History Main / ChurchMilitant

[[caption-width-right:320:Good morning, troper! Have you heard the good news?]]

* ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' features a religious order whose role is to serve as the Church Militant. As one might expect, the main character is a member of said order. The Order tolerate Rosette's DealWithTheDevil on the grounds that 1) he's a sweetheart, okay? 2) the girl has a mission and she can't get out of it now, anyway, and 3) [[CombatPragmatist look, demon kill demon, we happy]], ''okay''? Until Remington is forced to [[spoiler: stage [[NobleDemon Chrono]]'s death]] in the manga. Her ''immediate'' superiors don't object, but the higher-ups have gotten twitchy. Good times had by all as the good Father more or less pounds Chrono in the head with the situation after cool hints don't work.

* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has both the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church forming their own Churches Militant to deal with the supernatural. Accusations of heresy and territorial claims mean their militants often clash if they meet, but they will sometimes delay fighting each other to fight vampires. Sometimes. Doesn't help that their trump cards display a BloodKnight mentality and will fight at the drop of a hat. The series eventually climaxes with the Vatican's 9th Crusade against the Nazis and, eventually, all of Protestant England. Enrico Maxwell, Iscariot's leader, even takes advantage of London's vulnerability to slaughter Protestant civilians, all in the name of God and the Catholic Church. Thankfully, [[spoiler: Father Anderson [[EvenEvilHasStandards does]] ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards not]]'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards agree with that last option]].]]

** Church Militant still holds. As [[spoiler: his twin brother]] Weather Report (yes, that's his name) said, Enrico Pucci is not aware that he is evil. Which makes him creepier because he believes he's doing all these [[spoiler: beating up prisoners, pitting them against each other, siccing a gang on Weather Report to prevent his incestuous relationship with their little sister (both Weather and his sister were unaware of this incest), collecting Dio's sons, trying to revive the world without the Joestars...]] for the good of mankind.
* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' has Sister Schach, a kindly nun and battle-ready knight of the Belkan Saint Church. And after the post-[=StrikerS=] TimeSkip, [[spoiler: Sein, Otto, and Deed of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers Cyborgs]]]] have joined the Belkan Saint Church's ranks. There is also [[spoiler:Vivio]], [[CloneJesus literal Saint King of that church]], though she hates being called by her rank... And she IS called so. On a regular basis.

* By episode 5 of ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}'', [[spoiler: Mimi]] has retired to a solitary life of a Buddhist nun. Thanks to [[EverythingTryingToKillYou various problems that an immortal faces]], her temple is outfitted with a [[EnergyWeapon laser]] [[LaserHallway cage]], and other immortal nuns who happen to know how to use [[{{Handguns}} guns]] and [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]].

** In one storyline, Nightcrawler takes steps to become a priest.[[labelnote:spoiler: -- click to reveal]]It turns out he's been mentally controlled into thinking he's becoming a priest by an extremely militant vaguely Catholic organization that plans to make him pope, and then use some sort of explosive-laced communion wafer that disintegrates people. This will then be the sign that the rapture has come and Nightcrawler's image inducer will be short-circuited, revealing his demonic appearance and leading everyone to believe the anti-Christ has taken over the church. Catholics don't actually believe in the Rapture, but still... anyway, it features a very militant church attempting to effectively take over the world.[[/labelnote]]

** However, at the end of Season 6, [[spoiler: having caused those problems in the first place, Cersei then cleans up after herself by solving all of those problems for her and the rest of Kings Landing courtesy of some well-placed wildfire detonation.]]

* Party members in ''VideoGame/{{Darklands}}'' who have a clerical background would be this. [[spoiler: UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar are also powerful enemies in this game.]] During a random encounter, the local bishop may demand a special tithe for the right to travel his lands. Should the party refuse and attack, he will fight them along his retinue.

** Following in a similar vein, Prince Sebastian Vael in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', an ordained brother in the Chantry who takes his faith very seriously. While he's mostly pacifistic, he's not above lending his bow to help curb the more criminal elements present in Kirkwall, as well as deal with rogue Mages. He slips towards the more militant side after [[spoiler: Anders blows up the Chantry and kills the Grand Cleric. If Hawke does not execute Anders, Sebastian openly declares his intention to head to Starkaven and raise an army, then return and raze Kirkwall ''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge to the ground]]''.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' features Harrow: a dark priest themed Warframe who emphasises gunplay and is just as dangerous as any other Warframe. Additionally, Harrow is used as a worship vessel by the Red Veil [[spoiler: for Rell]].

** The cathedral in Mechanicsburg has a unit of paladin clanks in storage, and the abbess rides out to fight during the Battle of Mechanicsburg [[spoiler: though the Jaegers knock her out quickly when it turns out she's allied with the Knights of Jove.]]

* The Catholic organization Opus Dei as seen through the filter of ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode''. Various RealLife UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories place Opus Dei as in league with the Mafia, usually as money-launderers.

** While the above is partly true (Islamic rule spread rapidly through a strong military force, while the actual conversion took sometimes centuries and was seldom enforced; see the Copts in Egypt)), this can be said for many religions, especially once a regionally dominant power starts to spread it in neighbouring countries, such as, say, the spread of Christianity to the Aztec Empire, parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and South and East Asia.

* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' has the "Church of Violence". While it's unclear whether its members are actually religious or are just using the Church as a front for weapons smuggling, it still doesn't stop its members from toting a [[RefugeInAudacity ridiculously massive arsenal of weapons]] such as M60 machine guns and a gold plated Desert Eagle (wielded ''one-handed'' by a 70 something nun).

* Cleric is a playable class in basically every edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and paladins were added in 3rd edition. There are no restrictions on which deity you serve, so apparently every religion includes at least a subsection fighters, with some apparantly including training in heavy armor. While early editions mostly had the cleric as a support or healer, from third edition on Clerics have considerably more direct combat power as well. Paladin are even more combat-capable, having access to better armor and weapons by default, and have the signature move of SmiteEvil (And its partner, DetectEvil), but are much more limited magically.
** While it's basically assumed that any Player Character is an atleast somewhat capable combatant, among [=NPCs=] there are those mean to represent something closer to your average non-combatant cleric, called the Acolyte in fifth edition. They're basically just a random commoner with a couple of spells. Higher level Clergy are generally still pretty dangerous, with a Priest having spellcasting equal to a level 5 player and archpriests being equivalent to 14th level players (in a game where the max level is 20, for reference). Basically D&D runs heavily on AuthorityEqualsAsskicking so it's safe to assume that the higher up someone is in an orginizations hirearchy (religious or otherwise) the more likely it is that they can kick your ass.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Necessarius and most of the Church Organizations in Necessarius are a group of battle-priest/mages that protects England and the Puritan Church from any magical and scientific threat by using the one thing they tried to destroy in the past: Magic. They're also responsible for the compilation of Index-Librorium-Prohibitrum in Index's mind. There are three notorious Churches:

* In ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'', the Vatican is one of the two major world military powers, the other being the vampire-led Empire. The latter, being based in Byzantium, bears a certain resemblance to the home base of the post-schism Eastern Orthodox church.

** Subverted with the Inquisition from the the third game. They were initially meant to be this as Divine Justinia was looking to assemble them to bring the warring Templars and Mages back to heel. The Breach halted these plans since it killed everyone in the gathering and the Inquisition was reborn separated from the Chantry whose purpose is to seal the Breach, find the ones responsible for opening it and restoring order to the continent. They have some religious members (including the Inquisitor if they so much choose) but the order is very secular in nature, incorporating many anti-Chantry ideals.

* ''Webcomic/GuildedAge'': Our Lady of the Perpetual Bloodshot Eyeball. Their WeaponOfChoice is a long ruler with a blade fixed to it. May also count as ReligionOfEvil.

** In his novel ''Crusade'' in the ''TabletopGame/{{Starfire}}'' series, an alien race believes that Earth is their heaven and that humans have poisoned it so they go out to [[KillEmAll take care of things]].

** Joshua Graham, of the ''Honest Hearts'' DLC, is a specific example. He was a New Canaanite missionary before becoming one of the founders and TheBrute of Caesar's Legion. Following his failure at the First Battle of the Hoover Dam, Caesar [[YouHaveFailedMe dismissed him...]] [[RasputinianDeath violently.]] Graham survived and became TheAtoner, after which he made his way to Zion National Park, where he preaches to, and helps defend, the native tribes. He avoids being a SinisterMinister because he's a fundamentally good guy, but he's still ''scary as hell'' and not afraid to KillEmAll when it comes to his enemies.

* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': The Black Knights of the Universal Church of Truth, EliteMooks powered by their undying faith in life itself, and assigned the task of cleansing unbelievers from existence. Apparently a handful of them are strong enough to level a typical planet in ''hours''.

* The Warrior Monks from ''ComicBook/LeScorpion''.

* There are tons of examples in ''VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot,'' most notably the [[TheMedic Cleric]], [[KnightinShiningArmor Paladin]], and [[MartialArtsStaff Friar]] of the vaguely medieval Catholic church in Albion, and perhaps the best example in [[Myth/NorseMythology Midgard]], where even the 'wizard' classes use piety instead of intelligence to determine their spell strength, and each class has its own Norse patron deity (For example: Odin for Runemasters, Hel for Spiritmasters, Thor for Thanes, and Loki for Shadowblades).

Oftentimes, they might instead favor [[CarryABigStick the mace]], [[DropTheHammer hammer]], or [[MartialArtsStaff staff]] out of an alleged commitment to peace. This doctrine is espoused by the Order of the Blunt Instrument because ''theoretically'' bludgeoning weapons allow for [[TechnicalPacifist "just" beating the hell out of an opponent]], and they take a [[ExactWords "strict" view]] of the commandments against "spilling blood" or "taking up the sword." Also blunt weapons are cheap, and there are vows of poverty to consider.

Oftentimes, they might instead favor [[CarryABigStick the mace]], [[DropTheHammer hammer]], or [[SimpleStaff staff]] out of an alleged commitment to peace. This doctrine is espoused by the Order of the Blunt Instrument because ''theoretically'' bludgeoning weapons allow for [[TechnicalPacifist "just" beating the hell out of an opponent]], and they take a [[ExactWords "strict" view]] of the commandments against "spilling blood" or "taking up the sword." Also blunt weapons are cheap, and there are vows of poverty to consider.

* There are tons of examples in ''VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot,'' most notably the [[TheMedic Cleric]], [[KnightinShiningArmor Paladin]], and [[SimpleStaff Friar]] of the vaguely medieval Catholic church in Albion, and perhaps the best example in [[Myth/NorseMythology Midgard]], where even the 'wizard' classes use piety instead of intelligence to determine their spell strength, and each class has its own Norse patron deity (For example: Odin for Runemasters, Hel for Spiritmasters, Thor for Thanes, and Loki for Shadowblades).

In more critical scenarios involving TheLegionsOfHell running rampant and hordes of undead terrorizing the countryside, {{Holy Hand Grenade}}s are mass produced, as are weapons MadeOfGood or [[SilverHasMysticPowers Silver]]. In case of [[BurnTheWitch Witch]] incursions and {{Heresy}}, expect [[KillItWithFire Flamethrowers]] and {{Flaming Sword}}s. Lots and lots of flame-based weapons to purify the sinful. And you can be sure that there are at least a few {{Fantastic Nuke}}s among the church's relics because [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure there's only one way to be sure]] that nothing will ever use ''that'' HellGate again.

* The ''Comicbook/GhostRider'' comics give us the Deacon, a monster of a man who is so devout in his belief that he is saving sinners the [[MindRape Penance Stare]] has no effect on him. He eventually fights a nun-turned-ally of Ghost Rider, with the PreAssKickingOneLiner of "Very well, woman. Let us pray."

** It's worth of note that back in the AD&D times, in the ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Forgotten Realms]]'' setting the very least, things were more varied with available classes including besides the standard cleric and "specialty priests" -- which had exclusive notes and requirements for them and could be quite different of the former class, with all deities having at least the latter one -- monks, shamans, crusaders, mystics, paladins, and druids, each church having more or less of those (if any) and even others not listed here.

* Marie D'Artois in VideoGame/{{Anno1404}} is ''very'' enthusiastic about leading the armies of the crusade, and she's damn good at it. This somewhat ironically makes her somewhat easier to manipulate, as she will do almost ''anything'' if adequately convinced it is what God wishes her to do: including destroy the homes of innocent people she's been lead to think are heathens.

* The ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series tends to have quite a few of these about. Many of the backstories of the games will feature a group of badass heroes saving the continent, and at least one of them ([[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Archbishop Blaggi, Saint Maira]]; [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Saint Elimine]]; [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Saint Latona]]) will count as this '''and''' as the founder of their own religion, which is then spread through the years and lands. Then, when the world's in danger, members of such churches will join the hero's armies to fill the trope and fight for it. For more generic examples, the War Monk (male) and War Cleric (female) classes introduced in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' come across as this, given how they wield staves and axes. (Libra, a devout worshiper of Naga, starts out as a War Monk, others can reclass into their respective class.)

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' features two rival shrines of {{miko}}, both of whom carry out "{{youkai}} exterminations", and Sanae Kochiya actually does so under the direct behest of her [[PalsWithJesus live-in goddesses]]. It is mentioned in ''Unidentified Fantastic Object'' that Byakuren Hijiri and her brother also performed this function, before the [[DeathByOriginStory latter died]] and the former [[FaceHeelTurn grew to favor youkai over humans]].

-->-- ''Literature/ThePrince'', '''Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli'''

* ComicBook/{{Azrael}} from Franchise/TheDCU, combined with ArtisticLicenseReligion, and [[UpToEleven even more so]] in the [[DarkerAndEdgier second series]].

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fics of Creator/AAPessimal posit that after the Brutha reforms described in the canonical ''Literature/SmallGods'', the horribly beweaponed and aggressive Divine Legions of Om mutated into something less ostensibly warlike, with the emphasis on the military bands playing the rousing old-tiume hymns backed by formation tambourine-rattling and collection-box-shaking, merely to ensure their continued survival in the new era. In fact, that they mutated into the Divine Legion of Salvation, an organisation rather like our own Salvation Army but taken UpToEleven. Interestingly, they went this way in canon too. [[note]]although WordOfGod is that the author considers this is coincidence, given the way Pessimal has been accused of thinking like Terry Pratchett and one or two readers have even asked -- most flatteringly -- if he is Terry himself trying his hand at fanfic...he is at pains to point out that he isn't. he doesn't have the money, for one thing, and writes for the fun of it. For now.[[/note]]

** In ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'' (Volume Four), it is revealed that the Omnian church has the uniformed and martial ''Sanitary Legion'' -- an UpToEleven version of the Salvation Army, operating out of a Citadel in Ankh-Morpork.

* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has the Christian Federation, one of several rebel factions during the Third Civil War. There are also Crusader Teams who hunt Vampires in the Federation, and later in the Middle Kingdom.

The moral questions surrounding the idea of religious authorities advocating violence have been around since the beginning of monotheism. Polytheistic religions generally don't result in dDissonance, instead delegating war behavior to [[WarGod deities who are specifically devoted to kicking ass]]. Monotheistic religions, on the other hand, have always had the problem of reconciling a loving God (assuming He is loving to begin with) with the specifically unloving human behavior that is intrinsic to warfare. Sometimes it is based on the idea that wrongdoers and criminals, domestic or cosmic, [[{{Criminals}} lose variably some or all of the protection of God and society because of their bad actions]] and therefore should come quietly or be defeated. There is the philosophy that [[MartialPacifist self-defense and the defense of others from bad guys — out of love]] for others — is acceptable and just in God's sight. It must also be understood that soldiers face death every day, and naturally have a vested interest in spiritual pursuits. Also, in general, non-Christian religions portrayed as Church Militants are usually [[UnfortunateImplications frowned upon]].

* ''Comicbook/CanonFodder'' takes place in a future where the church and police forces have been consolidated into one, and follows a single very devout, not entirely sane priest as he attempts to destroy evil wherever he finds it.

* The ''Comicbook/{{Evangeline}}'' comics.

* Comicbook/{{Magdalena}} (originally from ''ComicBook/TheDarkness''), somewhat similarly, is a name passed on from generation to generation of nuns in a certain order that claims to have begun with Mary Magdalene herself.

* Vol de Galle, eponymous character of ''Comicbook/TheMarquis'', is a former Catholic Inquisitor who fights demons that have infiltrated human society.

* ''Comicbook/XMen'':

* The 1998 Creator/DolphLundgren movie ''The Minion'' has the Knights Templar [[KnightTemplar (the organization, not the trope-type)]] survive into the present day as an AncientTradition tasked with preventing the awakening of the Anti-Christ. They used everything from [[PowerFist spiked cesti]] to [[{{BFG}} BFGs]].

* VideoGame/{{Civilization}} series:

*** High-level Affinity units sometimes approach this from the opposite direction -- while their military pedigree is obvious, as they develop Affinities tend to go from strictly practical philosophies of development, to rigid and dogmatic ideologies, to the level of out-and-out religions. This is especially true of the Purity Affinity and its ultimate unit, the LEV Destroyer (a floating citadel/artillery unit that wouldn't look out of place on a ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' battlefield). Individual Destroyers have "reliquaries" that hold items from Earth or the possessions of first-generation colonists, and bear names like "St. Germaine's Destroyer".
*** Supremacy makes a decent stab at this via MachineWorship (specifically the idolization of post-human cybernetics). Of particular note is their affinity-specific victory, which involves sending military units back to [[EarthThatWas Earth]] to [[TranshumanTreachery "Emancipate" (read: conquer)]] the [[PunyEarthlings non-augmented humans]].

* ''{{VideoGame/Dota 2}}'': Chen.

* The ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' series tends to have quite a few of these about. Many of the backstories of the games will feature a group of badass heroes saving the continent, and at least one of them ([[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Archbishop Blaggi, Saint Maira]]; [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Saint Elimine]]; [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Saint Latona]]) will count as this '''and''' as the founder of their own religion, which is then spread through the years and lands. Then, when the world's in danger, members of such churches will join the hero's armies to fill the trope and fight for it. For more generic examples, the War Monk (male) and War Cleric (female) classes introduced in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' come across as this, given how they wield staves and axes. (Libra, a devout worshiper of Naga, starts out as a War Monk, others can reclass into their respective class.)

* ''All'' religious groups in ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland 2}}''. Particular standouts are the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud, who have turned Mutually Assured Destruction into a religious tenet that inspires them to keep the peace, and God's Militia, a genocidal Christian sect that bases its beliefs on the tape-recorded sermons of a fire-and-brimstone televangelist.

* From about 1378 to 1418, the Catholic Church fought a civil war. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism A real civil war.]] With ''actual battles'' and many, ''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many]]'' factions.

* Likewise, in ''Sid Meier's VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'', certain AI personalities (Isabella of Spain, for example) are religious zealots.
* VideoGame/{{Civilization}} V: Gods and Kings has one religious belief called "holy warriors," which allows you to buy pre-industrial units with faith instead of gold or production. However, there is no gameplay of cosmetic differences between holy warriors or normal units.
* ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth'':
** High-level Affinity units sometimes approach this from the opposite direction -- while their military pedigree is obvious, as they develop Affinities tend to go from strictly practical philosophies of development, to rigid and dogmatic ideologies, to the level of out-and-out religions. This is especially true of the Purity Affinity and its ultimate unit, the LEV Destroyer (a floating citadel/artillery unit that wouldn't look out of place on a ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' battlefield). Individual Destroyers have "reliquaries" that hold items from Earth or the possessions of first-generation colonists, and bear names like "St. Germaine's Destroyer".
** Supremacy makes a decent stab at this via MachineWorship (specifically the idolization of post-human cybernetics). Of particular note is their affinity-specific victory, which involves sending military units back to [[EarthThatWas Earth]] to [[TranshumanTreachery "Emancipate" (read: conquer)]] the [[PunyEarthlings non-augmented humans]].

* ''Film/{{Freejack}}'' features a shotgun-toting, profanity-spewing nun who helps the protagonist. Some fans refer to her as [[FanNickname Sister Mary Shotgun]].

The moral questions surrounding the idea of religious authorities advocating violence have been around since the beginning of monotheism. Polytheistic religions generally don't result in MoralDissonance, instead delegating war behavior to [[WarGod deities who are specifically devoted to kicking ass]]. Monotheistic religions, on the other hand, have always had the problem of reconciling a loving God (assuming He is loving to begin with) with the specifically unloving human behavior that is intrinsic to warfare. Sometimes it is based on the idea that wrongdoers and criminals, domestic or cosmic, [[{{Criminals}} lose variably some or all of the protection of God and society because of their bad actions]] and therefore should come quietly or be defeated. There is the philosophy that [[MartialPacifist self-defense and the defense of others from bad guys — out of love]] for others — is acceptable and just in God's sight. It must also be understood that soldiers face death every day, and naturally have a vested interest in spiritual pursuits. Also, in general, non-Christian religions portrayed as Church Militants are usually [[UnfortunateImplications frowned upon]].

* ''Film/TheLastWitchHunter'' has Axe and Cross, Catholic Church-aligned organization set up to keep tabs on WitchSpecies. They have specialist prison, employ ClockPunk tech and have their own patterns of weapons -- not to mention employing world's only immortal witch hunter.