Religious Stereotype

A stereotype, but... well, religious.

The most obvious and prominent example is the Corrupt Church, which involves portraying all clergymen, especially Christian ones, as sanctimonious fanatics and/or hypocrites. When Religious Stereotype is in full effect in a work of fiction, expect all Protestants to be fundamentalists- don't bring that civil rights movement crap here! All Catholic priests will all have hidden sexual doings, which will make one wonder how the Church functions if all its priests are, safe to say, busy. Pedophilia, in particular, is a popular activity among Catholic priests in fiction.

And it doesn't get any better when you leave Christianity, oh no! Jews will probably be... well, many times Jews will be found where you least expect it in your characters, but to be a real stereotype, expect them to lament their lots in life (and do well in Broadway musicals). More generally, though, Jews will get assigned the more positive (or at least funnier) stereotypes. If they are Muslims expect them to be, at best, super conservative and arrogant towards women, while at worst all Muslims know Osama bin Laden's phone number and hang out with him on Fridays. (Prior to May 2011, that is.)

Well, your fictional character says to himself, to hell with this, I'll just be an atheist!... Nope, buddy, you're still stuck. Atheists are evil in most portrayals of fiction, always have a sad backstory for being an atheist, and are usually a Nietzsche Wannabe. That's assuming they don't just become a smug Jerkass or, at worst, a Complete Monster.

Still, note that all stereotypes are not bad. Just as common a stereotype is that of the Buddhist monk who literally knows everything worth knowing and helps the Hero, while another common one is the Hindu guru who is "in tune with the universe".

This trope almost always results in Unfortunate Implications of the religious variety (especially if the author uses these stereotypes to boost up their own favorite side), to the point that its inclusion in a work of fiction should probably set you on high alert. Buyer Beware!

If a negative stereotype was created just to make the hero look good, or the Creator's views seem right, then it is a Strawman. See also Christianity Is Catholic, and any of the Useful Notes series on the religions for what the religion is actually like. See also evil religions, good religions, Heel Faith Turn... ah, just go check out the Religion Tropes. Religious Stereotype is a part and parcel of all of them.

Comic Books

 * A particularly hated storyline in X-Men had an anti-mutant group planning to have Nightcrawler elected as Pope (!) and then cause a false Rapture to ruin both The Church and mutantkind. A horrible case of Did Not Do the Research.
 * Similarly, an earlier X-Men graphic novel ("God Loves, Man Kills") also had a fundamentalist persecute mutants. Ironic in that the villain of the story was later used in the second X-Men movie, but as a military leader.
 * However, in that one (and to a lesser- much lesser- extent, the former as well), the bigoted fanaticism of Stryker was contrasted with the benevolent devoutness of Nightcrawler and others, and the story ends with his own followers turning against him wen he crosses the Moral Event Horizon. The story is fairly balanced as far as this trope goes.
 * Garth Ennis indulges in this from time to time, most notably Preacher (Comic Book).

Film

 * Carrie's mother, Margaret White, in the movie but more pronouncedly in the book, is a psychotic religious nut who believes periods are punishments from God.
 * Steven King seems to love this trope. Mrs.Carmody from The Mist screams this. Not hard to tell what King thinks of the religious type.
 * The characters of Ruth and her father in Paul.
 * The president in Escape From L.A..

Literature

 * This trope is the reason behind the Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions trope in science fiction and fantasy: the assumption that smart people can't be religious. Belief Makes You Stupid is part and parcel of the same thing.
 * Stephen King has indulged in this in just about every novel he's ever written; you can pretty much always expect at least one nasty (at best) or psychotic (at worst) fundamentalist Protestant character, who often doubles as the "overbearing parent," without any more positive examples to provide a contrast. To be fair, though, he averts this quite heavily in Desperation, his most popular work, The Stand, and Cell. It does have that crazy bible lady at one point, but Alice averts this. King himself has said he believes in God.
 * Also of note is Father Callahan, who becomes one of the most sympathetic and, ultimately, heroic characters of The Dark Tower.
 * Many works of literature from the 1800s-early 1900s are full of this to various degrees, especially when it comes to African-Americans and Jews.
 * Anything by Tom Kratman and to a lesser extent his sometimes writing partner John Ringo will have an anti-Islamic bias.

Live Action TV

 * Played with on a recent episode of Bones where an intern to the Jeffersonian is discovered to be faking a thick accent to avoid annoying questions about being both a devout Muslim and a highly educated man.
 * Played straight and averted on an episode of Veronica Mars where Veronica's investigation involves the conservative preacher father of a friend. The preacher's assistant fits the fundie stereotype to a T . On the other hand the friend's father turns out to be both honest and compassionate.
 * On True Blood the Fellowship of the Sun seems to be a compilation of every possible negative stereotype the authors could find for southerners, religion, and/or southern churches.

Tabletop Games

 * Everyone in Warhammer 40000 is a Religious Stereotype. And a fanatic. With a chainsword.

Video Games

 * Dead Space has a Church of Happyology. In fact, according to a log you only get after beating the first game, said religion managed to get enough influence to get all dissenting books (including presumably other religious texts) banned, leaving them pretty much the only major religion remaining.

Web Comics

 * Averted in Everyday Heroes with Carrie Pelosi who, although quite devout, is the type of Christian who believes in teaching by example rather than preaching.
 * Seymour of Sinfest is definitely a caricature of the stereotypical evangelical Christan.
 * Lil' Evil could also count, as your average evil Satanist stereotype.