Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!: Difference between revisions

* Occurs in ''[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life]]'': a military recruiter says, after showing a documentary film, "That is why we will always need an army, and may God strike me down were it to be otherwise."

** [[Tempting Fate|And, lo and behold...]]

* Shown with an aftermath in ''Nightbreed'', the film of Clive Barker's CABAL—A badly fallen priest is dragged along for the ride when the rednecks go after the Nightbreed, and when he manages to splash the Shattered God's transformative baptism over himself, he winds up in the ruins of the Breed's old home, reviving Cabal's nemesis and vowing revenge: "Their God burned me. I want to burn him back!"

* ''The End of the Affair'' is framed around a "diary of hate" that the main character directs at God, who he sees as the main force coming between him and his lover Sarah. At the end of the movie, after seeing Sarah die shortly after resuming an affair that she promised God she would end forever, he curses God "as though (he) existed".

* In ''Joan of Arc'' (the one with [[Leelee Sobieski]] and [[Neil Patrick Harris]]) Joan kneels at an altar after losing a major battle, begging God to tell her what she did wrong, and when she gets no reply, she snaps and screams, "[[Tear Jerker|''Why won't you answer me?!'']]"

* ''[[The Poseidon Adventure]]'': Here you have Rev. Scott (Gene Hackman) who has never lost his faith in God, who believes that the Lord loves people who can work it out themselves. He tries everything to help save his friends from the capsizing ship - resulting in the death of three, but he never turns a blind eye. However, when a steam valve is blocking the only way out, he finally snaps and tells God off while trying to shut the valve off. {{spoiler|He dies right after but his effort saved the remaining members of the group.}}

** And again in a [[Cluster F-Bomb|profanity-laced]] version when {{spoiler|he yells at his attackers in the finale during the mansion siege, just before he himself gets killed by an assassin behind him.}}

 

== [[Literature]] ==

 

 

* Despite the Eastern mythology-based "spirits" introduced on the show, Prince Zuko has such a scene in the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' episode "Bitter Work". After a day of {{spoiler|failing to learn to bend lightning}}, on top of everything else that's happened in his life, he stands on top of a mountain during a raging thunderstorm and screams at... someone:

{{quote|'''Zuko:''' "You've always thrown everything you could at me! Well I can take it! And now I can give it back! Come on! ''Strike me!'' [[Cosmic Plaything|You've never held back before]]! Aaaaaargh!"}}

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Christian Rock Hard," Cartman and his band are being signed onto a Christian record label, and the heads tell him they want to make sure that his band isn't just in it for the money. Cartman replies, "I have [[Blatant Lies|never in my life]] done anything just for the money. If I'm lying, may the Lord strike me down right now." Nothing happens, but Butters scootches away, just in case.

** In another episode, "HUMANCENTiPAD," Cartman gets angry after having his new present, the Apple HUMANCENTiPAD, taken away from him. He shouts at God to stop "fucking" him, which causes him to get struck by lightning.

** Actually, the ''good'' day caused Homer to quit attending church. The above quote comes from near the end of that episode, when his house caught fire, nearly killing him. He thought the lesson of the story is "The Lord is Vengeful!" and was wanting God to turn him into the instrument of His divine retribution.

* An unintentional example in one episode of [[The Boondocks]], in which Uncle Ruckus begins a religion based on racism toward African-Americans, and telling the African-Americans themselves that they need to apologize for being what they are. At the climax of the episode, he shouts for God to strike him down if anything he's saying is untrue, though he fully believed in what he was teaching and undoubtedly thought he had nothing to fear. [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|God, however, was more than happy to take him up on it.]]

 

== Real Life ==

* As part of his routine, [[George Carlin]] challenged God to strike ''the audience''—and ''then'' himself—dead to prove that an Almighty exists. Needless to say, it never happened. Although he did report a small twinge in his leg.

* In three separate instances, people working on Mel Gibson's ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' were struck by lightning. However, this probably has less to do with blasphemy in the movie and more to do with the fact that they were [[Too Dumb to Live|carrying lots of metal objects around a hill in a thunderstorm.]]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]

[[Category:This Index Is a Scream]]