Artistic License Religion: Difference between revisions

If you really want to know about the religions, why, [[Shown Their Work|look no further than our]] [[Useful Notes]] pages.

 

 

 

** That Taoism is only a philosophy, not a religion (actually, it's both, with a great deal of overlap into alchemy, medicine, and other disciplines). This [http://www.patheos.com/Library/Taoism/ website] has a huge amount about what it really means to be a Taoist.

* The belief that Taoism and Christianity are [http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070724082416AAJEP6p mutually exclusive]. The theory is based on several assumptions, such as that it is related to the above Dualism, that Satan is depicted as an "opposite but equal" force to God the Father or Jesus, and by this (mis)understanding, the two are unworkable. In point of fact, [http://www.patheos.com/Library/Taoism/Beliefs/Ultimate-Reality-and-Divine-Beings.html Satan isn't even part of the picture] in the combined religion or otherwise (except possibly in something ''out of balance'') and God can be Yin/Yang himself. Nevermind that Taoism is more pantheistic than monotheistic anyway. Taoism is also extremely flexible, allowing for many influences ''from'' [http://www.patheos.com/Library/Taoism/Beliefs/Afterlife-and-Salvation.html Christianity or other religions] (most notably combining into Zen Buddhism), so there is nothing to preclude the reverse from being the case.

{{quote|The Tao that may be told is not the true Tao.}}

 

'''Left-Hand Paths'''

* The way mainstream society does this in regard to Left Hand Path religions deserves a major mention here. To go into depth about it would take up almost a page, but here's a few highlights:

 

'''Wicca'''

== Comic Books ==

* Chuck Austen on Roman Catholicism in the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' comics.

** The Rapture described in the story is what's referred to as a pre-tribulation Rapture, in which the Rapture is followed by a period of war, famine, death, etc. before Christ returns. In order for this plan to work, the villains in this story would need the resources to simulate both the tribulation and Christ's return to maintain believability. They obviously don't have these resources because then they could just kill the mutants directly instead of making the scheme to begin with, and it would require doing a rather large case of blasphemy by ''faking the return of Jesus Christ.''.

** The antichrist Nightcrawler was supposed to be mistaken for was from the pop culture version of a particular interpretation of Revelation - an interpretation, needless to say, not held by Catholics in general, who consider that part of the book to be [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|thinly-veiled criticism of the Roman Empire.]]

** So, in other words, their whole plan relied on the false assumption that [[Christianity Is Catholic]].

* [[Chick Tracts|Jack Chick]] and any religious ideology besides his own version of Christian fundamentalism (which is rather extreme, even for normal fundamentalism). When he does his research, it is usually from unreliable or discredited sources—sometimes even his own version of Christian fundamentalism. As a result, not everyone is convinced his work's aren't an elaborate parody. It helps that he is so cryptic a person that absolutely nothing is known about him. Wikipedia even suggest that might have been "pen name for an unnamed author or authors". Examples of Artistic License - Religious Studies from [[Chick Tracts]] include:

** [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1074/1074_01.asp Freemasons worship Baphomet].

** His apparent belief that the Catholics have never heard of God or Jesus deserves a special mention. And for that matter, his apparent belief that there are actually people in Western society who have never heard of God or Jesus.

** More on Catholics:

*** [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0071/0071_01.asp The IHS on the host (communion wafers) are initials for the Egyptian gods Isis, Horus, and Seb/Geb]. (They're actually the first three letters of [[Jesus]]' name in Romanized Greek.) Anyone with even rudimentary knowledge of [[Egyptian Mythology]] can see how mind-bendingly laughable it is to connect Geb with Isis and Horus in a positive fashion.

**** Most Catholic communion wafers don't even say "IHS"; they just have a cross.

** [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1031/1031_01.asp Allah is not God]; he is some kind of Babylonian moon god that was left over after Muhammad threw all the other idols out of Mecca.

*** Then there's [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0042/0042_01.asp this comic]; even if you assume a [[Translation Convention]] from Arabic, the Arabic word for (big-G) "God" simply ''is'' "Allah". Arabic-speaking Christians address their worship to "Allah". So how do you say "Allah is not God" in Arabic?

*** It is true that Muslim conception of religion comes from a different source from Judaism and Christianity, but the lunar symbol is just that, merely a symbol (probably left over from Persian times). The reason it sounds convincing is that it's a half-truth. Also, the line right after is laughable:

*** Who besides playing to the author's weird beliefs on Catholics (to which even Wikipedia says nothing to prove), she looks closer to 25, and he looks closer to 40.

* ''[[Azrael]]'', in ''spades'', the second series even more so than the first.

** A particularly [[egregious]] example is the 2011 [[Bat Family Crossover]] ''Judgement on Gotham.'' In this crossover, Azrael ([[Batman/Characters|Michael Lane]]) teams with the Crusader, a superpowered psychotic, in order to destroy Gotham City, which they perceive as a modern day Sodom/Gomorrah (It's later revealed that they were manipulated into doing this by Ra's al Ghul, who apparently likes to play with Dominoes). In accordance to [[The Bible]] story on the topic, however, they decide to instead first see if there is one righteous soul in the city. So, [[Sarcasm Mode|naturally]], they decide to test Batman (Dick Grayson), [[Catwoman]] (Selina Kyle) and Red Robin (Tim Drake). If they find one righteous soul, they'll spare the city. Aaaaaaaandd here's where it fails. In the original Sodom and Gomorrah story, God agreed with Abraham to not destroy the cities for the sake of ''ten'' righteous people. This then begs the question of why Azrael and the Crusader didn't just take a poll of the local Christian churches. We the readers are then expected to believe that 1.) The biggest "sin" that the Sword of Sin (a sword that when plunged into a person's body reveals to both the victim and the wielder the sins of the victim) could dredge up from Dick Grayson was not helping some random guy from the circus when he was a ''kid'', as opposed to, say, fornication, lying, lustful thoughts, use of profanity etc. 2.) We are further expected to believe that Azrael and the Crusader sincerely think that they can find an individual without sin, which, according to [[The Bible]], yes, ''[[The Bible]]'', is impossible with the sole exception of Jesus Christ. 3.) In relation to point 2, we are then expected to believe that Tim Drake, who, as good a guy as he is, has lied, thought lustful thoughts, and used profane language, is "sinless." We are also expected to believe that [[Out-of-Character Moment|Tim is pretentious enough to even think he has no sins, which he does think, according to his opening monologue]]. 4.) We are then expected to believe that Selina Kyle, ''Catwoman,'' would fail the "sinless" test solely because she ''wouldn't kill her sister "in the name of God"'', as opposed to her history of stealing, fornication, etc., this test ''completely'' violating every rule of Christianity. The reason it's so ridiculous is that the entire premise of this crossover relies on Azrael and Crusader, the former being a staunch Catholic from boyhood, being completely ignorant of the Bible's most basic principles, to the point that ''Catwoman'' knows more about Christianity than they do ("God and God alone can judge").

 

== Computer & Video Games ==

== Film ==

* In ''[[Dogma]]'' the concept of Plenary Indulgence is wrong. Multiple characters who ''should'' know better (angels and a cardinal) describe it as a clean slate, and the forgiveness and removal of all sins. It's not it. Plenary Indulgence is the removal of need for temporal punishments of sins that have ''already'' been forgiven—It does not remove nor wipe out a person's sins. One might argue that Bartleby and Loki failing to understand the concept properly [[Fridge Brilliance|is part of the joke.]] Also, Metatron calls himself a "seraphim" and reveals two wings. The singular of "seraphim" is "seraph," and they have six wings.

* Likewise, [[Quentin Tarantino]] admitted to making up most of Ezekiel 25:17. Only the last part of Jules Winnfield's diatribe is (almost) the real verse, i.e.; "And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them."

* ''The Order/The Sin Eater'' starring Heath Ledger.

** Egyptian priests ''were'' able to duplicate some of the plagues. Though not all the ones shown in the film.

** ''[[Rule of Cool]]?''

 

 

== Literature ==

** Pullman is also prone to sliding into propaganda of the sort used in Soviet Russia, for example, having a priest push vodka on a boy (who throws it up) is incredibly similar to their baffling "Christianity causes drunkenness" campaign. It didn't make sense then, and it sure as hell makes no sense now, Christians promote ''moderate'' drinking, and always have. - but then again the militant atheists in Russia at the time were keen to blame ALL their social problems on Christianity, ''even if Christians were helping to keep the problem in check''. Suffice to say, priests aren't particularly prone to forcing vodka on children - Pullman simply threw this in to make the priest look evil.

*** And those who mention the Spanish missionaries in the Americas... well, it's more complicated than first blush. There was culture clash, certainly, but much of Amerindian culture was ''preserved'' by the missionaries (including their language, the better to preach the Gospel), and significant inculturation survives in Latin American Catholicism to this day

* The main conflict in the Hugo-winning science fiction novel ''A Case of Conscience'' by James Blish depends entirely on the "fact" that the Catholic church rejects evolution. In fact, the Catholic Church recently said the theory and religion are not mutually exclusive, and compared to certain protestant sects Catholicism has taken a very moderate stance of the controversy - they were originally neutral on the subject but later came down in favor of it. The church made no official pronouncement about the subject at all until Pius XII adopted a neutral attitude. This is more a case of Theology Marches On than a pure example of this trope, but the central character is a Catholic priest who is freaked out by the existence of an alien species that appear to be without sin yet have never known Christianity: in [[Real Life]], the Vatican recently issued a statement to the effect that it was definitely possible humanity would find such a species out there in the universe, and the idea of sinless aliens actually works within Catholic theology since they would not share Adam's curse. ([[Fridge Logic|Wait]], would that mean that humanity's [[Planet of Hats|hat]] is sin?!)

** Or, you know, the whole [[wikipedia:Francisco J. Ayala|Francisco Ayala]] thing. What with him being a former priest and famous evolutionary biologist, or [[wikipedia:Gregor Mendel|Gregor Mendel]]? You know that guy with peas who pretty much figured out genetics and was a Monk.

* ''[[Left Behind]]'' is very accurate in its portrayal of the particular flavour of pre-millenial dispensationalists the writers belong to. ([[Creator Provincialism|Even if it is weird]] to see the formerly non-believing protagonists [[Instant Expert|talk and behave like long term believers instantly upon converting]].) Everyone else (including but not limited to Catholics, Jews and Atheists) gets the shaft, badly.

* In ''[[Their Eyes Were Watching God]],'' the people of Eatonville claim at one point that any romantic speech has to include references to Isaac meeting Rebecca at the well. Rebecca met ''Eliezer,'' Isaac's family servant, at the well; Isaac only met her when Eliezer brought her back to the Holy Land. Possibly [[Justified Trope|this was meant]] to show the townspeople as being uninformed, as they're generally not the smartest bunch.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** This plays into a lot of common arguments that much of Christianity's stories are based upon common aspects of Pagan mythology. While it is possible to draw comparisons between the book of Genesis and other religious texts, it is generally false to claim that aspects Christianity are based on earlier religions and folk-lore. See [[Artistic License Traditional Christianity]] for more details.

* ''[[Charmed]]'' and its portrayal of [[Wicca]] can certainly qualify, such as stating the Wiccan Rede to be "no personal gain" rather than "harm none" and completely disregarding Wicca's theology involving a Goddess and God instead focusing on a completely made up cosmology involving beings such as the Elders and Whitelighters.

** A particularly bad case was the episode about the warlock/deacon, which only made sense by claiming that ordination as a priest would somehow confer additional "protection" against evil magic. . . especially as deacons are already in Holy Orders.

** The (allegedly) Wiccan ancestor in question was from Salem at the time of the witch trials, which makes this an explicit example of the very common misconception that Wicca is (a) an ancient religion, and (b) just the "polite" term for any sort of European pagaganism other than Norse or Greco-Roman. And she was burned in Salem. Anyone who frequents TV Tropes knows the drill.

{{quote|'''Willow''': Talk, all talk! Blah blah, Gaia, blah, blah, moon, menstrual life-force power thingy. You know, after a couple of sessions I was hoping we would get into something real, but...

'''Buffy''': No actual witches in your witch group?

* Any time ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' goes near religion. Most recently people have complained about the way Christianity and everything associated with it is being presented, but it's always had a bad track record with religion. Check out any episode where they talk about the old Pagan Gods; They Fail Religious Studies Forever by making it seem that there was apparently only one religion ever before Christianity hit the scene. The show just uses the term 'Pagan God' for any "god" of an old polytheistic religion. They specifically say the Trickster exists in Norse and Egyptian mythology, and that the Vanír were Norse gods, too.

** Lampshaded when Sam corrects a girl in the pilot, after she says that the pentacle is a symbol of Satanism.

* In the third season of ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', Piz starts ranting on his radio show about how even though he is a Catholic school boy, the concept of Purgatory completely baffles him. He then goes on to completely incorrectly explain it as the place for people not good enough for Heaven (a common misconception among non-Catholics and Catholics alike, so maybe this is [[Truth in Television]]?). Purgatory is the place of purification for souls on their way to Heaven in which the temporal affects of their sins are cleansed.

* Then there's that episode of ''[[Lost]]'' ("Fire + Water", I think...) where Mr. Eko tells Claire that the dove that appeared after Jesus' baptism signified that John had cleansed Jesus of his sins. Actually, being the Son of God, Jesus was sinless, and the Dove was another way that God claimed Jesus as his son. Of course, this can partially be explained by Eko {{spoiler|not being a real priest, but actually a drug runner who caused the death of his brother and became a "priest" so that he could atone for his sins.}} Guess he didn't have much time to learn theology...

** Sadly, this can be [[Truth in Television]] if we're talking about clergy from some of the flakier Charismatic or Fundamentalist ''Protestant'' sects, some of whom will do exorcisms at the drop of a hat. But a Roman Catholic priest? Either he's a little loopy himself and/or acting without any official authority, in which case he'd get in big trouble with both secular and ecclesiastical authorities.

* On the TV miniseries ''[[Roots]]'', the people in Kunta Kinte's village are shown to be Muslim, and the women of the village walk around topless. The problem is that if the women were Muslim, they would certainly not be topless in public. The only specific command in the Qur'an about female modesty is that they must cover their breasts.

* In the ''[[Mysterious Ways]]'' episode "29," a man sees the number 29 drawn by a toy pendulum during an earthquake and believes the apocalypse will occur on the 29th of the month, as the number 29 is always associated with disaster. Among the reasons he gives is "Many people believe Christ died at 29." Not only is Christ's death the ''opposite'' of a disaster, in Christian theology, but ''no one'', or close to it, believes Christ died at 29.<ref>[http://www.google.com/search?q=christ+died+at+29&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a Google it for yourself.]</ref> The most common age suggested is 30 or 33. Miranda's reaction (an annoyed "'Many people'?") possibly suggests that the error is the character's, not the writers'.

** There's also an in-universe case in the series finale "Something Fishy," in which fish rain from the sky onto a small town. One of the town's residents tries to explain the spiritual significance, but mixes up Bible stories as he does so, leading to tales of God punishing Pharaoh for not believing Noah (followed by Noah escaping the Parting of the Red Sea in his ark) and "mana from Heaven sent to the Israelites in the belly of the whale."

 

== Music ==

* In USA For Africa's ''[[We Are the World]]'', a who's who of popular musicians sing about ending world hunger and the like. At one point they sing, "As God has shown us by turning stones to bread; that we all must lend a helping hand". They apparently confused the temptation of Jesus, in which Satan tries to convince Jesus to turn stone to bread and end his fast, with Exodus, in which God causes nourishing manna to fall from the sky to feed the Israelites, or with the Miracle of Loaves and Fishes, in which Jesus asked one follower to share his lunch with over five thousand others, and they ended up with twelve baskets of leftovers, proving that a little kindness goes a long way.

 

 

 

== Web Comics ==

 

 

** In the episode Friends of Peter G.,Brian makes a passing comment about how people "were fine for thousands of years without religion," we then see a few peaceful BC-era characters suddenly begin killing each other at the announcement of Jesus' birth. [[You Fail History Forever|One doesn't need to do much research to understand why that wrong.]]

* Done satirically in ''[[The Boondocks]]''. Uber-naïve Jasmine DuBois not only believes that Christmas is a celebration ''of'' [[Santa Claus]], but that he is the central figure that all of Christianity revolves around.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]