History Main / PrayerOfMalice

* In the ''Literature/CambridgeLatinCourse'', one scene shows a thief stealing an offering made to the gods, only to find that it's inscribed with a prayer for the death of all thieves. In terror, he throws his booty back and runs away.
** This was actually a common practice in the Roman Empire; people would throw "curse tablets" into holy shrines imploring the gods to visit various misfortunes on those who'd wronged them.

* ''Fanfic/WhyAmICrying'': After another day of being bullied by Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom goes home and wishes on the stars that something bad would happen to her. The next day, she finds out that Diamond Tiara has been hit and killed by a speeding carriage. Apple Bloom is devastated when she finds out, fearing that her prayer killed Diamond. [[spoiler:She eventually confesses what she prayed for to Diamond's father Filthy Rich, but Filthy relieves her of her guilt by revealing to her that Diamond died in the afternoon, before there were any stars in the sky.]]

* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKidDogDays'', Greg prays for Mr Jefferson to get hit on the head so he forgets about the money that he and Rowley owe him.

* In ''Film/SpiderMan3,'' after Peter exposes him as a fraud and gets him fired from the Daily Bugle, Eddie Brock goes to church to pray for God to kill Peter. It's quite possible that he spends the rest of the movie thinking that God said ''yes'' to this, since [[ContrivedCoincidence immediately afterwards]] he both learns that Peter is Spider-Man ''and'' he becomes the new host of the Venom Symbiote, giving him the tools he needs to exact murderous revenge on Peter himself, though his later proclamation of [[CardCarryingVillain "I like being bad"]] might put a damper on that.

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[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Wiki/RPCAuthority'' the [[TheSocialDarwinist Church of Malthus]] finish the malthusian manifesto by a prayer of malice to the authority:

A character is praying to God or to other similar [[GodIsGood deity known to be benevolent and merciful.]] However, this devotee is praying for malice, begging God to be petty and cruel. The technical name for this kind of thing in Christianity is an "imprecatory prayer", although there is [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement much controversy]] over whether God would ever answer or approve of one. The more colloquial term for this kind of thing is a {{Curse}}, especially if this prayer has any kind of supernatural effect.

For example, a RacistGrandma may pray that the Good Lord kill their black in-law, a HeteronormativeCrusader may pray that the sweet local gay couple will get HIV, anyone may pray that his rich uncle or unliked neighbor will die, and so on. Of course not all prayers of malice are portrayed as KickTheDog moments; it can also be portrayed as GoodIsNotNice, GoodIsNotSoft, BewareTheNiceOnes, and PayEvilUntoEvil could also be at play.

** In "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed," the family visits the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, where Homer [[RunningGag strangles Bart]] for finding his SillyPrayer and reading it out loud (it was for Marge not to discover that their hotel leaves chocolate on the pillows). Bart hastily scrawls his own petition and puts it in the wall, to which Homer drops him to read it:

--->'''Hillbilly:''' Say your prayers!

** In "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed," the family visits Israel and goes to the Wailing Wall, where Homer [[RunningGag strangles Bart]] for finding his SillyPrayer and reading it out loud (it was for Marge not to discover that their hotel leaves chocolate on the pillows). Bart hastily scrawls his own petition and puts it in the wall, to which Homer drops him to read it:

* In one of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episodes where Sideshow Bob's after Bart, Bart prays to God to kill him.
-->'''Bart''': ...and please, God, ''kill Sideshow Bob!''\\

* In the first ''Manga/{{Dramacon}}'' volume, Christie is angry that Matt, her neighbor in the artist's alley is doing better business than she is (coupled with the fact that he rubs her the wrong way and she's already dealing with her asshole boyfriend's behavior) and prays to God to help her persevere. And also strike Matt down with a lightning bolt. When that immediately fails, she prays to Satan.

* In ''[[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas Njal's Saga]]'', set shortly after the conversion of Iceland to Christianity and before that whole "turn the other cheek" thing had really hit home, a blind man prays to the Christian God to be given sight for a short time so that he can kill one of the men who killed his father, grandparents, and other relatives. He is, and he promptly smashes the guy's head in with an axe.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Frollo's song "Hellfire" includes a prayer to the Virgin Mary for Esmeralda to burn in Hell or else become his.

*** They inherited this tendency from their mother WickedStepmother Catelyn Tully, who often prayed for Jon Snow to die.

* In ''Film/SpiderMan3,'' after Peter exposes him as a fraud and gets him fired from the Daily Bugle, Eddie Brock goes to church to pray for God to kill Peter. It's quite possible that he spends the rest of the movie thinking that God said ''yes'' to this, since [[ContrivedCoincidence immediately afterwards]] he both learns that Peter Parker is Spiderman ''and'' he becomes the new host of the Venom Symbiote, giving him the tools he needs to extract murderous revenge on Peter himself, though his later proclamation of [[CardCarryingVillain "I like being bad"]] might put a damper on that.
* {{Lampshaded}} in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', where the prayers of Saint Attila in the Book of Armaments about the Holy Hand Grenade says:

This promptly deletes the subjects (who ''were'' evil slave-holding warlocks) from Creation.