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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Cassie:''' Have you ever thought about all the weird shit that people say goes on? Like aliens and Bigfoot and how many stories are there? But it only takes for one of them to be true and everything is different. Like... everything we logically believe is up for grabs.
'''Andrew:''' Okay. But I'm thinking "Man marries Werewolf" probably isn't the one.|''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4_paHTRdHQ Fuel]''}}
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Trope Part the Second: Anyone on television who is a skeptic, rationalist, atheist, "scientist" or other critical-thinking type believes in nothing. Thus the contrapositive, ''If Not Aliens, Then Not Jesus''. Alien abductions are bunk, and so are psychics, and therefore God does not exist. A declaration by a scientist that they do not believe in one thing, such as ghosts, automatically means they think that anything supernatural, including the spiritual and the religious, is total nonsense and anyone who believes otherwise is an idiot.
The rhetorical term for [[You Fail Logic Forever|this kind of thinking]] is a "[[False Dichotomy]]": A person must be either a [[Agent Mulder|Believer]] or a [[Agent Scully|Rationalist]], but may not ever be both, nor fall somewhere between the extremes. Any belief on one side or the other will result in all beliefs on that side so this trope can exist with the title implication often running in reverse;
The existence of characters of this type is sometimes caused by a [[Writer
Done with a small amount of finesse, this particular conflict can actually be entertaining: thus we have [[Agent Mulder]] and [[Agent Scully]] in their original forms, with the small but interesting subversion that the original Mulder would believe any fantastic explanation except a religious one, while the original Scully would be reluctant to believe any fantastic explanation unless it was religious in nature, in which case they would swap roles: she would become the Believer and he would become the Rationalist.
Related tropes include [[All Myths Are True]], and [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]. If the [[Writer
Not to be confused with [[No Such Thing
{{examples
==
* The graphic novel ''[[Creature Tech]]'' had an... interesting take on this. The protagonist, Dr. Ong, is an atheist and a brilliant scientist, working at [[Extranormal Institute|a top-secret lab researching the weird and supernatural]]. Then, he runs across the actual Shroud of Turin at work (they know it's the real deal because the blood on it heals people and raises the dead). This makes Ong admit to his preacher father that Jesus must have really been the Son of God, but he doesn't give anything more than intellectual assent to Jesus. Dr. Ong remains this way, until a teleportation accident lands him on another planet, at the foot of a cross where an Alien Jesus is being crucified. I kid you not: ''If Alien Jesus, then Jesus.''
== Film ==
* The movie version of ''[[Contact (
* This is ultimately the crux of the judge's decision regarding the existence of Santa Claus in the climax of the remake of ''[[Miracle
* The movie version of ''
* Lampshaded amusingly in ''[[Ghostbusters]]'', where embodying the first part of this trope is a hiring requirement for the Ghostbusters organization:
{{quote|
'''Winston:''' Uh, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say. }}
* In the ''[[Super Mario Bros. (
* ''[[Cthulhu (
* Employed in ''[[From Dusk
* Captain America in [[The Avengers (
* Subverted for humorous effect in ''The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra''.
Ranger Brad: Oh, say... You don't believe those old legends about the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, do you?
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== Literature ==
* Apropos of [[
* This trope is used to explain why Stanley Uris, one of the main characters in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[IT]]'' can't fully accept the existence of the book's creature and eventually {{spoiler|kills himself rather than return to face the monster}}. In one inner thought sequence he explains to the reader that {{spoiler|the existence of the monster actually OFFENDS him, because the existence of ANY supernatural phenomena destroys his neat and tidy rationalist vision of the world. "Everything leads to everything..."}}
* Referenced in ''[[
{{quote|
"I kinda doubt they had anything to do with that one." }}
* Inverted in Charlie Stross' ''A Colder War'': an alternate-history USA is dealing with Lovecraftian horrors used as weapons by the Soviets. Ronald Reagan is elected and treats them as just another kind of technology - he's too religious to believe in any supernatural aspect to them. If Jesus, then not Cthulhu.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* In ''[[Numb3rs]]'', this trope seems to crop up with distressing regularity. Every few episodes, Charlie is challenged to move beyond the empirical world to a matter of faith, only the matter of faith in question is something completely outside the normal debate of science vs. religion, and yet Larry's right there urging Charlie to consider that it might possibly be true. After all, even scientists don't pretend that they can know everything, right?
* Played surprisingly straight in '
* ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'': "Touch Move" as well as several other episodes.
* Both ''[[
{{quote|
'''Buffy:''' [[Shrug of God|Nothing solid.]] }}
* John Locke of ''[[Lost]]'' fame is one of the few explicit representatives on TV of that (not insignificant) portion of society who are very spiritually inclined but not religious. This has led to him being used as a foil for another character's belief system multiple times: he contrasts with Jack, who is shown (at least early on) to be very earthly and skeptical; he also contrasts with Mr. Eko, whose spirituality is of a deeply religious nature.
* This trope was actually mentioned by a character in ''[[Baywatch]]'' as her personal beliefs. In her own words, "If there can be aliens, there can be elves." The supernatural, however, was not a part of the show. Until the ''[[Baywatch Nights]]'' spin-off.
* Averted by the characters of Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer in ''[[
** To be entirely precise, Rimmer effectively substitutes belief in [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|sufficiently advanced aliens]] for a belief in God while Lister is more of an irreligious skeptic (either believing in no God or in the universe as a non-personal God). This doesn't really conform to this trope, either straight or as an aversion.
** Lister was stated to be a Pantheist in "Last Days", part of the third season, while he was stated to be an Atheist in "Back to Reality", the final episode of the fifth season. This means it's not implausible that Lister originally had faith in the idea of the universe being a non-personal god, then gave up believing in any form of god at at all.
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* ''[[The X-Files]]'' is a subversion: Mulder, who appears to be an atheist or agnostic, believes in aliens and most paranormal reports. Scully, who may or may not be faithful, but who wears a cross around her neck, initially denied the existence of most paranormal phenomena.
** This subversion was most apparent in any episode featuring religious supernatural phenomena. Mulder and Scully would actually switch roles, with Mulder being the skeptic and Scully trying hard to believe.
{{quote|
'''Mulder:''' I wait for a miracle every day. But what I've seen here has only tested my patience, not my faith. }}
* Slight subversion on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'': Major Kira is one of the most overtly religious characters on all of ''[[Star Trek]]'', but also very cynical, sometimes even about the aliens/gods her people worship. The gods of the Bajorans, known as "The Prophets", are referred to by most of the other characters on the show as simply "The Wormhole Aliens". Captain Sisko starts off as one of the latter, but his belief grows as the series progresses and he comes to accept his role as a type of religious leader for the Bajorans. Likewise, the race of changelings are seen as "gods" by those they rule over, but not by others. There is also this exchange between two of the show's antagonists:
{{quote|
'''Damar''': You believe that the Founders are gods, don't you?
'''Weyoun''': That's different.
'''Damar''': [laughs] In what way?
'''Weyoun''': The Founders *are* gods. }}
* Crops up in an episode of the American version of ''[[Life On Mars]]''. The young cop, Chris, states that he ''wants'' to believe in aliens because then angels aren't so far of a stretch. Because if there are flying saucers out there, that means God exists, right? Inverted, in that he seems to believe If Aliens Then Jesus.
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* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Lisa's careful balance between sweet little girl and intellectual genius was broken severely by the episode where they found an angel's fossilized remains. Lisa is portrayed as a condescending and atheistically unbelieving skeptic, despite the fact that she was always portrayed as being somewhat religious before then (and after, to the point where when she lost her religion she was not satisfied until she found another). To her credit, we are talking about not believing in angel fossils here. And she was right, they weren't angel fossils at all.
* Mocked in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' episode "Ghosts of the Sargasso" when Hank Venture falls under the sway of Part One.
{{quote|
'''Brock:''' Hank, nobody ever said pirates don't exist. }}
* In ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', [[Batman|Bruce]] displays a healthy attitude to this kind of trope, not dismissing anything out of hand but not blankly accepting all supernatural claims either.
{{quote|
'''Terry:''' And naturally you don't believe in that kind of thing.
'''Bruce:''' Of course I do. I've seen it all: Demons, witchboys, immortals, zombies. But this thing, it's just so...so "high school." }}
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] on ''[[South Park]].'' Although [[Adults Are Useless|the town's adults]] are often shown as foolishly believing in anything, religious or otherwise, Stan, Kyle and Kenny all seem at least nominally religious yet can be rational about other supposedly-supernatural phenomena, such as psychics (which seem to be [[Arbitrary Skepticism|the only such thing]] that's definitively fake).
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* The author Robin Ramsay actually puts forth the "If Jesus then Aliens" theory in his book [http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Theories-Pocket-Essential-Ramsay/dp/190404865X/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201017913&sr=1-19 about conspiracy theories].
* [[Truth in Television]]: There exists (at least) one cult that believes [http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/19/saucer.cult/ God would come to Earth in a flying saucer].
** [[Star Trek V:
** Despite popular belief, [[Christianity Is Catholic|The Vatican]] has historically had an attitude of "God can do anything, so anything is possible." When Copernicus' friend Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter lectured about the early findings implying a heliocentric solar system, Pope Clement VII and several cardinals all attended, were fascinated, and one wrote a letter to Copernicus encouraging him to publish his findings. With the exception of a few [[Obstructive Bureaucrat
*** So, you're saying that only a few bureaucrats burned Bruno and put Galileo under house arrest? Not quite what happened.
**** No, he's saying that Bruno was burned for heresy not related to his heliocentric theories. When you directly question the existence of God, outright deny that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, openly espouse pantheism, and live in 16th-century Italy while you're doing all of the above, you can't really be surprised when the Inquisition shows up. Galileo likewise could have stayed out of trouble if he'd stuck to talking about astronomy instead of also, in unrelated contemporary political commentary he was writing, started slandering the Pope.
*** Actually, they've come out in support of their religious ideas still being true even if alien life is found.
** Reports of [[Alien Abduction]] are steadily increasing, while reports of being impregnated by horny gods or demons have all but vanished (supposed house hauntings and demon possessions, however, remain popular).
** Most branches of [[
** A fairly important and well-educated Orthodox Christian author Pheophan the Anchorite, while responding to an obviously heretical statement about Jesus actually being an alien (back in 1800s) said that the problem is that we simply don't know anything about aliens, such as whether or not they even exist, and if they do, did they commit the original sin or not, and if they did, was it necessary for Jesus to die again just for them, and if it was, et cetera, et cetera.
** One of the founders of Seventh-day Adventism, Ellen G. White, invokes this trope literally by claiming God himself gave her [http://www.whiteestate.org/books/egwhc/EGWHCc07.html visions regarding created beings on other planets]. According to her, God created multitudes of worlds before Earth, where the inhabitants were still perfect and unfallen (unlike humanity after the whole Adam and Eve thing).
* There is an old joke about a UFO landing and an alien pops his head out the door the first thing he says is, "Has Jesus been through here yet?"
* Another old
{{quote|
'''God:''' I thought you didn't believe in me?
'''The Atheist:''' Yeah, well, until a second ago, I didn't believe in Bigfoot either. }}
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] by [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/us/13beliefs.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss this recent article], about a ufologist who ''wants'' religiously-minded scholars to open up to non-spiritual kinds of paranormal phenomena but is having trouble.
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** Given the bible is mum as to any of the details of God's plan to plant the fossils to test our faith, this isn't really outside the creationists' wheelhouse.
* A member of ''the Vatican'' stated that [paraphrased] we should "be free to believe in aliens, because not believing in them limits the creative powers of God," though he's only saying that it's possible that aliens exist, not that they definitely do.
* A recent favorite of the Italian [[YouTube]] community is Matteo Montesi, an ardent Christian believer who also, in his ''[[Archive Binge|hundreds]]'' of videos, talks about [[Conspiracy Theorist|conspiracies]], aliens, ghosts, [[The Reptilians]], and many other pseudo-scientific theories, and seems to believe in them all equally. For example, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqsgOpuzE-4 here] he talks (Italian only) about the supposed [
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Logic Tropes]]
[[Category:If Jesus, Then Aliens]]
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