History Main / IfJesusThenAliens

%% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=19qugn3r

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In one episode taking place near Christmas in ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', Kagura, who isn't exceptionally bright herself, [[EskimosArentReal asks if reindeer are actual animals]], correctly concluding that the nonexistence of Santa does not preclude the existence of reindeer sleds. Tomo starts to taunt everyone about thinking reindeer exist, falsely assuming that the nonexistence of flying sleds precludes the existence of any reindeer as well.

* The graphic novel ''Comicbook/CreatureTech'' had an... interesting take on this. The protagonist, Dr. Ong, is an atheist and a brilliant scientist, working at [[ExtranormalInstitute a top-secret lab researching the weird and supernatural]]. Then, he runs across the actual ShroudOfTurin at work (they know it's the real deal because the blood on it heals people and raises the dead). This makes Ong admit to his preacher father that Jesus must have really been the Son of God, but he doesn't give anything more than intellectual assent to Jesus. Dr. Ong remains this way, until a teleportation accident lands him on another planet, at the foot of a cross where an Alien Jesus is being crucified. I kid you not: ''If Alien Jesus, then Jesus.'' ''Creature Tech'' is all over this trope. Ong's father was driven to religion by his findings as the previous scientist working at the aforementioned institution: [[InvertedTrope If aliens, then Jesus]]. He also objects to the Shroud of Turin because having conclusive evidence of Jesus' divinity would deprive people of the right to ''choose'' whether to believe in Christ.

* ''Doctor Thirteen'', ever since being integrated into the main DC universe, has usually been depicted as a FlatEarthAtheist without peer, all too willing to deny the supernatural no matter how conclusive the evidence. In the "Architects and Mortality" storyline, he teams up with a vampire, a ghost pirate, a talking gorilla, and a time traveler, among others. One of his earliest denials of the whole affair hinged upon the fact that the "yeti" he saw the other day was actually the vampire in a very heavy coat, and if yetis don't exist then neither do vampires, and he's having an extremely vivid dream or hallucination.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Contact}}'' started out avoiding this trope by having Creator/JodieFoster's character, Ellie Arroway, believe in aliens yet not Jesus, although the other characters tended to believe in either everything or nothing. After Ellie's trip through a stargate machine built from alien-transmitted instructions, however -- a trip which nobody believes actually happens ([[spoiler:after encountering an alien intelligence who appears as her dead father, she returns to Earth in the same instant she left with no recorded evidence of her trip at all, [[TheReveal other than that 18 hours of recorded static]]]]) -- she finds herself in a position she previously dismissed in other characters: furiously arguing for the truth of a cosmically important experience for which she can provide no hard evidence at all. While Ellie doesn't go so far as to literally believe "if Aliens, then Jesus", that message, [[AlternateAesopInterpretation whether intended or not,]] is not too much of a stretch.
* ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'': This is ultimately the crux of the judge's decision regarding the existence of Santa Claus in the climax of the remake. If the U.S. government has the wherewithal to put "In God We Trust" on their money, then who is he to declare false the faith that Kris Kringle is Santa Claus?

* ''Film/{{Cthulhu}}''. The protagonist, having spent the night stumbling through [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer endless tunnels]] beneath [[TownWithADarkSecret Rivermouth]] full of [[FishPeople nameless horrors]], ridicules his friend's suggestion that they're the legendary [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_tunnels Shanghai tunnels]] (subterranean passages allegedly used to transport men kidnapped as slaves) and says sarcastically, "What other explanation could there be, [=UFOs=]?" Which is amusing given where the titular monster came from.
* Employed in ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn''. The existence of God is taken as proven by the existence of vampires. Possibly justified since all they needed was faith and if faith didn't work they were kinda screwed either way.
* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': While Captain America refuses to believe Thor and Loki are gods ("There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."), he accepts that they're magic-using aliens without question. Of course, he ''has'' seen the very-unscientific powers of the Tesseract [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger first-hand]], so it's not that much of a stretch for him. Steve is technically correct, as well, given that in the movie universe, the Asgardians are supposed to be {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s.
* Subverted for humorous effect in ''Film/TheLostSkeletonOfCadavra''.
-->'''Ranger Brad:''' Oh, say... You don't believe those old legends about the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, do you?\\
'''Dr. Roger Fleming:''' Ranger Brad, I'm a scientist, I don't believe in anything.

* Creator/GKChesterton's ''Literature/FatherBrown'' stories subvert this trope pretty heavily - several stories feature the priest seeing through apparent miracles that take others in, precisely ''because'' he has a firm belief in the supernatural - and therefore a framework to think about them in, and an appreciation that "inexplicable" does not equal "miraculous".
* This trope is used to explain why Stanley Uris, one of the main characters in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{IT}}'' can't fully accept the existence of the book's creature and eventually [[spoiler: kills himself rather than return to face the monster]]. In one inner thought sequence he explains to the reader that [[spoiler: the existence of the monster actually OFFENDS him, because the existence of ANY supernatural phenomena destroys his neat and tidy rationalist vision of the world. "Everything leads to everything..."]]
* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/FallenAngels'', the "ruling coalition of proxmires, falwells, rifkins and maclaines" is composed of groups who in real life regard each other, sometimes literally, as minions of the Devil, but in the novel work harmoniously to make life miserable for the protagonists, because nothing else counts against their (alleged) technophobic mindset.

* Inverted in Creator/CharlesStross' ''Literature/AColderWar'': an alternate-history USA is dealing with Lovecraftian horrors used as weapons by the Soviets. Ronald Reagan is elected and treats them as just another kind of technology--he's too religious to believe in any supernatural aspect to them.
* Subverted in ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. When Inspector Mifroid takes in Raoul and interrogates him, one of the questions he asks is if he is superstitious. Raoul says no on the grounds that he is a practicing Catholic.

* Robert J. Sawyer plays with this trope extensively in ''Calculating God''. Thomas remains stubbornly atheist while several species of alien try to convince him that not only does God exist, but the math proves it.
* Creator/UmbertoEco's ''The Island of the Day Before'' has a 17th century Jesuit use the "If Jesus, No Aliens" argument, trying to convince the protagonist Roberto that other worlds do not exist. His argument is that, if there are other worlds with people on them, every single one would have to have a Jesus dying for that world's salvation, meaning the Crucifixion was not the unique, monumental event Christianity treats it as; on the other hand, if God were to create these worlds and ''not'' offer them salvation, he would not be the loving god Christianity treats him as. The Jesuit is not portrayed particularly sympathetically, and his line of doctrinaire "reasoning" contributes to Roberto's slow, steady [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]].
** This was the reasoning used to condemn [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno Giordano Bruno's]] belief in the existence of other worlds as heresy, and him to the stake, in [[RealLife Real Life]].
* In Creator/AndreiBelyanin's ''Literature/TheThiefOfBaghdad'', the author relays a FishOutOfTemporalWater scenario, in which a modern-day Russian man is magically transported into ArabianNightsDays by a genie to become the legendary titular character. The story (and sequels) feature all manner of Middle Eastern magical creatures. The author decides he shouldn't stop there and invoke this trope. After all, if a guy can be abducted and sent into the magical past by a genie, then why can't he also be abducted by a flying saucer in the middle of a Baghdad street chase, causing the guards to run away in fear, claiming that St. Khidr's chariot has taken the thieving infidel for righteous punishment.
* Unlike the movie adaptation of Carl Sagan's ''Literature/{{Contact}}'' (see above in Film), the novel explicitly leads Ellie to the conclusion "if aliens then Jesus". [[spoiler:The alien [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith in the guise of Ellie's father]] tells her that his people have found messages from God hidden in the digits of the universe's fundamental constants, such as pi. After Ellie goes back home, she uses a supercomputer to find the first such message in pi relatively easily (that is, it didn't take her the entire age of the universe to find an ordered sequence that arose purely coincidentally out of randomness.) It's a sequence of 1s and 0s which, when arranged in a square matrix, forms a drawing of a circle. This gives her the evidence to prove the existence of both aliens and God on the very last page of the book.]]

* ''Series/JoanOfArcadia'': "Touch Move" as well as several other episodes.

* This trope was actually mentioned by a character in ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' as her personal beliefs. In her own words, "If there can be aliens, there can be elves." The supernatural, however, was not a part of the show. Until the ''BaywatchNights'' spin-off.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' is a subversion: Mulder, who appears to be an atheist or agnostic, believes in aliens and most paranormal reports. Scully, who struggles with her faith, but still is shown to be a believing Catholic, initially denied the existence of most paranormal phenomena. This subversion was most apparent in any episode featuring religious supernatural phenomena. Mulder and Scully would actually switch roles, with Mulder being the skeptic and Scully trying hard to believe. The two agents' views on the paranormal are completely inverted very early on in the Season 1 episode "Beyond the Sea". Serial killer Luther Boggs (who Mulder helped apprehend) claims to have had psychic revelations regarding a kidnapping case, but Mulder is particularly skeptical whereas Scully comes to believe him after Boggs reveals certain details regarding her recently-deceased father that he could not know. What doesn't help is that Boggs gets certain things wrong, such as 'reading' information from a scrap of 'evidence' related to the case that actually came from one of Mulder's t-shirts.
--->'''Scully:''' How is it that you're able to go out on a limb whenever you see a light in the sky, but you're unwilling to accept the possibility of a miracle? Even when it's right in front of you?\\
'''Mulder:''' I wait for a miracle every day. But what I've seen here has only tested my patience, not my faith.

* Crops up in an episode of the American version of ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2008}}''. The young cop, Chris, states that he ''wants'' to believe in aliens because then angels aren't so far of a stretch. Because if there are flying saucers out there, that means God exists, right? Inverted, in that he seems to believe If Aliens Then Jesus.
* Grace Van Pelt in ''Series/TheMentalist'' is like this. She is a religious believer and also believes that a relative is a psychic, and asks the titular mentalist how to distinguish "true" psychics from "false" ones. Patrick Jane dismisses her with a categorical "There is no such thing as psychics" but she refuses to acknowledge it. In this case the connection was sensible, since her belief in psychics specifically revolved over their supposed ability to communicate with the dead, the afterlife being central to Christian doctrine.
* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'', "God Is In the Details".

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' inverts this. Rossi (Catholic) and Morgan (unspecified Christian denomination) are the two most skeptical members of the team when it comes to psychics in "Cold Comfort" and demonic possession in "Demonology," although Rossi acknowledges the power of belief in such things - very negatively in the case of psychics (who waste investigators' time). Morgan was also skeptical of near-death experiences in "Epilogue", doubting that such instances were really glimpses of the afterlife.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Played with in "Psychic Warrior", in which a skeptical mathematician was asked by Rabb on the stand, in a case dealing with a Navy experiment on remote viewing, if he believed in God. He reluctantly admitted it. Rabb then criticized his lack of belief in the possibility of psychic phenomena.

* Brennan on ''Series/{{Bones}}'' is skeptical of everything, from religion to aliens to psychology, and takes for granted that all her scientifically-minded comrades are likewise atheists. She's surprised to find out that's not the case. Her Muslim intern went to great lengths to justify his faith, and one intern defended his father's Catholic faith (though he was more defending the ''right'' to believe, rather than the belief itself). Even conspiracy-theorist Hodgins sits on the middle line, stating "Just because I think organized religion is a scam, doesn't mean God doesn't love me." And then there's Booth, who was raised Catholic, but only suggests paranormal explanations to get under Brennan's skin and doesn't seem to be more supernaturally-inclined than the others, and Angela, who regularly consults with her psychic, but doesn't make any statements either way on religion. Over time, Brennan manages to loosen up on her severe skepticism [[spoiler: even agreeing to baptize her children]] without having to embrace ''everything.''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E8LisaTheSkeptic Lisa the Skeptic]]", Lisa finds what appears to be an angel's fossilized remains. Lisa not only thinks they're fake, but largely argues that believing in angels at all is ridiculous (if she believes in God is left vague). Everyone else, except possibly Marge, immediately assume it's an actual angel's skeleton, which doesn't make sense even if one ''does'' believe in angels, which are generally understood to be immortal beings of pure spirit.
* Mocked in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' episode "Ghosts of the Sargasso" when Hank Venture falls under the sway of Part One.
-->'''Hank:''' Brock, if pirates really exist, I mean, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy could even be real, right? It's like, all bets are off!\\
'''Brock:''' Hank, nobody ever said pirates don't exist.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': The ChristmasSpecial episodes show that God, Jesus, and angels are all real. Aliens are real by virtue of Roger (an alien escaped from Area 51) living with the family. A two-part episode even deals with the Rapture, the Second Coming, and the war with TheLegionsOfHell. When Jesus meets Roger, he offhandedly mentions that Roger's people are one of his father's side projects, infuriating Roger. Meanwhile, Roger is busy fixing his ship to get the hell away from Earth before it becomes the literal Hell. Whether the Christmas episodes are "canon" (as much as that means) is debatable, though, and regular episodes rarely follow suit with the overtly Christian figures (though other supernatural creatures, like leprechauns, do appear from time to time).
* A bizarre example in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', "Skeletons In The Water Closet": "Germs. They're real. Maybe skeletons are real too."

* A discussed trope in the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Land Before Swine". Dipper questions Grunkle Stan's [[ArbitrarySkepticism disbelieving attitude toward the paranormal]] even after their encounter with a living pterodactyl. [[spoiler: In later episodes, it would be obvious he was trying to deflect.]]
-->'''Dipper:''' [[ItMakesSenseInContext You punched a pterodactyl in the face]]? I thought you didn't even believe in the supernatural.\\
'''Stan:''' Dinosaurs aren't magic; they're just big lizards! Get off my back!

'''Reporter 1:''' And [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers hobos.]]\\

The rhetorical term for [[LogicalFallacies this kind of thinking]] is a "FalseDichotomy": A person must be either a [[AgentMulder Believer]] or a [[AgentScully Skeptic]], but may not ever be both, nor fall somewhere between the extremes. Any belief on one side or the other will result in all beliefs on that side so this trope can exist with the title implication often running in reverse; "if ghosts, then Jesus" is common.

* In ''Series/NUMB3RS'', this trope seems to crop up with distressing regularity. Every few episodes, Charlie is challenged to move beyond the empirical world to a matter of faith, only the matter of faith in question is something completely outside the normal debate of science vs. religion, and yet Larry's right there urging Charlie to consider that it might possibly be true. After all, even scientists don't pretend that they can know everything, right?
** Note that Charlie is about the only straight example of the trope in the show. His brother is as likely to believe or disbelieve things. Larry, a scientist, is far more open to belief in the supernatural than Charlie is.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The author Robin Ramsay actually puts forth the "If Jesus then Aliens" theory in his book [[http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Theories-Pocket-Essential-Ramsay/dp/190404865X/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201017913&sr=1-19 about conspiracy theories]].
* TruthInTelevision: There exists (at least) one cult that believes [[http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/19/saucer.cult/ God would come to Earth in a flying saucer]].
** [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier What does God need with a starship?]]
*** Really that question could have infinite number of answers with regards to God/Gods, anything from [[RuleofCool Rule of Cool]] to [[GodinHumanForm God in Human Form]].
** Despite popular belief, [[ChristianityIsCatholic The Vatican]] has historically had an attitude of "God can do anything, so anything is possible." When Copernicus' friend Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter lectured about the early findings implying a heliocentric solar system, Pope Clement VII and several cardinals all attended, were fascinated, and one wrote a letter to Copernicus encouraging him to publish his findings. With the exception of a few {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s using scripture to push an agenda, the Catholic hierarchy has been silent or supportive about just about every scientific theory. True to the trope's name, they've even come out in support of the existence of alien life.
*** The Vatican even has a planned amendment to its doctrine if intelligent alien life is discovered.
*** Depending on one's interpretation, Jesus himself [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010:14-16&version=KJV may have spoken about]] the existence of aliens.
** Galileo actually got in trouble not for the heliocentric solar system theory, but for accidentally insulting his friend, the Pope, who himself leaned towards heliocentrism, in a [[http://tofspot.blogspot.no/2013/10/the-great-ptolemaic-smackdown-table-of.html strange series of events]]. Court politics and Galileo's... [[JerkAss acerbic character]] did the rest.
** Reports of AlienAbduction are steadily increasing, while reports of being impregnated by horny gods or demons have all but vanished (supposed house hauntings and demonic possessions, however, remain popular).
** Most branches of UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} have believed in the existence of "worlds without number" and the life thereon almost from the beginning of the movement. The Earth merited a visit from Jesus because it is apparently [[CrapsackWorld the most wicked planet in God's domain]]--although it is also [[AWorldHalfFull the most righteous]].
** A fairly important and well-educated Orthodox Christian author Pheophan the Anchorite, while responding to an obviously heretical statement about Jesus actually being an alien (back in the [=1800s=]), said that the problem is that we simply don't know anything about aliens, such as whether or not they even exist, and if they do, did they commit the original sin or not, and if they did, was it necessary for Jesus to die again just for them, and if it was, etc, etc.
*** Which is the basic premise of Creator/CSLewis's speculative fiction novels, ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'' and ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', as well as the ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]]'' books.
** One of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism, Ellen G. White, invokes this trope literally by claiming God himself gave her [[http://www.whiteestate.org/books/egwhc/EGWHCc07.html visions regarding created beings on other planets]]. According to her, God created multitudes of worlds before Earth, where the inhabitants were still perfect and unfallen (unlike humanity after the whole Adam and Eve thing).
* There is an old joke about a UFO landing and an alien pops his head out the door the first thing he says is, "Has Jesus been through here yet?"
* Another old joke--an atheist is walking through the woods when Bigfoot jumps out and starts chasing him.
-->'''The Atheist:''' God save me!\\
'''God:''' I thought you didn't believe in me?\\
'''The Atheist:''' Yeah, well, until a second ago, I didn't believe in Bigfoot either.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} by [[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/us/13beliefs.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss this article]], about a ufologist who ''wants'' religiously-minded scholars to open up to non-spiritual kinds of paranormal phenomena but is having trouble.
* Methodological naturalism kind of flip-flops on this point. The worldview focuses on that which is observable, and where cause and effect are connected, i.e. an evidence-based system. Because the supernatural and other associated things are deemed inherently without evidence, methodological naturalism makes no judgment on them, leaving them out of scope. While the default position most seem to take is to not accept an idea without evidence, changes to our understanding of the natural world could lead to accepting a whole new range of things. In other words, once there is evidence for the supernatural, it ceases to ''be'' supernatural, and becomes "natural, if weird and yet unexplained." Some however disagree with this concept. If one found hard, reproducible evidence that meets scientific standards of something that violated gravity (such as levitation) that could be deemed supernatural (above or beyond the natural laws) and if, except for this phenomena, gravity still was seen to hold, it would not disprove these laws, or require their alteration. It would raise a ''lot'' of questions, naturally, but any new discovery will do the same. Methodological naturalism is more of a guideline-scientists assume, for the sake of simplicity, that nothing supernatural will interfere with the results of experiments, otherwise science couldn't be done. If there were such irrefutable evidence for the supernatural, that could be studied just as natural phenomena. Some religious organizations like the Catholic Church do investigate supernatural phenomena (miracles, demonic possession) scientifically, for instance.
* Humorously put in a Tim Minchin beat poem, "by definition, I begin, alternative medicine, I continue, has either not been proved to work or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? Medicine."
* People in the skeptical movement, for instance Rational Wiki, call this "[[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Crank_magnet crank magnetism]]," in which believers in unscientific or bizarre theories tend to quickly accumulate more. They suggest that a person who believes that science is wrong on one thing will often jump to the assumption that science is wrong on everything, that people tend to think of all scientists or authorities as being a united front against them, and that people who possess these beliefs tend to be easily-led by pseudoscience and woo. When you hear a creationist explain that all the fossils were fakes planted by [=UFOs=] from Atlantis, you're running into a full blown case of crank magnetism.
** In conspiracy debunking circles, there is a similar concept called conspiracy addiction. Conspiracies have rather shaky standing on their own, especially considering how many real life conspiracies get uncovered. However, the more conspiracies someone believes in, the more plausible each individual conspiracy seems to them. It's easier to believe in a world run by conspiracies than it is to believe in one singular conspiracy. So if vaccines cause autism, then 9/11 was an inside job, and aliens are real.
* A recent favorite of the Italian Website/YouTube community is Matteo Montesi, an ardent Christian believer who also, in his ''[[ArchivePanic hundreds]]'' of videos, talks about [[ConspiracyTheorist conspiracies]], aliens, ghosts, ReptilianConspiracy, and many other pseudo-scientific theories, and seems to believe in them all equally. For example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqsgOpuzE-4 here]] he talks (Italian only) about the supposed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_collision Nibiru Collision of 2012]], getting angered when faced with the possibility that nobody believes what he's saying.
** Also, he seems to believe that Jesus is both a deity and an [[AncientAstronauts Ancient Astronaut]], and so are [[ReptilianConspiracy the reptilians]], described as "clones of the Fallen Angels" devoid of any memory of their divine status. Thus, he may be on the polar opposite of the Raelien cult (see below): while the Raeliens are atheists granting aliens what is the equivalent of divine status, Montesi is a believer granting deities physical and humanoid-like interactions with our continuum. To put it mildly: "Aliens are Jesus, Jesus is every good unnamed alien in history".
* The Raelien cult subvert this in a very weird fashion: they believe that "gods" were AncientAstronauts (a la Stargate); at the same time, however, these aliens did very God-like things, such as creating human life on earth from their DNA. So while they are technically atheists, and contend their views have a scientific basis (even alleging they have performed the first human cloning) it's very ''different'', to put it mildly. If Aliens, Then Not Jesus.
* Christians who take the Bible in its most literal form usually do ''not'' believe in aliens due to the fact that Jesus came to Earth in human form and died in that form, and has forever taken on physical human form after rising from the dead. Why would He take on the form of a human, permanently, if there are other forms of life in the universe that don't look human? Why would he come to just one planet if others had life? Did literally none of those planets have a fall from grace? Also, as God proclaimed man to be made in His image, this precludes the idea of intelligent forms of life that look different from "the image of God". In this case, it is If Jesus, then [[AvertedTrope Not Aliens]]. Or at least, HumanAliens only.
* Last but not least, Young Earth Creationists (Christians who take the book of Genesis in its most literal form) typically disbelieve in aliens -- since Earth is given special attention in the creation story. However, it should be noted that nowhere in Genesis are other planets mentioned -- and the sun is treated as a separate entity from other stars.
* Many ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' fans averted this, being fully accepting of divine power in the [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk first]] [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom three]] [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade movies]], but considering the aliens in [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull the fourth movie]] to be out of place.
** Since Indiana Jones gives assent to the Judeo Christian divinity, the above entry about young Earth Creationists believing in interdimensional aliens apply here.
[[/folder]]

* Franchise/{{Batman}} (depending on the writer) has been seen denying the existence of ghosts, magic, and gods other than the Comicbook/NewGods (whom he doesn't seem to consider gods). On the rare occasions when he ''does'' [[OutOfCharacterMoment admit to the existence of magic]], other characters [[LampshadeHanging usually notice.]]
** Here's an example from ''JLA''.
-->'''Atom:''' ''(As Batman consults Manitou Raven)'' This is bad... he's going to the dark side.
-->'''Firestorm:''' What, Batman has a light side?
-->'''Atom:''' I mean magic. He's really desperate.

* This is ultimately the crux of the judge's decision regarding the existence of Santa Claus in the climax of the remake of ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'': If the U.S. government has the wherewithal to put "In God We Trust" on their money, then who is he to declare false the faith that Kris Kringle is Santa Claus?

* At least two ''Batman'' films - in different continuities - have played this up, with Jesus swapped for You-Know-Who.

* Captain America in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. While he refuses to believe Thor and Loki are gods ("There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."), he accepts that they're magic-using aliens without question. Of course, he ''has'' seen the very-unscientific powers of the Tesseract [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger first-hand]], so it's not that much of a stretch for him. Steve is technically correct, as well, given that in the movie universe, the Asgardians are supposed to be {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s.

-->'''Ranger Brad:''' Oh, say... You don't believe those old legends about the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, do you?
-->'''Dr. Roger Fleming:''' Ranger Brad, I'm a scientist, I don't believe in anything.

* Apropos of Creator/GKChesterton, the ''Literature/FatherBrown'' stories subvert this trope pretty heavily - several stories feature the priest seeing through apparent miracles that take others in, precisely ''because'' he has a firm belief in the supernatural - and therefore a framework to think about them in, and an appreciation that "inexplicable" does not equal "miraculous".

* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/FallenAngels'', the "ruling coalition of proxmires, falwells, rifkins and maclaines" is composed of groups who in real life regard each other, sometimes literally, as minions of the Devil, but in the novel work harmoniously to make life miserable for the Good Guys, because nothing else counts against their (alleged) technophobic mindset.[[note]]William Proxmire was a Senator who opposed the space program on purely economic grounds. Jerry Falwell was a fundamentalist Christian who founded the Moral Majority and led the Religious Right during the Reagan Administration. He also believed the New Age movement and science were both Satanic plots. Jeremy Rifkin is an environmentalist activist, but also a staunch believer in individual human rights and that technology can be used sustainably. Shirley [=MacLaine=] popularized the New Age movement.[[/note]] If Jesus, then crystals, and vice versa. If [[LuddWasRight Ludd]], then Jesus.
** This is stated to be the result of decades of political maneuvering; just as combining socialism with Catholicism to create liberation theology made the Catholic Church a supporter of the Soviet Union and extended the Cold War for a few more decades, combining Green and Catholic thinking into "Eco-fundamentalism" enabled the authorities to gain bipartisan support(Green liberals and fundie conservatives) and pretty much TakeOverTheWorld. A group marriage made in hell; Luddites, fundies, environmentalists and spiritualists all realizing they aren't so different, in that they all yearn for YeGoodeOldeDays.

-->"Zombies. Jesus."
-->"I kinda doubt they had anything to do with that one."
* Inverted in Creator/CharlesStross' ''Literature/AColderWar'': an alternate-history USA is dealing with Lovecraftian horrors used as weapons by the Soviets. Ronald Reagan is elected and treats them as just another kind of technology--he's too religious to believe in any supernatural aspect to them. So if Jesus, then not Cthulhu. To be fair, Lovecraft himself would likely agree with that syllogism, or rather, “If Cthulhu, then Not Jesus.”

->'''Cassie:''' Have you ever thought about all the weird shit that people say goes on? Like aliens and Bigfoot and how many stories are there? But it only takes for one of them to be true and everything is different. Like... everything we logically believe is up for grabs.
->'''Andrew:''' Okay. But I'm thinking "Man marries Werewolf" probably isn't the one.

*** Which is the basic premise of Creator/CSLewis's speculative fiction novels, ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'' and ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', as well as the ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]]'' books.

* Played for laughs in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' with Celty, whose greatest fear is aliens. See, Celty is a [[HeadlessHorseman Dullahan]], and she figures that if ''she'' exists, who's to say '''aliens''' don't exist too?

'''Stan:''' Dinosaurs aren't magic, they're just big lizards! Get off my back!

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', Mario doesn't believe in parallel universes and aliens and stuff like Luigi does, and basically gets portrayed as a hard-nosed atheist for it. By the end of the movie, once he's gone through an adventure in a parallel universe, he's willing to believe anything.

** This isn't actually true, or rather, Young Earth Creationists are more likely to believe in more spiritual-based interdimensional aliens as fallen angels/devils/demons from space, which fits the definition of "alien". Who says aliens are only biological, physical entities from other planets?
** [[https://www.thefreedictionary.com/alien American Heritage Dictionary]]?

[[folder:Film]]

* People in the skeptical movement, for instance Wiki/RationalWiki, call this "[[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Crank_magnet crank magnetism]]," in which believers in unscientific or bizarre theories tend to quickly accumulate more. They suggest that a person who believes that science is wrong on one thing will often jump to the assumption that science is wrong on everything, that people tend to think of all scientists or authorities as being a united front against them, and that people who possess these beliefs tend to be easily-led by pseudoscience and woo. When you hear a creationist explain that all the fossils were fakes planted by [=UFOs=] from Atlantis, you're running into a full blown case of crank magnetism.

** Also, he seems to believe that Jesus is both a deity and an [[AncientAstronauts Ancient Astronaut]], and so are [[ReptilianConspiracy the reptilians]], described as "clones of the Fallen Angels" devoid of any memory of their divine status. Thus, he may be on the polar opposite of the Raelien cult (see 'below): while the Raeliens are atheists granting aliens what is the equivalent of divine status, Montesi is a believer granting deities physical and humanoid-like interactions with our continuum. To put it mildly: "Aliens are Jesus, Jesus is every good unnamed alien in history".