Flat Earth Atheist / Western Animation

• In the Adventure Time episode 'Wizards Only, Fools', it is revealed that Princess Bubblegum doesn't believe in magic. Despite having used magic talismans in the past. And regularly being targeted for kidnapping by a wizard whose power originated from the magic jewels in his crown which were stolen from a magical creature. She accepts that the things typically considered "magic" such as wizardry do exist, but is of the belief that all "magic" is just natural phenomenon with scientific explanations that nobody has been able to figure out yet. On the matter of Jake's power to shapeshift and shrink and grow, she says this is due to a mutation rather than magic, and seeing how the Ooo was created from a nuclear fallout to begin with... It's later revealed to be a trait he inherited from an extraterrestrial/extra-dimensional being who implanted an egg in his father's head.
• In an episode of American Dad! Steve, who in previous seasons was shown to be fairly religious, refuses to believe in Biblical stories that he finds illogical, like Noah's Ark. This despite the fact that a) he once met God and temporarily gained enlightenment, b) his mother's repressed sexuality once manifested as a ghost and attacked the house, c) his family has a long-running feud with Santa, d) his grandfather is The Krampus, and e) his sister once adopted the baby Anti-Christ, who proceeded to Mind Control Steve for most of the episode. Given all that, his VERY SUDDEN lack of belief is rather odd. (An argument could be made that the Christmas Episodes are Loose Canon, but that doesn't explain the rest.)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Sokka plays this trope straight a lot, with one of the best examples being "The Swamp." By this point, despite knowing that spiritual locations do exist and witnessing firsthand the mystical powers of the titular swamp (including a giant tornado appearing out of nowhere and smacking them out of the sky when they refused to land) Sokka refuses to believe that the place is anything other than perfectly mundane marshland. When confronted with how much of what Aang does defies explanation he Hand Waves that "Avatar stuff doesn't count." He also initially scoffs as the concept of "past lives", despite it being a fact that the Avatar reincarnates.
    • In fairness to Sokka, while the spiritual elements of the world do absolutely exist, aside from when Aang is directly involved ("Avatar stuff"), the appearance of spirits or other supernatural effects (outside of bending, of course) is exceedingly rare. Plus the Avatar reincarnating doesn't in any way indicate that the new Avatar can speak to previous Avatars.
• Subverted in the Batman Beyond episode "Revenant", where a ghost seems to be haunting Terry's school.
  Bruce: These people believe anything they can't explain is magic.
  Terry: Naturally, you don't believe in that kind of thing.
  Bruce: Of course I do. I've Seen It All: demons, witch boys, immortals, zombies. But this thing...I don't know. It just feels so...high school.
  • Turns out that as usual, Bruce is right. It's actually Willie Watt, who gained telekinesis and is "haunting" the school from juvie.
• Played for Laughs in Ben 10 when Earl, the Deadpan Snarker mayor of Sparksville, dismisses Gwen's statement about Villain of the Week Megawhatt being an alien as "kooky talk" in favor of his own theory of it being "lightning come to life".
• Daria: In "Groped By an Angel," Daria doesn't believe in God or guardian angels. We can ignore the fact that they do canonically exist (as seen in the Beavis and Butt-Head Christmas Episode "It's a Miserable Life"), since she wouldn't know that. However, Daria also met a bunch of Anthropomorphic Personifications of holidays in "Depth Takes a Holiday." Perhaps another reason that most fans consider that Bizarro Episode to be non-canon.
• In an episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy, after Eddy is cursed by a phone and suffers one misfortune after another, Double D acts like an Insufferable Genius and stubbornly insists that it's all a coincidence despite statistically impossible things happening to Eddy such as having a tree topple on top of him, getting crushed by a sandbox falling from the sky, getting trampled by wild hippos (in the middle of the United States), getting struck by lightning, and having a house fall on him all in the span of about 30 seconds.
• In the El Tigre special "The Grave Escape", for some reason Manny doesn't believe in the afterlife despite the Big Bad being a skeletal necromancer. He's then Instantly Proven Wrong by said Big Bad attacking his house with a ghost kaiju and sending him to The Underworld.
• Family Guy:
  • Brian is a professed atheist despite the fact that God and Jesus are frequently seen in Quahog and the former once smited the family with Exodus-like plagues. However, it is Family Guy. And he is an Author Avatar.
  • What's interesting is in the episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'" Brian (not yet established as an atheist) is the one who points out the plagues to Peter, and then slaps him while declaring "God...is...pissed!"
  • In the episode "I Dream of Jesus", Jesus had dinner at the Griffin household, among other interactions. Granted, Brian's atheist showing was merely asking if the guy who Peter invited was really Jesus before asking if he could perform miracles. Cue Jesus transforming their dinners into sundaes (and then growing Lois' breasts, leading to a Jaw Drop from Brian).
  • This reached its height of ridiculousness in "Family Goy" when Jesus showed up at the Griffin house again just to tell them that all religions are dumb. Brian then gloated that he'd been proven right...because Jesus said so.
  • Lampshaded in "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!": when Brian calls the Nativity story fictional, Stewie remarks: "Jesus lived with us, like, for a week! What more do you want?"
  • Also, Family Guy is absurd from the first until the final frame, with appearances of fictional characters and creatures appearing alongside the cast.
• Naturally used for a joke in Futurama, when the gang is under attack by a killer Santa Claus.
  Bender: Well, guess what? I don't believe in Santa Claus! C'mon, everybody! If you don't believe in him he can't hurt you!
  Santa: (Smacks his bag under Bender's head)
  Bender: AGH! OH, GOD, THE PAIN!
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Mandy is rendered immune to the Tooth Fairy's powers by revealing, to his face, that she doesn't believe in him.
• Invincible (2021): Played for Laughs in "Here Goes Nothing" when Donald, the assistant to the Global Defence Agency director Cecil, is shaken after meeting Damien Darkblood, a Hellboy Captain Ersatz.
  Cecil: You got a problem with the demon? I thought you were an atheist, Donald.
  Donald: Th-theoretically.
• In Justice League:
  • Hawkgirl, who does not believe in anything supernatural despite winning a fantastical battle against Doctor Fate and personally knowing a zombie, not in gods despite meeting and killing Icthultu, and not in souls despite being taken over by the literal soul/s of ancient Snake People who put their souls into a gem, and knowing Wonder Woman. Though to be fair, it's not so much that she thinks Ichultu doesn't exist so much as her people deciding that the Eldritch Abomination who demanded child sacrifices to not be worth worshiping.
  • Wonder Woman and Aquaman are used by the Writers on Board to dump the idea that faith is a hollow thing that brings happiness when in actuality Wonder Woman is based in the blessings of Classical Mythology with a real Hera and bracelets made of Zeus's Aegis on her wrists, while Aquaman stated that his Atlantis was based in the use and misuse of magic, resulting in his trident and in a temporary age of peace for the Earth from monsters like Icthultu.
• Kaeloo: The episode "Let's Play Magicians" revealed that Kaeloo and Mr. Cat don't believe in magic... despite the fact that they live on a planet that runs on magic.
  • Mr. Cat is skeptical of everything, from aliens to ghosts, despite having encountered aliens, spirits, Alternate Universe counterparts of himself and his friends, and even The Grim Reaper.
  • Happens literally in "Let's Play Golf":
    Mr. Cat: Who said our planet had to be round?^note The characters live on Planet Smileyland, not Planet Earth
• In Milo Murphy's Law, Zack's father is the only person who has ever doubted the existence of Murphy's Law; every other character, no matter how rational, pretty much accepts it instantly. Even Mr. Underwood's skepticism couldn't survive a whole afternoon of being around Milo and Martin.
• In the Phineas and Ferb episode "Sci-Fi Pie Fly", Buford.
  Buford: I don't believe in space ships!
  Isabella: But Buford, you've been in a space ship. Several, actually.
  Buford: I'm a skeptic.
• In the Pinky and the Brain Christmas Episode, Brain presents an interesting case. He flat-out tells Pinky that writing a letter to Santa Claus is "silly" and "stupid" and says that he keeps his Christmas spirit "right next to my Bigfoot photos." All this despite him knowing for a fact that Santa exists, because his whole plan to Take Over the World depends on infiltrating the North Pole and tricking Santa into building and distributing his Mind-Control Device toys. Though he may actually be referring to the notion rather than the logic; he simply finds writing Santa a letter incredibly pointless due to the impracticality rather than futility. Plus, it's not all that likely that Pinky and the Brain are on Santa's "Good" list.
• Rahan: Throughout the series, Rahan continues to not believe in magic even after having encountered it several times.
• Ready Jet Go!: Mitchell takes on this role in "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!", where he is a staunch disbeliever in Halloween being magical. This is despite the fact that his neighbors are aliens, and time travel is possible within the universe as "Jet's Time Machine" demonstrates.
• In ReBoot, Fax Modem denies the existence of "the User". He accounts for the various catastrophes attributed to it as a mass hallucination engineered by the authorities to keep the population in line.
  Bob: So, lemme get this straight. The Guardians are control freaks willing to sacrifice the very people they are sworn to protect by dropping games on them?
  Modem: That's correct.
  Bob: For what purpose?
  Modem: I haven't worked that out yet.
  Bob: Okay. Tell me, did Phong interview you personally for this job? Didn't think so.
• Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty. Despite the fact that he's personally met Satan and a few demons, Rick is still a Hollywood Atheist. Although "Rickle in Time" gives us the "No atheists in a foxhole" gag, where Prayer Is a Last Resort is immediately laughed off when things start going the right way. He even says "In your face, God!" after saying there is no God. In Season 7 he manages to prove the afterlife is real (all of them in fact), and rather than decide to become a better person in the face of this he instead decides to loot Valhalla.
• While the whole gang may count depending on continuity, Velma from Scooby-Doo is usually adamant that magic and ghosts don't exist, though some installments make this a more defining trait than others. Television series such as The New Scooby-Doo Movies or Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated will either have her actually lament about real monsters not existing or slowly come to accept them existing once she has evidence of it. Meanwhile, movies such as Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost or Scoobynatural will have her continue to deny the existence of the supernatural despite having irrefutable proof in front of her.
• South Park:
  • In the episode "Cartmanland", Kyle loses faith in God. This is despite the fact that the boys have met Jesus and Satan in the past. In one episode, they even meet God itself. Although, it could be that he just believes that God doesn't care, as opposed to God doesn't exist. Never mind that he is Jewish while knowing that Jesus exists and has holy powers. Also, it is South Park. There are actually a minority of Jews who believe in Jesus in Real Life,^note Messianic Jews. The rest don't believe Jesus is the Messiah or Son of God, and only see him as a prophet at best. though their actual Jewness is controversial to say the least.
    • After Kyle and Jesus get stuck in a prison cell together in "Fantastic Easter Special", Jesus asks Kyle to kill him so that he can respawn outside of it. Kyle then states "I'm Jewish. I have a few hangups about killing Jesus."
  • Additionally, Mohammed, Buddha, and Joseph Smith also exist and have superpowers in "Super Best Friends". Despite this, in "All About Mormons", Stan found the entire story of Joseph Smith and Mormonism impossible to swallow.
  • The real God is, for lack of a better description, a bunyip. And he's also a Buddhist. Who only lets Mormons into Heaven. South Park is odd like that...
  • In "Hell on Earth 2006" Satan hosts a huge Halloween party on Earth (marking at least his third public appearance on the surface). The episodes immediately following? A 2-part story arc all about how Richard Dawkins and Mrs. Garrison turned the entire planet into straw atheists.
  • Also applicable is "Red Hot Catholic Love", where most of the boys' parents became atheists and celebrate over the fact that the Vatican was destroyed, despite the fact that it was destroyed through supernatural means and a giant Queen Spider is clearly present- plus, you know, again the fact that they all knew God, Satan and Jesus were all real and had seen them in person.
  • In the game South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the player character is allowed to choose their religion in a conversation with Jesus. All religions (with the exception of a Lawful Scientologist), and atheists, are accepted, and Jesus will offer to take a selfie with him no matter your pick.
    • This actually may be a bit of Author Appeal. Matt Stone has said often he personally doesn't believe in any religion and Trey Parker says his idea of faith is difficult to explain, but he finds both religion and atheist viewpoints equally absurd to comprehend. In any case, most of their comedy is about upsetting people, so messing with everyone's perceptions of the world and faith is just part of it.
    • In an interview, they mentioned they are fascinated by religion and while they call all the religions wonderfully ridiculous, they then add that the most ridiculous explanation was that they were all existing, just because (as in the Big Bang and so on was a result of natural forces.)
    • One analysis video actually comes up to the explanation that the two were conveying religion (and non-religion) as being ridiculous because humanity itself is ridiculous. Given the nature of the show, this is probably what the two were going for. It is South Park.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • Squidward says he doesn't believe in ghosts (or more specifically the Flying Dutchman), which is odd considering the Flying Dutchman appeared to the entire town in the Halloween Episode and Squidward was zapped over and over and tortured by the Flying Dutchman in another episode.
  • In the episode "SpongeHenge", a background character denies the existence of Neptune to her friend and states that Poseidon is the true Lord of the Ocean, despite the fact that Neptune has appeared to the public on several occasions. It's ultimately Zig-Zagged as both of them ended up being right with Poseidon being established to also exist in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.
• W.I.T.C.H.: When everyone is told about their powers Cornelia is skeptical and assumes it's a magic trick. This despite, as lampshaded, the fact she saw magical pictures appear out of thin air and the fact her friends have powers.
• Kid Flash in Young Justice. He's perfectly okay with pocket dimensions and Mind Control existing, he just thinks everything has to have a scientific explanation behind it. Partly justified in that one of the Flash's enemies, (Abracadabra for those curious) was a Time Traveller posing as an Evil Sorceror (and actually served as The Dragon in the episode in question) and because this skepticism seemed to only last a single episode - on every other occasion magic shows up, Kid Flash is (to all appearances, at least) a lot more accepting of the reality of it all. Also, by the end of that first episode where he denies the existence of magic, it's pretty clear that Wally knows better and just doesn't want to admit being wrong.

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