We all have beliefs about how the universe works. Some of those beliefs are religious in nature, and others are not. Most of us occasionally encounter information or ideas that might challenge those beliefs. I think that that is a fairly standard human experience.
I love to read science fiction and fantasy stories, and I have for my entire life. I love to watch films based in such worlds. I also love science fiction and fantasy television shows. I love video games from these same genres.
I have noticed, in my own experiences as a reader, viewer, and gamer, that I tend to project some of my own beliefs onto whatever I am watching. I do not just mean evaluating the moral decisions of characters based upon my own (objectively correct) view of right and wrong—just about everyone does that, regardless of the genre. I mean that, while stories set in our world (like crime dramas or romantic comedies) may have religious conflict and people of various and even conflicting faiths, these stories are fairly standard, and it makes sense that we believe about stories set in our world what we believe in everyday life (as in, an atheist probably will not think “well, maybe Christianity is right in the Law & Order universe).
It also makes sense that our viewing might be similar to that in science fiction. If you are, say, a Christian, it makes sense that you would have a Christian worldview, even when watching a science fiction story that is set a few centuries in the future—you would not believe that your God is going anywhere between now and the future, even if events are extremely unlikely to play out exactly like they do on a television show.
But fantasy worlds that are clearly separate from our own? That’s something else. These are worlds in which the author (or writers) control everything about the setting. There might be multiple religions in a setting, but either none of them are correct, one of them is correct, or, in some cases, all of them might somehow be correct. But, intellectually, I know that it’s up to the author.
You might need examples of what I am talking about. On Supernatural, for example, which is set in a version of our world in which supernatural/horror creatures are a reality, there is also a semi-Abrahamic (though somewhat syncretic) structure to the world. That is, most monsters (vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters) came from an evil and immortal creature named Eve. Demons abound, and they are malevolent spirits who originate from a horrible alternate dimension in which the souls of wicked humans are tortured for all time. Demons were created by a …
