| abstract
| - Atheists in real life can be a rather diverse group. After all, the only thing confirmed by the label "atheist" is that the person does not believe in any gods. It's like trying to make a coherent generalization about people who don't like baseball. While it is reasonably common to see a character who is never shown practicing or even mentioning religion, it's generally only characters with a fair degree of cynicism and bitterness who can state outright that they don't believe there are any gods. Some of the more common character traits are:
* A Dead Little Sister or some other trauma, or a miserable life in general was the direct cause of their 'conversion' to atheism, as well as a paradoxical anger at a God who lets such things happen. Consequently, the Hollywood Atheist can easily be made to reverse or reexamine their lack-of-belief if something good happens, even if nothing explicitly supernatural is going on. Conversely, when something bad happens (especially their own death approaching) the atheist will suddenly become a believer and start praying for help. See Nay Theist if they do believe in a higher power but have a grudge against it for these reasons.
* Atheists have been turned off by hypocrites and villains acting in the name of religion and only need to be shown a non-hypocritical believer to see the light.
* Atheists are somehow simply unaware of religion, and will happily convert on the spot when informed of the rudiments of whatever dogma the work is endorsing. Expect them in an Author Tract (despite the name this shows up as early as the book Hayy ibn Yaqzan, making this trope Older Than Feudalism).
* Atheists only seem to have arguments against their culture's predominant religion. There is never any evidence that they've looked into non-mainstream religions for something they can find more plausible.
* Atheists are all materialists and probably technophiles/transhumanists/roboticists as well. While an unfair generalisation most of the time, in some cases this can have an element of truth.
* Atheists are depressed, lonely, antisocial and often Nietzsche Wannabes. This definitely is not always true. Atheists can potentially be just as happy or unhappy as anyone else.
* Atheists exist solely to belittle religious people.
* Atheists are straight-out evil, having apparently rejected all concept of right and wrong when they rejected religion. Chick Tracts love these, too. Compare and contrast Faith Heel Turn. The notion of immoral atheists goes back a long way. Most notably, Jean Jacques Rousseau, who (very progressively) proposed religious tolerance, suggested that atheists should be refused political rights due to their inherent un-trustworthiness.
* Atheists have no moral code (and are uncharitable, unkind, and have no ethical boundaries).
* Atheists are smugly convinced of their own intellectual superiority and usually blinded to the "truth" by their own elitist pretensions and, usually, are Not So Different from their religious opponents. Common to all portrayals of the Hollywood Atheist is the idea that faith is the natural state and something must occur to drive the character away from the norm. Given that most humans worldwide are religious this is understandable, but still, it's always 'my reason for not believing is X.' One never hears 'I do not have a reason to believe', which is by far the most common reason given by atheists. It should come as no surprise that many atheists find the assumption that unbelief is unnatural deeply insulting. See also Acceptable Religious Targets. A major exception is science fiction which often goes so far the other way as to state that Religion Is Wrong and humanity has Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions; for atheists living in fantasy settings where the existence of gods is irrefutable, see Flat Earth Atheist and Nay Theist. Compare with Holier Than Thou, and see Crisis of Faith. See also Useful Notes on Atheism. Examples of Hollywood Atheist include:
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