American Horror Story was created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who have worked together on other popular projects such as Nip/Tuck, Glee, and Scream Queens. Often creators and producers will draw inspiration for their projects from their own experiences and opinions, a statement that holds true for this creative team. For example, the pair drew inspiration from Falchuks days as a high school outsider in the 1980's for their work on the hit television series Glee (Weiss). Murphy has similarly stated that his past experiences influence his creative work and a large point of inspiration for him is his interaction with catholicism as a child and his relationship with religion in the current day. While Murphy looks back fondly on his days as a young catholic, even participating in the church as an altar boy, he did struggle with his sexuality as a young gay male growing up in a community where others told him his sexuality was wrong ("Ryan Murphy: Valley of the Dolls"). Murphy's relationship with Catholicism became strained as he learned information about the church's opinions on things such as women's rights, homosexuality, and other topics and while he still attends church and believes in God, his opinions of the catholic church certainly do not adhere to the traditional ("The New Normal").

      Murphy has used these experiences and his emotions provoked by them to create a story, a process that he describes as "cathartic" (Rose). The characters he creates and the story arcs he writes reflect his own self and reflect his opinions. Often he sees himself reflected in the journey of his characters, for example, Jessica Lange's character of Sister Jude, a nun looking for redemption through the church, from the season Asylum, reflects his own "childhood obsession with Catholicism and trying to be without sin and failing and [his] journey through that." (Rose) Murphy has admitted to channelling his feelings and opinions about religion into his work and for that reason, many of the religious connections in American Horror Story can be analysed as having a more symbolic or deeper meaning than just plot devices. In many ways, the Christian elements can be read as Murphy's criticism of some aspects of religion and as a reflection of his own understanding of Christianity.