History Main / InterfaithSmoothie

This is when a constructed fictional religion is clearly a mix of any number of real-world religions. [[{{Website/Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]] knows this process as it happens in RealLife as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism syncretism]].

* Invoked consciously by ''Film/{{Gandhi}}'': "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWwVMPrfzZc I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew and so are all of you]]!"

* The far future religions in the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series are either this (i.e. the Orange Catholic Bible) or the CocaPepsiInc type (Zensunni). The CocaPepsiInc ones are the more numerous though (the Orange Catholic Bible ''seems'' to be more dominant in the first novel, but then a Zensunni branch ends up overrunning the known universe. There is also the fact that the Orange Catholic Bible was created to be the most universal holy text reasonably possible, not necessarily the most universal ''religion'' reasonably possible [[note]]A bit of a GeniusBonus since the word "Catholic" originally meant "all-encompassing", which became a sort of ArtifactTitle for the real Catholic Church.[[/note]]).

* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' omniquantism is the idea that if God is omnipotent and all things are possible, then it is possible that all religions are correct simultaneously. One in three AIs [[LogicBomb lock up]] after hearing the concept, Florence managed to make sense of it [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01388.htm though]].

* In ''Webcomic/KoanOfTheDay'', the guru is an amalgamation of [[http://www.koanoftheday.com/27/ Jesus]], [[http://www.koanoftheday.com/56/ the Buddha]], and [[http://www.koanoftheday.com/42/ Socrates]].

* In an ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' [[http://xkcd.com/900/ strip]], this discussion takes place:

* The independent/noncanonical[[note]]Eastern Orthodox term for an unrecognized Orthodox Church that isn't in full communication with the main Eastern Orthodoxy[[/note]] Eastern Orthodox denomination named the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Orthodox_Church Evangelical Orthodox Church]] that blends Orthodoxy with Protestant (mainly Evangelical and Charismatic[[note]]which this part of what remains of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherding_Movement Shepherding Movement]][[/note]]) elements, and their current mission is to spread their religious beliefs through the world. There are [[https://www.evangelicalorthodox.org/who-we-are currently 120 churches under the EOC and most are in Burundi]].

* Very common in East Asian cultures. While Judaism, Islam, and several modern denominations of Christianity forbid syncretism, major East Asian religions like Shintoism, Buddhism, and Taoism have no such restrictions. For instance, most Japanese religious people are Shinto Buddhists.

Differs from CrossoverCosmology in that this creates a 'new' cosmology from pieces of established idea systems. Popular in SpaceOpera and ScienceFiction as representative of alien cultures. A subtrope of NinjaPirateZombieRobot and a SisterTrope to CultureChopSuey. Can also be TruthInTelevision since there are few religions that don't share certain rituals or beliefs with other religions.

Compare and contrast ChurchOfSaintGenericus, where the religious details could cover any number of faiths simply because they're left nonspecific.

* Though Kony is far from the first to produce deadly results out of an oddball amalgamation of Christianity and local beliefs. The "God Worshipping Society" of UsefulNotes/QingDynasty China mashed up elements of Protestant Christianity with Chinese folk religion, at the hands of Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be the second son of the the Judeo-Christian God (and thus Jesus' younger brother), and also considered God to be the true Chinese emperor. This spawned the 14-year-long Taiping Rebellion, with the commonly estimated death toll being 30 million.[[note]]This would make it the deadliest civil war in history, and some estimates are ''much higher'' at up to a staggering 70 million, which would make it the second deadliest war in all of human history after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.[[/note]]

* [[UniversalChaplain Military Chaplains]] can fall into this due to a [[ClosestThingWeGot lack of available options.]] Usually they just administer to different sects of the same religion, but in a pinch, will provide their best attempts for military personnel outside of their faith. The good ones tend to plan for such an occasion.
** There are chaplains on university campuses as well, especially for those in small towns where there are unlikely to be holy places for minority religions.

** The Fifthist Church is this trope played for a different type of horror. The Church's central tenet is something about transcending reality and assimilating into the mysterious 'Fifth World', which is so alien that the only way they can relate to normal human belief systems is by co-opting a kludge of whatever beliefs are common to the area, some astral symbolism and Lovecraftian themes. A lot of modern Fifthist cults take a NewAgeRetroHippie look, but there's versions that appropriate Christianity, Buddhism, Communism, Aztec polytheism, Confucianism, self-help books, chapstick sales, and every other belief system under the sun. The general effect is to highlight how UncannyValley the Fifthists are.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The Force, once described by Mark Hamill as "Religion's Greatest Hits!" The religion of the Force has strong elements of Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Daoism and a bunch of other mystical traditions, with Christian symbology (the Jedi are [[KnightInShiningArmour Knights In Brown Robes]] and not for nothing is the hero named [[Literature/TheFourGospels Luke]]).

* Military Chaplains can fall into this due to a [[ClosestThingWeGot lack of available options.]] Usually they just administer to different sects of the same religion, but in a pinch, will provide their best attempts for military personnel outside of their faith. The good ones tend to plan for such an occasion.

* The ''Literature/{[Janissaries}}'' by Creator/JerryPournelle has a world that has both Christians and pagans, with the pagan religion being very loosely based on Myth/ClassicalMythology. When a Christian nation enters into a political alliance with two pagan nations, a bishop has a rather convenient revelation that the two religions in fact worship the same god, resulting in the creation of a politically backed syncretic religion.

[[AnimeCatholicism This seems to come up a lot in anime fantasy settings]], though it could (and oftentimes appears to) just be a [[CriticalResearchFailure cultural misunderstanding of Western ideas and philosophies]] while substituting familiar concepts (like Buddhism and Shintoism) into the knowledge gaps. Also, sometimes in {{anime}}, instead of [[ChristianityIsCatholic All Christianity Being Catholic]], you'll see a mix-mash of ideas from various Christian denominations all pooled into a single faith. This probably has a lot more to do with the aforementioned CriticalResearchFailure, though.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}: In the backstory, the Guardians, made up of humans, high elves, and dwarfs, had all at one point worshipped the five gods separately. But when the Dragon of Death, Regulos, had tried to invade Telara, the gods came together to form the Vigil, and now all three races worship all five of the gods together.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has several examples:

-->'''Derek the Cleric:''' Before, if you wanted to worship, say, the Sun, you had to [[MundaneFantastic compare plans]] with [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Apollo]], [[UsefulNotes/PersianMythology Mitra]], [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ra]], [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Shamesh]], [[Myth/HinduMythology Surya]], and like a dozen others... Now you'd just sign up for a general Sun-worshipping package, and the gods invested in it will share the devotion and spell-granting duties among themselves.

This is when a constructed fictional religion is clearly a mix of any number of real-world religions. [[{{Wiki/Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]] knows this process as it happens in RealLife as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism syncretism]].

* The Lord's Resistance Army is a heterodox Christian terrorist group operating in Uganda, Central African Republic, North and South Sudan that practices a bizarre mixture of Christianity and Acholi mysticism. Their leader Joseph Kony is a former Catholic altar boy turned DarkMessiah whose aim is to establish a theonomy based on the Ten Commandments. This isn't unique to the LRA, though. A lot of other cultures across the continent have syncretized their native traditions with Christianity or Islam, usually with more benign results than what Kony thought up.

* The Church of Slag-Blah in ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'' who are "militant agnostics" and celebrate a different religious holy day every day.
** Their definition of "religion" also bears questioning:
--->'''[[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Louisa Dem Five]]:''' I've caused so many moral dilemmas the Slag-Blah have declared me a religion!

* InUniverse for ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': While there are four Chaos Gods (representing the emotions of rage, desire, hope and despair) and many of their worshippers devote themselves to a single one, it's also possible to worship them as a pantheon as a follower of Chaos Undivided. (The possibility of worshipping just two or three of the four is never mentioned.) The Imperial faith from 40k is a mix of all kinds of things in and out of universe, although at it's core is a cult of personality and a distinct worst-parts-of-historical-Catholicism aesthetic.

-->“Ambrose silently bows his head as you recite a string of words in Sanskrit and Latin, invoking Karen to rejoin the Trans-Catholic concept of universal oneness: the Atma Brahma of the Holy Ghost.”

-->“I’m the kind of Christian who only goes to church on Christmas and Easter, and spends the other 363 days at the mosque.”
--> “… I don’t think that’s a thing.”
--> “Our rabbi swears it’s legit.”

* In the 19th century, it was very common among scholars of world religions to seek a complete understanding of God by bringing the knowledge of all religions together to create a unified whole. While certainly admirable, religious authorities of all religions were mostly unimpressed and didn't share the belief that other religions had anything to contribute to "their" already perfect models. However, such pluralism is quite popular in liberal religious circles now, and it's fairly standard to hold that "all religions are a path to God" or similar (logical contradictions between them be damned).

** Several Afro-Caribbean faiths such as Santeria mix Catholicism with the native religions of imported African slaves (Yoruba in the case of Santeria).

* The Lord's Resistance Army is a heterodox Christian terrorist group operating in Uganda, Central African Republic, North and South Sudan that practices a bizarre mixture of Christianity and Acholi mysticism. Their leader Joseph Kony was a former Catholic altar boy turned into DarkMessiah whose aim is to establish a theonomy based on the Ten Commandments.

* The Literature/ChaosTimeline has the Indian Chandramoorthy develop his own religion, which combines elements from Hinduism, Islam, Catholicism and the classical Greco-Roman religion.
* Parodied in Website/GaiaOnline by the Church of Non-Specific Worship. This may exist because one plotline has shown that not only do {{Physical God}}s exist in Gaia, they're numerous and varied enough to make categorization and organized religion difficult.

* ''Literature/PiecingTogetherTheAshesReconstructingTheOldWorldOrder'':
** One of the major [[AfterTheEnd post-Deluge]] religions, Widdhism, is a fusion of Wicca, Taoism and Buddhism, along with some smaller sects.
** The major post-Deluge branches of Christianity in America also qualify — the Reconstructionist Christians are the result of remaining Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and some Protestants while the Southron Church of Christ combines numerous Protestant denominations together along with Confederate nostalgia.

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* In ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}} in America''. It's a mixture of Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam, they claim they were the fastest growing religion, and want Tintin to become a member of them.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The Force, once described by Mark Hamill as "Religion's Greatest Hits!" The religion of the Force has strong elements of Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Daoism and a bunch of other mystical traditions, with Christian symbology (the Jedi are [[KnightInShiningArmour Knights In Brown Robes]] and not for nothing is the hero named [[Literature/TheFourGospels Luke]]).
* ''Film/TheMatrix'' movie trilogy is all over the place, embedding clear (in order of dominance throughout the series), Buddhist, Christian and Gnostic philosophies not only throughout the characters and plot, but including the music score, especially in ''The Matrix Revolutions'' soundtrack, which uses OminousLatinChanting, Sanskrit flavored, while the BigBad ridicules the hero about being a MessianicArchetype.

* TheFilmOfTheBook ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome'' blends Eastern mystical concepts of reincarnation with Christian concepts of monotheism, heaven and hell,[[note]]Although religions like Buddhism ''also'' have heavens/hells that one can be reincarnated into as rewards or punishments.[[/note]] as well as an EpiphanicPrison for those that commit suicide. Dogs go to heaven, too.

* The ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series has the Global Standard Deity (GSD), a church that openly and shamelessly mixes and matches elements of various faiths apparently at will -- her brother "the Very Irreverent Joffy Next" is basically a hedonist. This is partly down to the fact that in this world literature is the major SeriousBusiness in people's lives, with sport, religion and television distant runners-up.
* The end of the ''Literature/{{Pendragon}}'' series has Ravinia, in which people see life in the rest of the universe (Halla) for the first time. This is not a religion in itself, but something that attracts people regardless of religion into one group. On the other hand, it divides people based on social class.
* The Church of God Awaiting in Creator/DavidWeber's {{Literature/Safehold}} series is an InUniverse example. It is a mash-up of real religions that was created for the purpose of putting ultimate power in the church's hands and [[MedievalStasis precluding the possibility of technological advancement]].

* The ''Literature/{{Videssos}}'' books, being chockablock with {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}}s, have lots of these. The religion of Videssos proper (the fantasy analogue of the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire) looks a lot like UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity (with bishops, monks, ecumenical councils, schisms over variations in the Creed), but the dualistic belief system is much more like Zoroastrianism (two powerful gods, one good and one evil, at war). There are heresies with variant understandings of the war (Videssians believe the good god is sure to win, Khatrishers believe the two gods are perfectly balanced, Namdaleni believe the gods are balanced but you ought to ''act'' as if you're sure the good god will win). The main other empire starts out as practically-Muslim (with belief in a single God and four supreme Prophets), but ends up being dominated by a diabolist religion that worships the evil Videssian god.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''[[Literature/JetlagTravelGuides Phaic Tăn]]'':
-->''"Whilst primarily Buddhist, over the years the people of [[{{Pun}} Sukkondat]] have absorbed a wide variety of religious influences, including '''UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}}''', '''Animism''', '''UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}}''' and '''UsefulNotes/{{Sikhism}}'''. Because of this the dominant religion throughout the province could best be described as '''[[{{pun}} Confusionism]]'''."''

* Creator/PeterFHamilton's [[Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy Confederation Universe]] has more a case of in''tra'' faith smoothies, with the various factions of Christianity and Islam reconciling their differnces and each forming a single religion.
* Daniele Bolelli's ''Create Your Own Religion'' is all about doing this on a personal level. The author's own belief system of preference seems to be a combination of Buddhism, Taoism, Native American spirituality and the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzche and Thomas Paine.

* Philip K. Dick was particularly fond of this: in several novels (notably ''TheDivineInvasion'') there was a merger between the Catholic Church and the Soviet Union in the backstory.
* Enigma Babylon One World Faith in the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' books, which consists of Roman Catholicism merged with various Christian sects that would not hold to fundamentalist doctrine (as defined by the books' authors and the Tribulation Force characters) as well as other world religions.
* ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'' has Valentine Michael Smith form a union of every single religion called "The Church of All Worlds," which eventually inspired a real religious community of the same name.
* The ''Janissaries'' by Creator/JerryPournelle has a world that has both Christians and pagans, with the pagan religion being very loosely based on Myth/ClassicalMythology. When a Christian nation enters into a political alliance with two pagan nations, a bishop has a rather convenient revelation that the two religions in fact worship the same god, resulting in the creation of a politically backed syncretic religion.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' seems to do this with fictional religions in the cult of the Many Faced God. The temple includes shrines to gods from all over, and his adherents believe that all gods (or at least all death gods) are avatars of him. There's also some implication of the religion taking elements from other faiths in the universe in its theology and worship.
* Gaianism in Paul [=McAuley=]'s ''The Quiet War'' combines generic nature worship with Catholic ritual. It's "green saints" are similar to gurus.
* "Unto the Last--Stand Fast", a ShortStory in ''Literature/TheFourHorsemenUniverse'', features a syncretic religion resulting from cultural exchange between Roman Catholic human colonists and CrystalDragonJesus Arritim colonists (they had inadvertently both colonized the same planet, fought over it, and then ended their war when they noticed the similarities in their religions). Both groups' home churches consider this faith heretical, and the Arritims' progenitors the Arezzo (same species, different church) are engaged in a crusade against it.
* ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin'': InUniverse, Merlin's mother Bronwen worships both the Celtic gods such as Dagda and also Jesus. The series has Dagda show a lot of traits traditionally attributed to Jesus as well (possibly in the books they are the same being).
* Sanshinto or Tritheism in ''{{Literature/Tasakeru}}'' is based primarily on Shinto, but has elements from Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology. The species' differing beliefs draw from ''everywhere'', even, [[WordOfGod according to the author]], the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Klingon belief system]] seems to be an odd mish-mash of Shinto and Norse mythology, with a MessianicArchetype figure (Kahless) and a NayTheist quirk (they had gods, but killed them as too much of a bother) thrown in. Vulcan spirituality seems to have elements of Shinto ancestor worship within a predominant Buddhist philosophy, with 'logic' substituted for Dharma. The Bajoran faith which features prominently in nearly every episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' may be the ultimate example of this trope, combining elements of all three Western monotheisms (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) together with Eastern Hindu/Buddhist mysticism (with the bonus that their gods are definitely real and occasionally show up to chat with the heroes). Plus, they once had castes like Hinduism. And a Catholic style leadership (The Kai and the Vedak Assembly lining up with the Pope and the College of Cardinals respectively).
** One episode of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' featured a LostColony whose ancestors were [[AlienAbduction whisked away from Earth]] during WorldWarIII. They believe they were saved by God, but couldn't agree on ''which'' God saved them. As a result they created a religious text that brought in aspects of, among others, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and even Wicca.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' always favored the archetypal over the specific, and throughout its run contained references to many different religions and philosophies, hinting that there's some universal basis to all of them, even John Locke's personal shamanistic and prophetic belief system. The finale reinforces this by showing a stained glass window with symbols of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism on it, all radiating outward from one single source (that's also the same color as [[spoiler:the light at the heart of the island]]).
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is a subtle example, as the only explicitly religious ceremony it shows is a funeral which combines Christian and Buddhist elements, which may just be Artistic License - Religion.

* On ''Series/Teachers2016'', Ms. Bennigan's religion combines Catholic, Mormon, and evangelical stereotypes.

* InUniverse for ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': While there are four Chaos Gods (representing the emotions of rage, desire, hope and despair) and many of their worshippers devote themselves to a single one, it's also possible to worship them as a pantheon as a follower of Chaos Undivided. (The possibility of worshipping just two or three of the four is never mentioned.) The Imperial faith from 40k is a mix of all kinds of things in and out of universe, although at it's core is a cult of personality and a distinct worst-parts-of-historical-Catholicism aesthetic.
* In ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' the state religion of Rokugan, a FantasyCounterpartCulture of Japan, is Shinseism, a fusion of Japan's two most common faiths (Shinto and Buddhism), plus Taoism.

* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'s'' Oshilasama seems to be one part the Buddhist-Shinto amalgam common to Japan and one part FunctionalMagic. Oh, and something about an evil dog-god who loses his powers if you turn his statues upside-down.
* ''VideoGame/OracleOfTao'' has a strange mix of Shintoism, Taoism, and Christianity. They call it Aiken (based on Japanese ''ai ken'', not Clay Aiken). It's basically very heavily into nature and love (and ancestor worship).

* In ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'', Kavitha Thakur of the [[{{Egopolis}} Kavithan Protectorate]] is some kind of religious leader, though the tenets of her belief system are mostly left ambiguous. However, an in-game quote from one of her prayer devotionals unambiguously reveals how mish-mash the faith's mythology is.
-->''[[OurAngelsAreDifferent Seraphim, Cherubim,]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} Devas, Fravashi,]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Zoroastrianism}} Yakshas]], extend thy arms to cover us, hear us and convey our prayer to [[TheMaker the Lord Creator]].''
* ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' has the local religion of Hanuda, which combines village and Japanese folklore with Christianity and worship of an "alien god" [[spoiler:who the locals ate during a famine and whose new physical incarnation serves as the final boss of the game.]]
* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKingsIII'' adds a lot of syncretism between faiths and allows you to create new faiths and syncretize with others through certain tenets. There's also a lot of faiths which are syncretic by nature.
* At the outset of ''VideoGame/CrisisOfTheConfederation'' the Pilgrimage has elements of this. Formally it is only a loose association helping to organize pilgrimages to Earth, but this exists to a large part because seeing Earth as sacred has become a shared element across many religions (there are those that reject it, but that is a cleavage point ''across'' modern-day religions rather than between them). If chance should place a faithful Pilgrimage adherent in a strong enough position over Sol, it is possible for the Pilgrimage to be reformed into an actual, if broad, church, the Terran Orthodoxy.
* In ''VideoGame/AfterTheEndAPostApocalypticAmerica'' the end of the world brought new faiths, some which try to mix old ones into one:
** The "Druidism" of Northwest Canada combines Celtic paganism with the religions of the Innu and Inuit peoples of the region.
** The cult of the Falling Star is a a syncretic mix of the shamanism of the native Miskito people’s and the Moravian church which became a major part of the Miskito people’s culture when missionaries arrived, with the addition of a messianic figure of the titular "Falling Star", an angel that prevented the world to be destoyed. The Moravian church can be restored through an event chain [[spoiler:reveals that the "falling star" was simply a falling meteor]], however.

* Scientism from ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'' is a weird mix of Christian Scientist, Taoism, Confician Philosophy, and [[MegaCorp megacorporate]] CargoCult.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/interfaith.png]][[caption-width-right:320:Okay, doubtful that it's really the '''first'''.]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/interfaith.png]]]]

* There are these on university campuses as well, especially for those in small towns where there are unlikely to be holy places for minority religions.

* In an ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' [[http://xkcd.com/900/ strip]], this discussion takes place:

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* The Eastern Dragon in ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' is a living embodiment of all East Asian religions.
* Pangaeism, the most politically correct religion ever, is briefly mentioned in ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'', apparently they have a minor holy war every time a new species is contacted and the scripture needs to be revised to include their mythology.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' omniquantism is the idea that if God is omnipotent and all things are possible, then it is possible that all religions are correct simultaneously. One in three AIs [[LogicBomb lock up]] after hearing the concept, Florence managed to make sense of it [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1400/fc01388.htm though]].
* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': There are enough OddJobGods from different pantheons that they [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/critical-missives-42/ group up]] to offer themed LLC (Limited Liability Congregation) [[ReligionIsMagic spellcasting]] packages to worshippers.
-->'''Derek the Cleric:''' Before, if you wanted to worship, say, the Sun, you had to [[MundaneFantastic compare plans]] with [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Apollo]], [[UsefulNotes/PersianMythology Mitra]], [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ra]], [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Shamesh]], [[Myth/HinduMythology Surya]], and like a dozen others... Now you'd just sign up for a general Sun-worshipping package, and the gods invested in it will share the devotion and spell-granting duties among themselves.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Gamzee's religion in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' seems to be based around fundamentalist and Rapturist Christianity, with a little Islam for flavour (he gets [[BerserkButton very upset]] about seeing video depictions of his Messiahs), and perhaps with a little Judaism (his ancestor was responsible for the persecution of the [[CrystalDragonJesus Troll Jesus]]), mixed up with [[TheStoner stoner]] / [[NewAgeRetroHippie hippie]] culture, and then all applied to {{Juggalo}} fandom. A parody, obviously. [[spoiler:WordOfGod is that is was inspired by an EldritchAbomination and his ManipulativeBastard [[TheDragon Dragon]], arguably making it a ReligionOfEvil.]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

** The Fifthist Church is this trope played for a different type of horror. The Church's central tenet is something about transcending reality and assimilating into the mysterious 'Fifth World', which is so alien that the only way they can relate to normal human belief systems is by co-opting a kludge of whatever beliefs are common to the area, plus some astral symbolism and Lovecraftian themes. A lot of modern Fifthist cults take a NewAgeRetroHippie look, but there's versions that appropriate Christianity, Buddhism, Communism, Aztec polytheism, Confucianism, and every other belief system under the sun. The general effect is to highlight how UncannyValley the Fifthists are.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has SCP-3004, which is a [[PlayedForHorror horrific]] form of this: an old cicada-based nature deity that found itself syncretized with the Christian God by missionaries to win over its cult. Unfortunately, this worked too well, as this meant the cicada god ''itself'' was convinced it was the Christian God, and is essentially trying to replace God as the central figure of Christianity--and it doesn't help that it also conflated the idea of venerating Jesus's sacrifice with just venerating pain and torture in general. This manifests in abrupt and inexplicable instances of staunch Christians and churchgoers performing bizarre sacrificial rituals that usually end in live cicadas crawling out of someone's orifices.