History Main / PrayerIsALastResort

* In ''Series/FatherBrown'', Inspector Valentine gives prayer a try when faced with four disappearances, including Father Brown’s, and no clues. His attempt sounds more like he’s asking a dislikes colleague for help with the case.

* In ''Anime/OnePiece'' during the Skypiea arc when Eneru's Kingdom Come attack is about to hit Upper Yard the residents of Skypiea collectively pray for a miracle to save them. At the same moment Luffy disperses Kingdom Come by conducting all of the electricity in the storm cloud through the gold sphere on his arm into his rubber body.

If the character issues the prayer as an ultimatum that will determine their belief in God, they're playing ReligiousRussianRoulette. If the prayer is ''answered'' and [[{{God}} the Man Upstairs]] saves the day, it's probably a DeusExMachina, though to be fair it's not out of character considering God is the ultimate BigGood. See also CrisisOfFaith, InMysteriousWays, and GodIsGood. Compare and contrast with HaveYouSeenMyGod and EvilStoleMyFaith. Supertrope to SayYourPrayers (where the character is actually about to die).

If the character issues the prayer as an ultimatum that will determine their belief in God, they're playing ReligiousRussianRoulette. See also CrisisOfFaith, InMysteriousWays, and GodIsGood. Compare and contrast with HaveYouSeenMyGod and EvilStoleMyFaith. Supertrope to SayYourPrayers (where the character is actually about to die).

* At the start of the Slavers arc from ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMax'', one of a group of thugs who just tried to rape someone starts praying as Frank Castle closes in.
-->'''Frank Castle:''' ''Whatever he was jabbering, it wasn't English. Pavla was Albanian — maybe he was too. But I'd know the Lord's Prayer in any language. Gave him a moment. To just before the line about forgiveness.''

* At the start of the Slavers arc from ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMax'', one of a group of thugs who just tried to rape someone, starts praying as Frank Castle closes in.

-->'''Frank Castle:''' Whatever he was jabbering, it wasn't English. Pavla was Albanian — maybe he was too. But I'd know the Lord's Prayer in any language. Gave him a moment. To just before the line about forgiveness.

* At the start of the Slavers arc from ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMax'', Pavla, one of a group of thugs who just tried to rape someone, starts praying as Frank Castle closes in. Since Frank Castle would know the Lord's Prayer in any language, and is in ''no mood'' for mercy, he shoots him just as he's about to speak the part of the prayer regarding forgiveness of trespasses.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', its noted that for the general populace praying to the Unconquered Sun is done only once the situation is past the GodzillaThreshold, because asking for his help would imply that giving Creation the light and warmth necessary for humanity's survival isn't enough. To quote ''Glories'': "It is said that the Unconquered Sun's blessings come with a hard touch of disaster that leaves his subjects amidst the curse and ruin of his [[HolyHandGrenade apocalyptic miracles]]. Because of this, prayers to the Most High often come in the form of thanks for rented light and another day's lease on life--for any day when the Unconquered Sun didn't act directly on their behalf is another day where his wrath was stayed."

* {{Played with}} in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/GoingPostal''. Once when Moist von Lipwig, con artist turned postmaster, is in dire need of money to repair his post office which has just been burned down, he pretends to a) pray for divine guidance and b) get it before "discovering" his stash of loot from his conman days. Later, when he is in dire straits again, another character semi-sarcastically suggests he should go up to the roof of the Post Office and pray, which he eventually does -- which is the cue some potential allies take that he's serious about wanting to help.
** In ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', Moist does resort to praying to Anoia, [[OddJobGods Goddess of Lost Causes and Things Stuck in Drawers]]. [[spoiler:When [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a very strange coincidence]] saves him from his ex-partner in crime Cribbins when the dentures Cribbins stole from a dead man years ago break and explode in the man's mouth, Moise resolves to make a thanksgiving offering of a ''really'' big ladle, just to be on the safe side.]]

* After watching everyone in her party get wiped out and the goblins turn to her, the poor Priestess, well beyond the DespairEventHorizon, prays to the Earth Mother as they close in. Fortunately for her, that's about the time when LightNovel/GoblinSlayer shows up.

** Parodied in "Lost Our Lisa", when Homer says "I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me, {{Superman}}!"
** In "Missionary: Impossible", Homer ends up signing on to do missionary work in the South Pacific [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext to get out of paying a huge sum to PBS]], and objects that "I don't even believe in [[{{Malaproper}} Jebus]]!" As the plane flies off he runs to the window and calls "Save me, Jebus!"
** Marge is already fairly religious (and probably the only reason the family goes to church), but doesn't really incorporate religion into her daily life, except on three occasions when she succumbed to this trope. Once when Springfield was hit by a tornado, which ironically destroyed the Flanders house but spared everyone else, when Homer abandoned organized religion in "Homer The Heretic", and when she was on trial for attempted murder. Unfortunately, in that last case, the judges thought God was her imaginary friend and had her committed.

** Peter in "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein", resorts to praying for a Jew to help him with the family finances. Granted, he "wishes on a star", but he kneels and clasps his hands in prayer, so it still counts. It's apparently granted, as soon as the song is over, a man named Max Weinstein knocks on the door and asks for help with his broken car.

* ''Literature/TwilightOfTheRedTsar'': "In his final terrified moments Molotov seems to have found God, for he asked the executioner if he could say a prayer. [[KickTheDog This request was denied]] [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor (when Stalin heard the story he burst into laughter and mockingly imitated Molotov saying the Lord's Prayer)]]."

** In ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', Moist does resort to praying to Anoia, [[OddJobGods Goddess of Lost Causes and Things Stuck in Drawers]]. [[spoiler:When [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a very strange coincidence]] saves him from his ex-partner in crime Cribbins, he resolves to make a thanksgiving offering of a ''really'' big ladle, just to be on the safe side.]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]