Hollywood Atheist: Difference between revisions

* Atheists have been turned off by [[Corrupt Church|hypocrites and villains acting in the name of religion]] and only need to be shown a non-hypocritical believer to see the light.

* Atheists are somehow simply unaware of religion, and [[Easy Evangelism|will happily convert on the spot]] when informed of the rudiments of whatever dogma the work is endorsing. Expect them in an [[Author Tract]] (despite the name this shows up as early as the book Hayy ibn Yaqzan, making this trope [[Older Than Feudalism]]).

* Atheists are all materialists and probably [[Machine Worship|technophiles]]/[[Transhuman|transhumanists]]/[[First Church of Mecha|roboticists]] as well.

* Atheists are straight-out evil, having apparently rejected all concept of right and wrong when they rejected religion. [[Chick Tracts]] love these, too. Compare and contrast [[Faith Heel Turn]]. The notion of immoral atheists goes back a long way. Most notably, Jean Jacques Rousseau, who (very progressively) proposed religious tolerance, suggested that atheists should be refused political rights due to their inherent un-trustworthiness.

* Atheists have no moral code (and are uncharitable, unkind, and have no ethical boundaries).

** For that matter, atheists think believers in the predominant local religion are "religious opponents".

 

 

Common to all portrayals of the Hollywood Atheist is the idea that faith is the natural state and [[Crisis of Faith|something must occur to drive the character away]] from the norm. Given that most humans worldwide are religious this is understandable, but still, it's always 'my reason for not believing is X.' One never hears 'I do not have a reason to believe', which is by far the most common reason given by atheists. It should come as no surprise that many atheists find the assumption that unbelief is unnatural ''deeply'' insulting.

See also [[Acceptable Religious Targets]]. A major exception is science fiction which sometimes goes so far the other way as to state that [[Religion Is Wrong]] and humanity has [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions]]; for atheists living in fantasy settings where the existence of gods is irrefutable, see [[Flat Earth Atheist]] and [[Nay Theist]].

 

 

{{noreallife|this is a trope about how characters are depicted in media.}}