History Main / ReligionIsWrong

IsaacAsimov once said that most ScienceFiction is written by atheists. There are a [[CSLewis number of]] [[CliffordSimak notable]] [[RayBradbury exceptions]], and it might not be literally true, but SciFi probably has more atheist authors than other genres do. A lot of these writers insert this [[AuthorAppeal personal outlook]] into the story. Sometimes they just portray atheists as good and rationally thinking people. Sometimes they go further.

** One notable example of this trope is the conversation with Morpheus in the first game, who says things along the lines that God is man-made. However, JC is given the option to disagree, as well as reject [[spoiler: Helios']] desire to play God as well.

** AN episode concerned a planet that was filled with corpses. The crew found one person who was not quite dead and revived him. It turned out that on his planet, people who are about to die are sent through a portal to the afterlife, and he was understandably distraught to find that it was actually sending them to another planet where they stayed dead. However, the episode had an OrIsIt ending, where it's hinted that their afterlife ''does'' exist in the planet's rings.

* In ''HisDarkMaterials'', God exists ([[spoiler:and is killed]]), but [[CrystalDragonJesus Magisterium]] is wrong and [[CorruptChurch corrupt]], they must die, their churches must be destroyed and characters will team up with anything, being it good or evil, to fulfill it.

** Technically, [[spoiler:he is not killed, he dies because, being thousands of years old, he collapses because of the ''wind'']]
** [[spoiler: And technically he isn't God, he's an angel who convinced the rest of the multiverse that he had created everything else. So, technically, God as he is traditionally viewed doesn't exist, just an impostor who made all that stuff up]].

** Well, he wasn't always quite as gloomy about science. He just found it aesthetically displeasing - the same complaint he had about religion. He certainly loved to read scientific publications to get inspiration for his stories.
* BobShaw's ''TheRaggedAstronauts'' features twin planets and the cult claiming that all people reincarnate cycle between these two planets eternally. Then the characters make an expedition to the second planet. You can guess whether they find people there or not. Come on. Guess.
** Then the cult is reborn in ''TheWoodenSpaceships'', but with a distant planet of the same solar system. What happens then? You got the idea.

* In ''TheLightOfOtherDays'', the technology is invented to open windows to any point in space and time and watch events as they happened. Amongst other things, Moses never existed, being a composite of various historical figures, and Jesus did exist but never performed any miracles.
** Although the [[spoiler:darkening of the sun at his crucifixion]] was explained as being the result of [[spoiler:too many people opening windows to see what happened]].

* One ''StarTrekVoyager'' episode concerned a planet that was filled with corpses. The crew found one person who was not quite dead and revived him. It turned out that on his planet, people who are about to die are sent through a portal to the afterlife, and he was understandably distraught to find that it was actually sending them to another planet where they stayed dead. However, the episode had an OrIsIt ending, where it's hinted that their afterlife ''does'' exist in the planet's rings.

* Many times in StarTrekTheOriginalSeries. In Return of the Archons, the people of Beta III are all zombies under the control of the omnipotent Landru. [[spoiler: Landru is a telepathic artificial intelligence that Kirk [[KirkSummation talks]] [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath to death.]]]] In For The World is Hollow and I have Touched The Sky, the people of the spaceship Yonada have forgotten they're in a spaceship and are ruled by an unforgiving Oracle that can deal out instant, painful death should anyone disobey. [[spoiler: The Oracle is also a computer, this time defeated when its head Priestess turns against it after [=McCoy=] convinces her she's wrong through ThePowerOfLove and common sense.]] In The Apple, Kirk once again [[spoiler: destroys a civilization's computer god]], but the example is iffy, as it doesn't [[YourMilageMayVary always]] leave the watcher with the impression Kirk [[WhatTheHellHero did the right thing]].
* Done as a throwaway gag in ''RedDwarf''. A news report reveals that archaeologists have discovered the long lost first page of TheBible - "For my darling Candy. The characters and events depicted in this novel are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental." Apparently the page "has been universally condemned by church leaders."

*** Of course, Cat is so self-centered that if he even considers the idea of God worth bothering with, he's convinced that ''he'' is God. Not to mention that Lister both dislikes the idea that he was deified, is perfectly aware of the fact he is not even remotely divine, and has personal habits that would make just about any faithful religious person disown the very thought he could actually be their god.
* Impressively subverted in StargateSG1. Our heroes constantly prove to societies that they are serving false gods and that their religious artifacts are actually advanced technology, but various members of the SGC retain a belief in God that no one ever tries to dispute.

* The central aspect of the ''AssassinsCreed'' metaplot concerns advanced technology that was used to perform the miracles in various religions. The ending of the sequel reveals that [[spoiler:all world religions are based on misinterpreted accounts of a technologically advanced race of {{Precursors}} who created humans in their image]].
** If you're willing believe AncientConspiracy, of course - which is ''[[ParanoiaFuel exactly what they want you to think]]''.

* ''DragonAge: Origins'' is either an aversion or a subversion. Chantry says that [[TheGodsMustBeLazy the Maker is just lazy]], prayers are not answered, religion is ''not'' magic (note that ReligionIsMagic in all other {{BioWare}} games which have magic), [[KnightTemplar templars]] are dumb, killers and drug-users, and clergy even refuses to bless an army at some point, making you think that trope is played completery straight... and then the game starts [[ShoutOut quoting]] ''TheLordOfTheRings'' without {{Deconstruction}}. In case you didn't know, ''TheLordOfTheRings'' is about [[{{God}} Iluvatar]]'s guidance.
** The religious outlook of the game is probably something like "GodIsGood" but religious ''organisations'' can do some pretty stupid things.
* Invoked in ''Fallout 3'' with the cult formed around Harold, a ghoul who has turned into a large tree. The cult in the Oasis worship him as a god and blithely ignore and over-interpret his protests otherwise. If the player character finishes the relevant quest by killing Harold (which is what he ''wants'') the cult more-or-less thank you for freeing them from their religion, and are suddenly able to see that Harold wasn't a god after all.

* ''{{Futurama}}'' parodies this trope when Leela finally finds out the truth about the origins of the universe and the meaning of life (which we the audience do not get to hear), the only thing she says is, "so every religion is wrong!"
** Contrast the example on ReligionIsRight where Bender meets God.
*** Sort of. It might have been a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien, or, as Bender suggests, the remains of a computerized space probe that collided with God... [[DoubleSubversion which still implies that there was a God for it to collide with]].
** Every religion can be wrong at the same time that God exists. Especially concerning a particular topic like an origin story.
*** Since they are mutually exclusive, most of them are definitely wrong.

Compare ScamReligion, UnwantedFalseFaith and ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta. Contrast ReligionIsRight. For a musical version, this trope is also a goldmine of ReligionRantSong material.

This change can be seen easiest with TheKnightsTemplar in both games. In ''DeusEx'', they were the surviving descendants of the original Knights, who had remained as religious bankers [[spoiler: with ties to the Illuminati]]. In ''Invisible War'', they're one of the only truly "black" factions who will plunge the world into an [[TheFundamentalist extremist]], [[BeliefMakesYouStupid theocratic dark age]] if they win.

This change can be seen easiest with TheKnightsTemplar in both games. In ''DeusEx'', they were the surviving descendants of the original Knights, who had remained religious bankers. In ''Invisible War'', they're one of the only truly "black" factions who will plunge the world into an extremist, theocratic dark age if they win.

Compare ScamReligion, UnwantedFalseFaith and ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta. Contrast ReligionIsRight. For a musical version, this trope is also a goldmine of ReligionRantSong material.b

Compare ScamReligion and UnwantedFalseFaith. Contrast ReligionIsRight. For a musical version, this trope is also a goldmine of ReligionRantSong material.b

Contrast ReligionIsRight. For a musical version, this trope is also a goldmine of ReligionRantSong material.b

* Played with in ''{{Futurama}}'', when Leela finally finds out the truth about the origins of the universe and the meaning of life (which we the audience do not get to hear), the only thing she says is, "so every religion is wrong!"
** It' probably an outright ''parody'' of this trope, not just playing with it.

*** Sort of. It might have been a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien, or, as Bender suggests, the remains of a computerized space probe that collided with god.

** In other words, [[CaptainObvious author doesn't like Christianity too much]].

*** That wasn't God, it was God after a satellite crashed into Him.

Contrast ReligionIsRight.

This trope ''is'' partially TruthInTelevision regarding [[CreationMyth mythology of creation]] and the nature of the universe- the earth moves around the sun and not visa-versa, stars are distant suns rather than bits of spilt milk from a torn breast, the world is a large round ball with inhabitants the whole way around and not a disc riding on an animal or a ball with people on one side, the world was made from the dust of exploded stars coalescing over the course of eons rather than out of the corpse of a giant over the course of a weekend, humanity is extremely recent and didn't exist for most of the planet's existence, etc. Sometimes the religion is correct if it was made recently enough or was sufficiently vague to be correct FromACertainPointOfView, but chances are the trope is in action if its CreationMyth goes into much detail.