History Main / ReligiousStereotype

* Ned Flanders in TheSimpsons became this over time, going from a nice guy who happened to be Christian, to being a living sterotype as WriterOnboard increasingly asserted its presence. [[Flanderization naming a trope]] in the process. And all Bhuddists will be the Postive sterotype where their all super enlightened peaceful people with no desires and no trouble getting on with anyone ever.

* GarthEnnis indulges in this from time to time, most notably {{Preacher}}.

* ''HisDarkMaterials'' portray religion as a CorruptChurch trying to control everything through conspiration and believing everything they can't understand to be heresy that must be eradicated. ''No'' character affiliated to religion in any way (down to a random priest in a village) is presented under a good light.
** To be fair, there are good characters that believe in God (or at least the divine and benevolent nature of the Dust), it's more about ''organized'' religion being evil. Nobody who belongs to any religious hierarchy (or supports one) is presented in a good light.

* Creator/StephenKing has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent", without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'', ''TheStand'', and ''{{Cell}}''. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.

* Many works of literature from the 1800s-early 1900s are full of this to various degrees, especially when it comes to African-Americans and Jews.

The most obvious and prominent example is the CorruptChurch, which involves portraying all clergymen, especially Christian ones, as sanctimonious fanatics and/or hypocrites. When ReligiousStereotype is in full effect in a work of fiction, expect all Protestants to be [[WesternTerrorists fundamentalists]]- don't bring that civil rights movement crap here! All Catholic priests will all have hidden sexual doings, which will make one wonder how the Church functions if all its priests are, safe to say, ''busy''. [[PedophilePriest Pedophilia]], in particular, is a popular activity among Catholic priests in fiction.

Well, your fictional character says to himself, [[FaithHeelTurn to hell with this]], I'll just be an atheist!... [[SubvertedTrope Nope]], buddy, you're still stuck. Atheists are evil in most portrayals of fiction, [[HollywoodAtheist always have a sad backstory for being an atheist]], and are usually a NietzscheWannabe. That's assuming they don't just become a [[SmugSnake smug]] JerkAss.

Still, note that all stereotypes [[TropesAreNotBad are not bad]]. Just as common a stereotype is that of the Buddhist monk who literally knows everything worth knowing and helps the Hero, while another common one is the Hindu guru who is "in tune with the universe".

* Seymour of ''Sinfest'' is definitely a caricature of the stereotypical evangelical Christan.

* Played with on a recent episode of ''{{Bones}}'' where an intern to the Jeffersonian is discovered to be faking a thick accent to avoid annoying questions about being both a devout Muslim and a highly educated man.

* A particularly hated storyline in ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' had an anti-mutant group planning to have Nightcrawler elected as Pope (!) and then cause a false Rapture to ruin both The Church and mutantkind. A horrible research flub.

** Also of note is Father Callahan, who becomes one of the most sympathetic and, ultimately, heroic characters of ''TheDarkTower.''

*** However, in that one (and to a lesser- ''much'' lesser- extent, the former as well), the bigoted fanaticism of Stryker was contrasted with the benevolent devoutness of Nightcrawler and others, and the story ends with his own followers turning against him wen he crosses the MoralEventHorizon. The story is fairly balanced as far as this trope goes.

* ''{{Carrie}}'''s mother, Margaret White, in the movie but more pronouncedly in the book, is a psychotic religious nut who believes '''periods''' are punishments from God.
** Steven King seems to love this trope. Mrs.Carmody from TheMist screams this. Not hard to tell what King thinks of the religious type.

* Creator/StephenKing has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent", without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'', his most popular work, ''TheStand'', and ''{{Cell}}''. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.

* ''Everyone'' in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is a ReligiousStereotype. And a fanatic. With a [[ChainsawGood chainsword]].

* {{Carrie}}'s mother, Margaret White, in the movie but more pronouncedly in the book, is a psychotic religious nut who believes '''periods''' are punishments from God.

* Creator/StephenKing has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent," without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'', his most popular work, ''TheStand'', and ''{{Cell}}''. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.

* HisDarkMaterials portray religion as a CorruptChurch trying to control everything through conspiration and believing everything they can't understand to be heresy that must be eradicated. ''No'' character affiliated to religion in any way (down to a random priest in a village) is presented under a good light.

And it doesn't get any better when you leave Christianity, oh no! Jews will probably be... well, many times Jews will be found [[InformedJudaism where you least expect it in your characters,]] but to be a real stereotype, expect them to lament their lots in life (and do well in Broadway musicals). More generally, though, Jews will get assigned the [[PositiveDiscrimination more positive (or at least funnier) stereotypes]]. If they are Muslims expect them to be, ''at best'', super conservative and arrogant towards women, while at worst all Muslims know Osama bin Laden's phone number and hang out with him on [[VillainsOutShopping Fridays]]. [[SocietyMarchesOn (Prior to May 2011, that is.)]]

* The president in ''EscapeFromLA''.

This trope almost always results in UnfortunateImplications of the religious variety (''especially'' if the author uses these stereotypes to boost up their own [[AuthorFilibuster favorite side]]), to the point that its inclusion in a work of fiction should probably set you on high alert. Buyer Beware!

Well, your fictional character says to himself, [[FaithHeelTurn to hell with this]], I'll just be an atheist!... [[SubvertedTrope Nope]], buddy, you're still stuck. Atheists are evil in most portrayals of fiction, [[HollywoodAtheist always have a sad backstory for being an atheist]], and are usually a NietzscheWannabe. That's assuming they don't just become a [[SmugSnake smug]] JerkAss or, at worst, a CompleteMonster.

** Similarly, an earlier X-Men graphic novel ("God Loves, Man Kills") also had a fundamentalist persecute mutants. Ironic in that the villain of the story was later used in the second X-Men movie, but as a military leader.

* A particularly hated storyline in ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' had an anti-mutant group planning to have Nightcrawler elected as Pope (!) and then cause a false Rapture to ruin both The Church and mutantkind. A horrible case of DidNotDoTheResearch.

* StephenKing has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent," without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'', his most popular work, ''TheStand'', and ''{{Cell}}''. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.

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And it doesn't get any better when you leave Christianity, oh no! Jews will probably be... well, many times Jews will be found [[InformedJudaism where you least expect it in your characters,]] but to be a real stereotype, expect them to lament their lots in life (and do well in Broadway musicals). More generally, though, Jews will get assigned the [[PositiveDiscrimination more positive (or at least funnier) stereotypes]]. If they are Muslims expect them to be, ''at best'', super conservative and arrogant towards women, while at worst all Muslims know Osama bin Laden's phone number and hang out with him on [[VillainsOutShopping Fridays]]. [[SocietyMarchesOn (Prior to May 2011, that is.)]]

Still, note that all stereotypes [[TropesAreNotBad are not bad]]. Just as common a stereotype is that of the Buddhist monk who literally knows everything worth knowing and helps the Hero, while another common one is the Hindu guru who is "in tune with the universe".

* A particularly hated storyline in ''{{Comicbook/X-Men}}'' had an anti-mutant group planning to have Nightcrawler elected as Pope (!) and then cause a false Rapture to ruin both The Church and mutantkind. A horrible case of DidNotDoTheResearch.

** Steven King seems to love this trope. Mrs.Carmody from {{The Mist}} screams this. Not hard to tell what King thinks of the religious type.
* The characters of Ruth and her father in ''Film/{{Paul}}''.

* {{Stephen King}} has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent," without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'', his most popular work, ''TheStand'', and ''{{Cell}}''. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.
** Also of note is Father Callahan, who becomes one of the most sympathetic and, ultimately, heroic characters of ''TheDarkTower.''

* On ''{{True Blood}}'' the Fellowship of the Sun seems to be a compilation of every possible negative stereotype the authors could find for southerners, religion, and/or southern churches.

* ''Everyone'' in ''{{Warhammer 40k}}'' is a ReligiousStereotype. And a fanatic. With a [[ChainsawGood chainsword]].

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* ''Anything'' by Tom Kratman and to a lesser extent his sometimes writing partner JohnRingo will have an anti-Islamic bias.

* {{Stephen King}} has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent," without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in ''{{Desperation}}'', his most popular work, ''TheStand'', and ''{{Cell}}''. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.

* ''DeadSpace'' has a ChurchOfHappyology. In fact, according to a log you only get after beating the game, [[spoiler:said religion managed to get enough influence to get all dissenting books (including presumably other religious texts) banned, leaving them pretty much the only major religion remaining.]]

The most obvious and prominent example is the CorruptChurch, which involves portraying all clergymen, especially Christian ones, as sanctimonious fanatics and/or hypocrites. When ReligiousStereotype is in full effect in a work of fiction, expect all Protestants to be [[WesternTerrorists fundamentalists]]- don't bring that civil rights movement crap here! All Catholic priests will all have hidden sexual doings, which will make one wonder how the Church functions if all its priests are, safe to say, ''busy''. Pedophilia, in particular, is a popular activity among Catholic priests in fiction.

* {{Stephen King}} has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent," without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in ''{{Desperation}}'', his most popular work, ''TheStand'', and ''{{Cell}}''. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.