth from monsters like [[HPLovecraft Icthultu]].

* In a somewhat {{fridge logic}}al example, Han Solo from ''StarWars''. At the start of ''ANewHope'' he doesn't believe in TheForce, despite the fact that the Jedi were a major power in the galaxy up until about 19 years ago. Though in fairness two decades of Imperial rule likely all but wiped Jedi from the history books. Also, the Jedi were basically SpacePolice with PsychicPowers, not the clergy of a religion that most people followed. Their abilities alone did not necessarily prove the existence of a SentientCosmicForce that controls all destiny. Plus the fact that they were so completely wiped out could contribute to Han's skepticism about just how much they lived up to their reputations:

* In ''TheCoffinJoeTrilogy'', the title character refuses in to believe in God, Satan, and general supernatural activity, despite frequently being target of ghostly/demoniac apparitions within the trilogy. It's never confirmed if the apparitions are [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane real or a product of his mind]].

** Walter Peck in the first movie firmly refuses to believe in ghosts even when his own actions cause the rampaging ghost menace in the first place (or maybe he had his denial blinders on). Not to mention the hundreds of eyewitnesses who have seen ghosts and seen the Ghostbusters at work. Peck's accusation that the Ghostbusters use gas to cause hallucination is made without the slightest shred of evidence.
** In the sequel, the Ghostbusters have been shut down as frauds and many characters don't believe in ghosts. This is despite NewYorkCity being attacked by a giant marshmallow man at the end of the first movie.

* Referenced in ''{{Dogma}}'' when Loki, the former Angel of Death, talks to a Nun early and claims to have become an atheist due to a bizarre interpretation of Lewis Carroll's poem ''The Walrus and the Carpenter'', which convinces her ''[[InsaneTrollLogic somehow ]]'' to give up organized religion. His friend Bartleby points out that he ''knows'' for a fact there is a God, that Loki has stood in His presence, and He has spoken to Loki personally, yet Loki just claimed to be an atheist. Loki replies he just likes fucking with the clergy.

* Arcoscephalean skeptics in the ''{{Dominions}}'' world are atheistic philosophers who use their acerbic wit to mock belief in the gods. This is quite strange during an epic war between demigods battling to become the one true {{God}}. Even worse, the nation of [[{{Ancient Greece}} Arcoscephale]] [[{{FantasyCounterpartCulture}} itself]] is ruled by a pretender god who can order the skeptics about.

* The [[TrueArt Pretentious Artist]] from KingdomOfLoathing is one of these. You only find this out if you show up at his place decked out in all of the Bad Moon rewards, and he states that he isn't sure whether he believes in Hey Deze, "even though people go there all the time and bring back souvenirs."

** She later starts training a religious apprentice, Willowshine, who knows that Mothwing's an atheist and interprets mystical dreams and omens for her. It should also be noted that Mothwing did originally believe in StarClan and see them, but her brother (an evil, manipulative bastard) convinced her that they weren't, and even after he dies, she can't quite bring herself to trust in them again. Essentially, she ''wants'' to believe in StarClan, but she can't risk getting her hopes dashed again.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}} 2'',

* Mr. Satan/Hercule of ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' was completely oblivious that the superpowered main characters were stronger than him, thinking it all to be a trick (he doesn't appear to have done the research on Roshi, Tien, and Goku, all of whom were champions of previous editions of the World Martial Arts Tournament that Mr. Satan rose to fame by winning) and later on a dream. Toward the end of the Cell saga, he seems to be trying to convince himself that it's not real. After the Cell saga, it becomes a {{Kayfabe}} put up by Goku and his fellows. Mr. Satan ends up bribing Android 18 to throw a fight against him so as to maintain the illusion that he's the strongest. By the end of the series, with, among other things, holding the leash of an ice cream-loving EldritchAbomination and his beloved daughter marrying the strongest man on the planet, he's fully in the know but helps maintain TheMasquerade so as to keep the general population blissfully unaware of the constant danger they're usually in.

* A kind of weird example is how Hachigen describes the faith of Shinigami in Manga/{{Bleach}}. He basically says that Shinigami are more or less atheists, despite technically being ghosts and having a godlike figure in the Spirit King that they have to answer to. It's more complicated than this, as at one point Matsumoto points out that not many people have ever heard of the Spirit King. Hachigen also says that since, as shinigami, they're death gods and consider themselves to be their own deities. Of course, it's possible that Hachi was partially making it up just to piss off Barragan (given that he also sarcastically apologizes for not recognizing the significant of Barragan's self-proclaimed title, "God of Hueco Mundo"), who was at the peak of his AGodAmI VillainousBreakdown.
** Made somewhat better by the fact that beyond being "the lynchpin", we have no idea what the hell the Spirit King is, so he might not even technically be a god.

* Jayce in the ''Instruments of Humanity'' series considers himself an agnostic even though he belongs to an order founded by angel and has met and killed many a demon himself. He claims it's because he's never personally met an angel or knows anyone who has but he does know that holy water, sacred ground and blessed weapons work because he uses them on a regular basis!