History Main / ScaryAmoralReligion

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If the long-term goals of the religion's dogma include freeing their GodOfEvil from his long imprisonment so that he may resume his reign of terror, then they're doing so not because they're [[PathOfInspiration deluded into believing]] that [[CorruptChurch their god is made out of happiness and rainbows]] or because they plan to become his unholy rampaging army when he returns, at least not usually. Sometimes, like The Mexicanists of [[Lets Play / The Hohenzollern Empire Zollin]] but this isn't always the case. Instead, they probably don't have any long-term plans once the [[CosmicKeystone magical shackles]] are broken. There may be a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, but it's the god's revenge, not the worshipers'.

If the long-term goals of the religion's dogma include freeing their GodOfEvil from his long imprisonment so that he may resume his reign of terror, then they're doing so not because they're [[PathOfInspiration deluded into believing]] that [[CorruptChurch their god is made out of happiness and rainbows]] or because they plan to become his unholy rampaging army when he returns. Instead, they probably don't have any long-term plans once the [[CosmicKeystone magical shackles]] are broken. There may be a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, but it's the god's revenge, not the worshipers'.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

** The Tau are arguably a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], being a race of {{Flat Earth Atheist}}s in a setting where literal daemons are an active force. They are regarded by the Imperium as being completely heathen, believing in no supernatural forces whatsoever. However, they are also philosophists, following strongly to a collectivist creed of striving for the Greater Good, believing that they should share this philosophy with every other sentient in the galaxy and that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans in doing so. This tends to put them squarely into ScaryDogmaticAliens trope, but with the twist that their dogma is secular rather than religious.

** Some Chaos Marines earnestly believe that only being united under the Chaos Gods will allow humanity to survive. Of course, it's often quite hard to tell which of them actually believe this and which just use it as an excuse for personal cruelty.
*** Granted, you basically have two alternatives: Either you die in some battle on some shitty planet and your soul will most likely be tormented for eternity in warp, or even worse, just cease to exist. On the other hand, you can join chaos gods and if you are badass enough get to become a daemon lord and rule your own pocket realm. Sure in that case you are basically stuck for eternity in struggle between chaos gods, but still. Anywho, Chaos Marines, may actually have point here.

* The various Abyss-worshipping cults in ''VideoGame/FatalFrame''. They don't even consider whether Abyss is good or evil, only that it hungers and must be satiated with sacrifices. It doesn't shepherd its followers to good or to evil, only that the sacrificial rituals are conducted properly. The failure to do so causes Abyss to go out of control. The main characters of this series are unfortunate strangers who are somehow qualified for sacrifices, and must fend off worshippers-turned-ghosts.

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* The ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' has the Yuuzhan Vong, who are in the market for a new galaxy and have just found this very nice one in which most of the inhabitants happen to depend on one of the central heresies of the Yuuzhan Vong religion—the use of non-{{organic technology}}. (They all have ''quite'' the wrong understanding of pain, too- pain is sacred and to be cherished, not avoided!) The solution? Mass xenocide. So it goes.

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* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes "Bad Wolf" and "Parting of the Ways", the Daleks seem to be worshiping the idea of their own perfection. The fact that the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy absolutely horrifies the Doctor.
* The Goa'uld and their followers in ''Series/StargateSG1'' fit this trope pretty well but the Ori fit it even better, all the way down to disputes over the meaning of symbolic passages in the very King James-sounding Book of Origin. The Goa'uld aren't so much dogmatic as create dogma around themselves to control their underlings. The Ori, [[AGodAmI on the other hand]]...
* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Jem'Hadar worship the Founders of the Dominion as gods, and see the war on the Alpha Quadrant as a holy crusade. The Founders are said to have an innate need for order and conformity, and the avowed mission of their crusade is to bring this order to the untidy quadrant-next-door.

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[[NoRealLifeExamplesPlease No Real Life Examples, please!]]

* The Children of Atom and the Apostles of the Holy Light from VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}} are a sort of subversion: both have an unhealthy relationship with radiation, but they're a nice, good religion.
** Well, the Children of the Atom are harmless. The Apostle of the Holy Light, on the other hand, had taken to handing out water imbued with lethal levels of radiation to unsuspecting travelers without their knowledge, because they believed that irradiating their bodies would save their souls.

* [[Franchise/{{Halo}} The Covenant]] are out to KillAllHumans because their religious leaders have declared humans to be an affront to their gods. [[spoiler: It is revealed in ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'' that the Covenant's Prophets were simply trying to cover up the fact that humans were the chosen inheritors of [[{{Precursors}} the very Forerunners]] whom the Covenant worship, as knowledge of this would have caused the Covenant to collapse (and the Prophets' power with it)]].

** Come ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' and the Children have become this as well. Having spread to the Commonwealth, the Children of Atom have become militant and dangerous to the people of the wastes, armed with both conventional weaponry and radiation inducing weapons. They even [[spoiler: have a nuclear missile in the Glowing Sea, ready to launch into the Commonwealth]] in the name of their insane, radiation centered beliefs.

* Many Daedric cults in ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series fall under this. The cults are generally reviled by the populace which worships the Aedra, likely because many of the Daedra represent rather disturbing concepts, like Destruction, Madness, and Rape.

* The Zerg from ''StarCraft'' exist for no other reason than to assimilate any species that improves their genetic stock that they encounter on their interplanetary crusade. Every sentient Zerg on the upper levels of the HiveMind exists to participate in a religion centered around their [[PhysicalGod overarching consciousness]], the Overmind. The first partially free-willed consciousness that enters the Zerg HiveMind apart from the Overmind itself ([[spoiler:Kerrigan]]) eventually breaks away from the Overmind and becomes [[ChaoticEvil wholly and unapologetically evil]] while constantly [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the fact.
** Originally, the Tal'darim protoss faction from ''Starcraft II'' were the KnightTemplar flavour of this trope, in that they were territorial and aggressive and felt no remorse about killing the player's forces in missions pitched against them, but they had the legitimate grievance that the protagonists were explicitly showing up to steal their artifacts and possessions to sell for profit, and the beings they worship, the Xel'Naga, are definitely benevolent entities. They were pretty much the LawfulEvil BlackSheep of the protoss race, who are otherwise [[AlwaysLawfulGood reasonable, honourable and stand-up people]]. [[spoiler:At least they were until the ''Heart of the Swarm'' expansion pack, which clarified that they worship the TokenEvilTeammate of the Xel'naga pantheon - Amon, the Fallen One, which upgraded them to a ReligionOfEvil.]]

* In Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''The Damned Trilogy,'' "The Purpose" is a religion promoted by the bad guys in which all sentient life in the Galaxy comes together in cooperation by abandoning freedom and free will. And the purpose of this cooperation? To force those species who don't necessarily want to be a part of the Purpose to join up or die.

* ''SinsOfASolarEmpire'' the Advent whose religion is called the Unity, which involves biological enhancements and psychic powers. Their primary goal is to exact vengeance on the TEC for banishing them thousands of years ago.

* The Skrulls of MarvelComics' ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' claim that they own the earth because their religion says they do.

* The ''StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse has the Yuuzhan Vong, who are in the market for a new galaxy and have just found this very nice one in which most of the inhabitants happen to depend on one of the central heresies of the Yuuzhan Vong religion—the use of non-{{organic technology}}. (They all have ''quite'' the wrong understanding of pain, too- pain is sacred and to be cherished, not avoided!) The solution? Mass xenocide. So it goes.
* The various cults from the CthulhuMythos tend to fit this rather well. They're not usually evil per se, just like their gods aren't actually evil (exept for Nyarlathotep, and he's more of a dick than truly evil). According to one cultist being interrogated in ''Call of Cthulhu'', the cultists wish for the Old Ones to return so that they can make mankind like them, unbound by law or morality, and free to dance, laugh and kill as they see fit.

** The Orks worship two twin {{War God}}s -- Gork and Mork. Like everything else about Ork culture, their gods are straightforward and fighting-oriented. The differences between the two are rather slim (Gork is TheBrute, Mork is a CombatPragmatist) and many Orks are unable to tell them apart, which has led to fights, naturally.

** The Minbari war against humanity was seen as a crusade to avenge their "holy leader" after his death in a botched FirstContact encounter.

* In ''Warhammer40000'', the Church of the GodEmperor is the main inspiration of its many followers to go to war, and a secondary inspiration for many other factions. The Church is xenocidal and imperialist, and as happy to wipe out a wayward billion of its own people as it is to exterminate entire alien races, sometimes even for a perceived slight.

When you look at a ScaryAmoralReligion, at first it seems to have no scruples whatsoever. The doctrine it preaches condones acts of unprecedented brutality. They stand on the brink of ending civilization as we know it, and all because their God says so.

* {{ComicBook/Batwoman}}: Has the Religion of Crime Sect. While the regular church falls under ReligionOfEvil, the Sect that recurs in the series falls under this trope. The leader, Kyle Abbot broke off from the original group because a difference of ideals (that and the original group's association with Apokalips would lead to disastrous consequences for the earth). While they still worship Crime, their doctrine isn't elaborated on, and Abbot always appears as an ally to Batwoman in her ongoing, standing with her against the monsters summoned by the BigBad and even bringing the whole sect to aid her in the final battle.

* The ''StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse has the Yuuzhan Vong, who are in the market for a new galaxy and have just found this very nice one in which most of the inhabitants happen to depend on one of the central heresies of the Yuuzhan Vong religion—the use of non-organic technology. (They all have ''quite'' the wrong understanding of pain- pain is sacred and to be cherished, not avoided!) The solution? Mass xenocide. So it goes.
* The various cults from the CthulhuMythos tend to fit this rather well. They're not usually evil per se, just like their gods aren't actually evil (exept for Nyarlathotep, and he's more of a dick than truly evil). According to one cultist being interrogated in Call of Cthulhu, the cultists wish for the Old Ones to return so that they can make mankind like them, unbound by law or morality, and free to dance, laugh and kill as they see fit.

* The Goa'uld and their followers in ''Series/StargateSG1'' fit this trope pretty well but the Ori fit it even better, all the way down to disputes over the meaning of symbolic passages in the very King James-sounding Book of Origin. The Goa'uld aren't so much dogmatic as create dogma around themselves to control their underlings. The Ori, on the other hand...

* The Soldiers of the One in ''Series/{{Caprica}}'' are a monotheistic cult in a polytheistic society that believes in absolute black and white morality, and some of their branches are perfectly willing to commit suicide bombings for their beliefs, while the others quietly approve of their actions. Later the Cylons inherited the religion and used it to justify the attempted destruction of the human race in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}''.

* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the Orthodox Fellowship on Mars can slip into this very easily. The fellowship as a major role in enforcing the Martian caste system, is xenophobic, imperialistic and actively attempts to wipe out other Martian faiths. They also actively sponsor and support the 31st Seal, an anti-Earthling terrorist organisation. Admittedly, much of the xenophobia is due to the subjugation of the Martian people, but not all.

* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' the Aeon Illuminate who follow a religion called The Way, their main goal is to spread the way to humanity, but are willing to cleanse all non-believers.

* ''SinsOfASolarEmpire'' the Advent who's religion is called the Unity, which involves biological enhancements and psychic powers. Their primary goal is to exact vengeance on the TEC for banishing them thousands of years ago.

* ''{{Everworld}}'' has a lot of JerkassGods from mythology, but the [[InsectoidAliens Hetwans]] worship an EldritchAbomination called Ka Anor, who eats other gods; thus, the Hetwans basically spend their time trying to get him more food, making war with anyone, divine or mortal, who would get in their way. They seem to have no sense of individuality, either; at one point, it's implied Ka Anor is more like their HiveMind taking physical form.

** The Tau are arguably a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], being a race of {{Flat Earth Atheist}}s in a setting where literal daemons are an active force. They are regarded by the Imperium as being completely heathen, believing in no supernatural forces whatsoever. However, they are also philosophists, following strongly to a collectivist creed of striving for the Greater Good, believing that they should share this philosophy with every other sentient in the galaxy and that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans in doing so. This tends to put them squarely into ScaryDogmaticAliens trope, but with the twist that their dogma is secular in a setting where supernatural forces are real.
** And then of course, there are the Chaos gods, who have almost as many religions as they have followers. Some believers actually believe they are doing the right thing by breaking away from the Imperial dogma, others are in it solely for the RapePillageAndBurn. Even among each other they don't hold each other as being holier than others, Khorne famously does not care whether the blood of his followers or his enemies is shed in battle, and often sics his own daemons on favored followers to test them.

* [[Franchise/{{Halo}} The Covenant]] are out to KillAllHumans because their religious leaders have declared humans to be an affront to their gods. [[spoiler: It is revealed in ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'' that humans were the chosen inheritors of [[{{Precursors}} The Forerunners]] whom the Covenant base their faith upon. Widespread, this knowledge would have either undermined the power of the Prophets or caused societal collapse]].