History Main / ReligionIsWrong

* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' equates religion with lunacy and fundamentalism; all sympathetic characters are secular-humanists while all the villainous characters are corrupt, EgocentricallyReligious. It's best shown at separate points with background characters such as [[NotSoDifferent a priest saying "killing a Muslim isn't a sin" and a mullah preaching to "take no prisoners alive"]]. The heroes are devoted to defend the city's people regardless of their faith (which is really [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory out of place at the time of the Crusades]]) and the only character associated with the Church that is remotely heroic is the Hospitaller, who flat out admits "I don't put stock in religion". Even Saladin, who is presented as an AntiVillain despite being the final antagonist in the movie, doesn't appear to be very religious himself since Balian at one point threatens to destroy all holy places in Jerusalem to put an end to the religious madness, he snarks that it would probably be for the best (which is something the real one would never say). There is one minor exception with a bishop who laments that "Much is done in Christendom of which Christ would be incapable", but he was cut from the theatrical release.

* Bill Williamson in ''Film/Rampage2009'' is an atheistic serial killer and left-wing radical domestic terrorist who believes that religion is a scam and a propaganda tool used by right-wingers to curb society, milk children and their parents for money from church attendance and a detriment to more pressing topics such as global warming and actual science.

** ''Voyager'' also had an episode about Neelix questioning his faith after dying and being resuscitated, which showed him that [[TheNothingAfterDeath there is nothing after death]], instead of the Talaxian afterlife he expected. This, and the visions he saw of his sister telling him that what he believed was all a lie, [[DrivenToSuicide prompts him to decide he'll kill himself]] until Chakotay, the Native American believer in spirits in the afterlife, persuades Neelix that he still has things to live for despite what he saw when he was dead, and that he needs to have a stronger faith.
*** The above was written after Lead writer Byran Fuller had a [[CreatorBreakdown nervous break over his Catholic faith and the fact he finally realized that he was a gay man.]]
** Inverted in the episode where B'Elanna Torres encounters the Klingon afterlife. From an outsider's perspective it is only a {{near death experience}}, but from B'Elanna's point of view and the nature of events imply she really went to Gre'thor, the Klingon hell.

** The most egregious example in the whole of ''Trek'' has to be the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Who Watches the Watchers". In it, the ''Enterprise'' crew accidentally injure a member of a primitive society and take him back to the ship for treatment. When he recovers consciousness and sees Picard, he decides the captain is God and manages to convince the rest of his people to worship him. Cue Picard and co. sitting in the observation lounge going "[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Religion is bad. Don't follow a religion. 'Cos religion is bad.]]" Creator/GeneRoddenberry expected the episode to be controversial but it had so little relevance to real world religion that no one cared. The attitudes in it have also [[CanonDiscontinuity never been repeated since]] in any other ''Star Trek'' work.

* Subverted in ''Series/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. In fact, Daniel Jackson half accepts that The Ori are God-esque, but he measures them as unworthy, believing that any 'God' that would request genocide SHOULD NOT be worshipped. This actually seems to reflect the way he judged himself and The Others when he was ascended. As far as he is concerned The Ori are, higher plane or not, evil. Therefore the moral concept put forth seems to be, whether they are real or not doesn't matter, don't let 'Gods' force you away from healthy human morals.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has often gone here. One notable example is "The Face of Evil", where the Doctor knows first hand that the religion the people of the planet he's visiting is wrong because he's the one who's inadvertantly responsible for it; a spaceship AI he thought he'd fixed has gone a bit mad and set itself up as a God and presented the Doctor as 'the Evil One' in response.
** Zigzagged other times in both the tv series and expanded universe. The Eternals are [[CompleteImmortality completely immortal,]] [[RealityWarper warp reality]], travel through space and time at will, and have masqueraded as gods on different worlds. A few are said to represent cosmic principles such as Time or Pain. The Olympian gods have been portrayed as real and godlike in the Expanded Universe. The episode "The Satan Pit" featured a creature who claimed to have existed before the universe and been the inspiration for many of the demonic figures in religions across the universe including Satan. The Doctor at one point referred to it as "The Devil."
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' provides an interesting subversion, especially since its creator, J. Michael Straczynski is an outspoken atheist himself. Religions and religious persons of various faiths, both human and alien, real life and fictitious, play important and positive roles. While no actual answer is provided as to whether religions are themselves right or wrong, religious faiths of various characters are certainly very real and sincere and provide important plot elements.
** A few episodes imply certain religious are correct or at least not all superstitions. The episode "Day of the Dead" had an alien religious festival where the dead could communicate with the living. Many of the characters received visitations from the departed and the station personnel were unable to cross into zones designated for the festival. Attempts were made to rationalize it at the end, but none made much sense or were dismissed. The Minbari's belief in souls is shown to be correct, including that they reincarnate. The souls could even be seen by some, and even collected. A direct DVD release episode featured a being claiming to be the demon Asmodeus claiming God had trapped his kind on Earth. In the end, the only known way to remove him was a spiritual exorcism while on Earth to trap him again. The priest sent to study the case commented on how the lack of finding God among the stars and scientific advancements had made religion almost irrelevant.

* In the first episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Giles says "The Earth is older than any of you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise".

* This is a common position for even religious people to hold with regard to religions ''other'' than their own.
** However, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism it]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnism is]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perennial_philosophy by]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolatrism no]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusivism means]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalism a]] universal constant of religions.

* Generally speaking, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' tends to parody the concept of organised religion. For example, in one episode, Homer proves that God does not exist mathematically. Flanders destroys the evidence. However, it's much vaguer in most cases as Homer actually gets to meet the Big Man Upstairs on a few occasions, though it's usually in a DreamSequence.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{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!" However, this could alternatively mean that every EXISTING religion is wrong, not the actual concept of religion.
** Contrast the example on ReligionIsRight where Bender meets God. Or what could be part of God after being hit by a satellite. [[MindScrew Or a satellite that collided with God]]. Said God also makes a point of noting that if a God's doing the job properly, no one will even be aware it's being done at all.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' book ''[[HumansAreBastards Night of the Humans]]'' plays out this trope in a truly bizarre fashion. The Doctor responds to a crash-landed alien race on a massive pile of space-junk that is threatening a nearby planet. This interesting premise is quickly overshadowed by an incredibly unsubtle StrawManPolitical message that turns [[AuthorFilibuster the entire book into one long and extremely dubious]] [[BrokenAesop aesop]] about how all religion is [[ReligionOfEvil completely eeeeeevil]]. The chosen 'god' of the crashed humans turns out to be [[NightmareFuel a creepy, creepy, clown]] [[{{Squick}} called Gobo]] used as a (very) heavy-handed metaphor for all religion.

* In ''Literature/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, be it good or evil, to fulfill it. Priests are depicted as being nothing but {{Card Carrying Villain}}s. WordOfGod was that [[spoiler: The Dust]] is god, the Magisterium's god just stole credit for it in an attempt to grab power.

Notice that most examples come up with some kind of masquerade around a fictional religion, rather than talking about a real-world religion. That's because of the complicated, baroque cease fire negotiated between (some) atheists and religious scholars called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-overlapping_magisteria Non-overlapping magisteria.]] Briefly, this means that modern religions are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiable non-falsifiable:]] they can't be proven wrong, but, in turn, they can't ''make'' any claims that can be proven wrong. Also, because it would offend a lot of people.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is probably the most science-fiction-y game in the series and zigzags on this one. The BigBad and his FiveBadBand are {{Church Militant}}s working to subvert the order they're meant to protect because the church is being manipulated by an ObviouslyEvil douchebag who doesn't realise that blindly following the path laid out for him by the world's deity, Lorelei, will lead humanity extinction... Oh, and the higher-up members of the church partially knew this but kept it secret to avoid a mass panic. [[spoiler:However, this turns out to be only half-correct. Lorelei did indeed foresee the world's destruction, as part of its ComboPlatterPowers relating to the future and destiny, but it actually left the Fonstones (that record the future) behind so that humanity could ''overthrow'' this terrible future and create their own destinies. Sadly, the church didn't quite realise this as they were all blinded by the promise of a prosperous future at the end of ''one'' of the seven Fonstones. Thus, the game's ultimate stance on religion is something like, "Deities are good but religions are ultimately made up of people and, sometimes, people can get it ''horribly'' wrong.]]

* Subverted in ''Series/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.
** In fact, Daniel Jackson half accepts that The Ori are God-esque, but he measures them as unworthy. Believing that any 'God' that would request genocide SHOULD NOT be worshipped. This actually seems to reflect the way he judged himself and The Others when he was ascended. As far as he is concerned The Ori are, higher plane or not, evil. Therefore the moral concept put forth seems to be, whether they are real or not doesn't matter, don't let 'Gods' force you away from healthy human morals.

* This is the main point of ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty''. The foods at the supermarket have a religion centered around the belief that when they are bought by the "gods" (that is, people) they will be taken to the "Great Beyond" (i.e. heaven). The plot of the movie revolves around what happens when the protagonist, a sausage named Frank, discovers that this isn't actually true.

* The character Beneditx in ''Literature/KnowledgeOfAngels'' THINKS that 'ReligionIsWrong' is proved, but only because someone had offered counterarguments to Aquinas's 5 Arguments, which he thought proved the ReligionIsRight. To him, this trope is invoked.

That's the trope: Setting up a proof that atheism is right. May lead to OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions, NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus, etc. Religious characters ''will'' react to it either negatively ("[[CrisisOfFaith My entire faith is a liiie!]]" perhaps, or "IRejectYourReality and substitute my own,") or unnaturally positively ("[[EasyEvangelism Oh, God's not real?]] Welp, that's thirty years of time wasted. Do atheists have cookouts?"), leading us to BeliefMakesYouStupid and even, confusingly, some instances of HollywoodAtheist.

* ''Literature/TheNeanderthalParallax'' reveals that religion (and mystical beliefs generally) is simply the result of magnetic rays affecting people's brains. After the magnetic field around earth reverses polarity, these beliefs at first flare up, and then disappear, causing improvements like peace in the Middle East.

* In the first episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Giles says "The Earth is older than any of you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise".

* The ''TalesSeries'' tends to play around with this one.

* Invoked but subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'':

** By the time of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', the [[BigBad Prophet of Truth]] seems to be fully aware of this, and [[DoubleThink yet still believes that the rings will grant apotheosis.]]

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is probably the most science-fiction-y game in the series and zigzags on this one. The BigBad and his FiveBadBand are a {{Church Militant}}s working to subvert the order they're meant to protect because the church is being manipulated by an ObviouslyEvil douchebag who doesn't realise that blindly following the path laid out for him by the world's deity, Lorelei, will lead humanity extinction... Oh, and the higher-up members of the church partially knew this but kept it secret to avoid a mass panic. [[spoiler:However, this turns out to be only half-correct. Lorelei did indeed foresee the world's destruction, as part of its ComboPlatterPowers relating to the future and destiny, but it actually left the Fonstones (that record the future) behind so that humanity could ''overthrow'' this terrible future and create their own destinies. Sadly, the church didn't quite realise this as they were all blinded by the promise of a prosperous future at the end of ''one'' of the seven Fonstones. Thus, the game's ultimate stance on religion is something like, "Deities are good but religions are ultimately made up of people and, sometimes, people can get it ''horribly'' wrong.]]

* Generally speaking, ''WesternAnimation/{{TheSimpsons}}'' tends to parody the concept of organised religion. For example, in one episode, Homer proves that God does not exist mathematically. Flanders destroys the evidence. However, it's much vaguer in most cases as Homer actually gets to meet the Big Man Upstairs on a few occasions, though it's usually in a DreamSequence.

** Inverted in the episode where B'Elanna Torres encounters the Klingon afterlife. From an outsider's perspective it is only a {{near death experience}}, but from B'Elanna's point of view and the nature of events imply she really went to Gre'thor, the Klingon hell .

** A few episodes imply certain religious are correct or at least not all superstitions. The episode "Day of the Dead" had an alien religious festival where the dead could communicate with the living. Many of the characters received visitations from the departed and the station personal were unable to cross into zones designated for the festival. Attempts were made to rationalize it at the end, but none made much sense or were dismissed. A direct dvd release episode featured a being claiming to be the demon Asmodeus claiming God had trapped his kind on Earth. In the end, the only known was to remove him was a spiritual exorcism while on Earth to trap him again. The priest sent to study the case commented on how the lack of finding God among the stars and scientific advancements had made religion almost irrelevant.

** However, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism it]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnism is]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perennial_philosophy by]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolatrism no]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusivism means]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalism an]] universal constant of religions.

Notice that most examples come up with some kind of masquerade around a fictional religion, rather than talking about a real-world religion. That's because of the complicated, baroque cease fire negotiated between atheists and religious scholars called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-overlapping_magisteria Non-overlapping magisteria.]] Briefly, this means that modern religions are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiable non-falsifiable:]] They can't be proven wrong, but, in turn, they can't ''make'' any claims that can be proven wrong.

* In ''Literature/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]].
* In Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries by Creator/ArthurCClarke, the idea of God apparently comes from the Monolith, specifically the version that uplifted hominids into humanity. In ''3001'', humanity has finally discovered this Monolith (dubbed TMA-0), and traditional religion comes to an end. Curiously, though, many people are still either [[UsefulNotes/{{Deism}} Deists]] (believing in not less than one god) or Theists (believing in not more than one).

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' book ''[[HumansAreBastards Night of the Humans]]'' plays out this trope in a truly bizarre fashion. The Doctor responds to a crash-landed alien race on a massive pile of space-junk that is threatening a nearby planet. This interesting premise is quickly overshadowed by an incredibly unsubtle StrawManPolitical message that turns [[AuthorFilibuster the entire book into one long and extremely dubious]] [[BrokenAesop Aesop]] about how all religion is [[ReligionOfEvil completely eeeeeevil]]. The chosen 'god' of the crashed humans turns out to be [[NightmareFuel a creepy, creepy, clown]] [[{{Squick}} called Gobo]] used as a (very) heavy-handed metaphor for all religion.

** ''Voyager'' also had an episode about Neelix questioning his faith after dying and being resuscitated, which showed him that [[TheNothingAfterDeath there is nothing after death]], instead of the Talaxian afterlife he expected. This, and the visions he saw of his sister telling him that what he believed was all a lie, [[DrivenToSuicide prompts him into committing suicide]] until Chakotay, the Native American believer in spirits in the afterlife, persuades Neelix that he still has things to live for despite what he saw when he was dead, and that he needs to have a stronger faith.
*** The above was written after Lead writer Byran Fuller had a [[CreatorBreakdown nervous break over his Catholic Faith and the fact he finally realized that he was a gay man.]]
** Inverted in the episode where B'Elanna Torres encounters the Klingon afterlife. From an outsider's perspective it is only a near-death experience, but from B'Elanna's point of view and the nature of events imply she really went to Gre'thor, the Klingon hell .

%%* The most egregious example in the whole of ''Trek'' has to be the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Who Watches the Watchers". In it, the ''Enterprise'' crew accidentally injure a member of a primitive society and take him back to the ship for treatment. When he recovers consciousness and sees Picard, he decides the captain is God and manages to convince the rest of his people to worship him. Cue Picard and co sitting in the observation lounge going "[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Religion is bad. Don't follow a religion. 'Cos religion is bad.]]" Creator/GeneRoddenberry expected the episode to be controversial but it had so little relevance to real world religion that no one cared.

* This is the main point of ''Film/SausageParty''. The foods at the supermarket have a religion centered around the belief that when they are bought by the "gods" (that is, people) they will be taken to the "Great Beyond" (i.e. heaven). The plot of the movie revolves around what happens when the protagonist, a sausage named Frank, discovers that this isn't actually true.

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* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is either an aversion or a subversion. Chantry says that [[TheGodsMustBeLazy the Maker is just lazy]], prayers are not answered, religion is ''not'' magic (ReligionIsMagic in all other Creator/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}} Ilúvatar's]] guidance. The religious outlook of the game is probably something like "GodIsGood" but religious ''organisations'' can do some pretty stupid things.
** Religion in ''Franchise/DragonAge'' is a lot more complicated than that. Supposedly, prayers aren't answered because of mankind's hubris. The priest refused to bless the knights because what they were asking for wasn't a simple blessing, but a guarantee of divine protection, something she couldn't provide. The Templars are a lot more morally grey than their name implies, and overall, the game leaves the existence or nonexistence of [[{{God}} The Maker]] ambiguous. [[IncrediblyLamePun Word]] [[WordOfGod Of God]] is that they intend for it to stay that way.
** It's even more complicated than ''that'', because there are four other major religions in the setting. The Qunari religion has metaphysical aspects but nothing directly supernatural. The Dwarfs worship their ancestors and the Stone around them, but the Titans who are heavily implied to be their original gods (and possibly the creators of their race) have been forgotten for millennia, apparently deliberately erased from their history. The Old Gods, ancient Dragon gods said to be trapped under the world, are very real; on the other hand the religion around them has faded to nothing, and we also see cults worshiping normal dragons that aren't even sentient. Played straighter by elf religion; [[spoiler: the mythology has been corrupted by time and they were always false gods. At least, that's what the one you meet tells you, him being 'merely' an insanely powerful immortal mage personally responsible for fundamentally changing the nature of reality by dividing the physical world from the fade.]]
* Invoked in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'':