Vesper is brilliant at football. She’s great at helping her dad run the farm. She’s not so good at being friends with her cousin, Aster. Oh, and she hears a voice coming from the stones of Stonehenge. Meanwhile, Aster is super-bright, and he’s travelled the world with his mum, but every time he worries or panics (which is pretty often), his hands start to dissolve into stars. The Stormlight Archive: "Storms", "storming" and "Stormfather" are common curses, referencing the massive highstorms people have to live with (the Stormfather being the living embodiment of the Storm). This also leads to an exchange when Dalinar swears by the Stormfather while speaking to the Stormfather. References to both the Almighty, either referred to as such or occasionally as Honor, or the Heralds of the Almighty are also common, either as a group ("Heralds send that man some wisdom") or individually ("Kalak's breath"). NRM scholars have even influenced the Vatican. In 1991, as part of what was then the largest gathering of Catholic cardinals in the history of the Church, an Extraordinary Consistory was held to discuss just two matters: the "threats to life" (that is, contraception, euthanasia, and abortion) and the challenges posed to the Church by "neo-religious, quasi-religious and pseudo-religious groups." NRM scholars were involved as advisers, and the result was a surprisingly liberal report, written by Cardinal Arinze, that referred to "New Religious Movements" rather than to "cults" or "sects" and even suggested that these movements have something to teach the Church. "The dynamism of their missionary drive," the report said of the NRMs, "the evangelistic responsibility assigned to the new 'converts,' their use of the mass media and their setting of the objectives to be attained, should make us ask ourselves questions as to how to make more dynamic the missionary activity of the Church." Characters in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire frequently swear by "Oberon's balls", "Maeve's tits", and something to do with Titania, these being the three deities the Fair Folk are all descended from. Leads to funny, as the Luidaeg, who is actually the offspring of Oberon and Maeve, will swear by "Dad's balls" and "Mom's tits". Vampires reference darkness and blood ("blood and shadow," "deep night"). Vampires also tend to use Romanian, especially for curses; "noapte" ("night") is pretty common. Canians (pyro-vampires) put their own spin on the vampire curses, swearing "burning darkness" and "boiling blood."

In The Killers of Krypton, planet Colu native Z'ndr Kol exclaims "Thank P'llcyd" after putting a Kryptonite-proof suit on Krypto. When asked, he explains P'llcyd is one of his family's gods. The microscopic cast of Osmosis Jones use "Frank" in place of "God", this being the name of the man whose body they inhabit/constitute. The Trigan Empire has religion and superstition, but the characters seldom discuss it. Usual oaths, "By all the Stars!" and "By all the Demons of Daveli!" — since Daveli is a friendly nation to the Empire, this second one seems tactless. Fungus the Bogeyman has Fungus exclaim, "Why, for slime's sake?!" which is particularly strange because slime is what Bogeys drink.Wendy Kaminer, the author of Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials, sees a disturbing decline of reason in our public life, and warns of the consequences. When Vesper accidentally releases some nasty gods from their prison, it’s down to her and Aster to help save the world. Kizin, the Maya god of death, is intent on sacrificing every human – unless the cousins beat his team at Pok-a-Tok, the Maya game that’s a bit like football. But you can’t use your feet. Or your head or hands. Gulp. Can Vesper and Aster put aside their differences to stop Kizin’s destructive plans?

The Sky-Dogs are not technically gods but they're used this way in Survivor Dogs. Characters say things like "Thank the Sky-Dogs" and "In the name of the Sky-Dogs". Maya Angelou writes of being whipped by her grandmother for using the phrase "By the way" in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Her grandmother explains after the whipping that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life", and no one takes the Lord's name in vain under her roof. The variety of flourishing new religious movements around the world is astonishing and largely unrecognized in the West. The groups that generally grab all the attention—Moonies, Scientologists, Hare Krishnas, Wiccans—amount to a tiny and not particularly significant proportion of what's out there. Here are just a few representatively diverse examples of new movements from around the world: In Seeker Bears, bears use exclamations such as "Spirits!", as their religions revolve around spirits but no gods.

Other Examples:

Meaningful Name: Harry O. Tophet in Oh God! You Devil. It works on two levels. First, his initials spell "HOT", invoking Fire and Brimstone Hell. Second, the word Tophet is an older Hebrew word meaning "devil". People in the Empire usually swear by the gods, or Mother Moon (who is apparently one of the more popular deities). Greedy Televangelist: Willie Williams, the villain of the first film, is angry that Jerry calls him out for being a greedy fraud. Because of this Sheppard wanted to highlight in the book is that “there is joy in being a teen girl”.