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This also gives us leeway to create cool, modern (or post-modern) sounding names for our Hero. "Slayer" is much easier to sell to the general public than "[[Knight Templar|Templar]]", and certainly better connotatively than "Inquisitor". "Whitelighters" might be "[[Our Angels Are Different|Angels]]" or "Saints", but might not. They are much more new-agey, and handy around the house, too. [[Bewitched (TV)|Samantha Stevens]] nose-twitched away most of the stigma against Witches, so we can go with that, but what say we call the ruler of the Netherworld, our biggest [[Big Bad]] "[[Filmations Ghostbusters (Animation)|Prime Evil]]" so as not to offend any [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_Satanism Theistic Satanists]. And let's avoid any problems in the Bible Belt by just calling the ultimate good guys the "[[Powers That Be]]" rather than naming any "real" gods or angels. This also helps if you want one (or two or three) of the Powers That Be to go Evil.
 
Of course, this also makes it easier for us to make sure that [[Our Vampires Are Different]], maintain the [[Balance Between Good and Evil]], and come up with a fresh [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]. Theology majors and occultists won't be able to complain that we [[Did Not Do the Research|didn't do our homework]], because [[Viewers Areare Morons|we eliminated all that dry scholarly crap in the interest of making our background accessible to the average viewer.]]
 
It's [[The Theme Park Version]] of religion, where everybody's not using the "G" word. Related is [[Witch Species]].
{{examples|Examples}}
 
== Literature ==
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* Meljean Brook's ''[[The Guardians]]'' series - the Guardians are pretty much all angels that were born human, they just don't use the a-word.
* In Isaac Asimov's ''The Last Trump'', God is referred as "The Chief", and in other Asimov's short story called "Gimmicks Three", the demons refer to divine orders as "orders from above".
* ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' goes about this trope [[Paper -Thin Disguise|half-heartedly]]. It keeps its doctrines scholarly without regard for controversy; but changes names around as much as it feels it needs to. Jesus is "Minshus," which allows him to have the same background as Jesus, but a [[Call a Rabbit A Smeerp|name that sounds more]] like "Confucius" without having to agree with Confucius. "Father Son and Spirit" become "Primalus, Secondarium, and Trimalus." Gabriel is renamed Gabon, Michael becomes Martarel, and the Serpent is replaced with a Chameleon. The Tree of Knowledge is replaced with the Lakeith Pit, which combines the Tree's symbolism visually with Pandora's Box. The Drisalian War Outcome replaces the Tower of Babel, and the Drisalian Curse replaces the Confusing of Tongues. It's all used 1) [[Anthropic Principle|to justify humanoid stationery running about]] and 2) to justify [[Our Angels Are Different]].
* Parodied in the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' books with the invention of the GSD Church - Global Standard Deity. Essentially a mishmash of all world religions, in which pretty much anybody can believe anything they want about it.
** Even further parodied as the books go on; Joffy's stories about his work make it clear that the Church of the GSD splits into thousands of bickering factions soon after it is created, essentially reverting religion back to the way it was before.
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* Averted in Season 4 of ''[[Supernatural]]''. Throughout the series, there had been demons (usually using the names of Biblical demons), but no sign of any angels or any reference to God. Then, suddenly, there's not only Castiel, but the fact that he tells Dean that ''God himself'' commanded he be {{spoiler|brought back to life}}. Sure, some of the mythology is changed (66 seals must be broken for {{spoiler|Lucifer to be unleashed}}), but the show doesn't shy away from using real world religion.
* Obvious aversions: Shows like ''[[Reaper]]'' or ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'', which explicitly feature [[Satan]] or [[God]] (respectively) as major characters and speak openly about Christian lore.
* ''[[The Fallen]]'' mini-series features angels, [[Half -Human Hybrid|Nephilim]], Hell, and [[The Devil]], but God is always referred to as "the Creator".
* As late as the mid-1970s, prime-time situation comedies didn't have characters mention God, apparently because the nature of comedy is to be less than reverent. In the [[Happy Days]] episode where Fonzie seeks out baptism, the ''priest'' never utters the word "God", instead pointing skyward and speaking piously of ''"Him"''.
 
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* ''[[Dilbert]]'' was originally to feature Satan, but due to [[Executive Meddling]] it wound up with "Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light," who sometimes darns people to Heck. (The writer has admitted this is funnier than what he originally planned.) On the other hand, God and angels have occasionally been referred to in more proper terms.
** It isn't entirely clear if Phil is even supernatural. It was eventually revealed that he is the [[Pointy -Haired Boss|boss's]] brother.
 
== Role Playing Games ==
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