History Main / StopWorshippingMe

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': in the episode "Who Watches the Watchers", an away mission goes horribly awry when the people of a pre-warp civilization mistakenly believe Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a god after one of them is beamed aboard the ''Enterprise'' after an unfortunate accident while the away team was carrying out a mission. An attempt to dissuade the people by sending Commander Riker and Counselor Troi undercover also fails, and with Troi's life in danger, Picard beams one of the people onto the ship to explain to her that he is no god that needs appeasing, but a normal flesh-and-blood being whose "miracles" are actually the result of advanced technology, and even then, they are hardly all-powerful.

* In the short story ''Flies'' by Creator/IsaacAsimov, a biologist has a friend named Casey that's always being harassed by flies; he keeps trying to find better ways to kill them off, but they just keep coming back. The narrator and Casey discuss the narrator's research on animal behavior and emotion, which Casey gently mocks, joking that if the research succeeds, the narrator should become a fly psychotherapist because there are a lot more flies that could potentially be made happy than people. The narrator keeps secret the fact that his research has ''already'' succeeded, and that he knows the reason why flies are drawn to Casey: they worship him as a god. Although he doesn't know it, Casey is Lord of the Flies. ([[https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/69214-as-flies-to-wanton-boys-are-we-to-the-gods It's a]] ''[[FridgeHorror horror]]'' [[InferredHolocaust story]].)

** In [[Literature/BookOfAmos Amos 5:21-24]], God actually tells this to the people Israel, but this is because they were too deep in sin and were offering up empty rituals rather than genuine worship.

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has SCP-2662. He is some form of EldritchAbomination who keeps unconsciously causing insane cults to pop up and begin worshipping him, except that he just wants to be left alone and finds the rituals they insist on performing during said worship to be highly disgusting. He willingly got picked up by the Foundation so that they could keep these insane cultists away from him. [[spoiler:Later incidents revealed that he's just going through his people's equivalent of puberty, and for the time being isn't good at mentally directing his cults' behavior, control which will come along with full maturity. The Foundation has authorized lethal force if he ever tries to willfully escape containment.]]

** ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' -- [[spoiler:The Duchess isn't actually a deity, but due to the nature of belief on the Disc, the fact that people pray to her has sort of turned her into one. Even though she should have died from a painful disease long ago, and is being kept alive by their worship. She's not very happy about this.]]
** There is a God of Evolution, who actively ''hides'' his existence so that nobody worships him anymore. He used to have worshipers, but they were all killed. [[BeyondTheImpossible Even he acknowledges his continued existence should be impossible in this setting.]]

* Holo from ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'' dislikes being worshipped as she would rather be treated like anyone else rather than having people keep their distance and she constantly insists that [[AGodIAmNot she's no god]] (despite all the evidence to the contrary).

* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': The Old Man is a [[DivineRanks godlike spirit]] at ''least'' and is very possibly an AnthropomorphicPersonification of [[TheDarkSide the Abyss]], but he has only laughter for mages who try to worship him. He's obligated to act as the Abyss's advocate when called, but whether he's actually under duress is unknown, as is almost everything about him.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': [[CommandingCoolness Commander]]/[[TheCaptain Captain]] [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Benjamin Sisko]] is the "Emissary of The Prophets" to the Bajoran people, because he "met the prophets and was healed by them" by discovering the Bajoran Wormhole (the Prophets' home, the Bajorans' "Celestial Temple") and teaching them about linear spacetime, and them helping him get over the death of his wife at [[CurbStompBattle Wolf-359]]. He was always reluctant about the role, and was put off by the reverence many Bajorans had for him. He got over that when another claimant to the title of "Emissary", a Bajoran from the past, pushed Bajoran society to return to the [[FantasticCasteSystem D'jarra]], which Sisko saw as a regression and a damper on Bajoran/Federation relations. Determined to thwart it, Sisko reasserted his claim after facing the Prophets themselves again (which was a test by them all along to remind him of his title), and he more fully embraced his role in Bajoran culture.

** The GodEmperor of Mankind explicitly denied his supposed divinity throughout his life and preached atheism, despite knowing that [[NayTheist Gods do, in fact, exist]]. His plan was to convince all of human that gods don't exist, and thus [[GodsNeedPrayerBady starve]] [[GodOfEvil the very malevolent Chaos Gods]]. It was only after the Literature/HorusHeresy, and being put on life support, that he could no longer prevent the various cults based around him gaining acceptance. Of note, it was worship ''specifically'' that annoyed him. [[CultOfPersonality Mere awestruck reverence was okay, and probably praiseworthy]]. He expected you to give up everything and do exactly what he wanted because he wanted it. He just didn't want your prayers when you could be killing his enemies or supplying his armies. He notably had no problem with you ritualistically calling him "the Emperor, beloved by all" every single time you had cause to mention him. The catalyst of the Primarch Lorgar's fall to Chaos was the Emperor ordering the Ultramarines to destroy the city Lorgar and his Word Bearers built that was centered around worshiping the Emperor as a god. Ironically, the Imperial Cult that venerates the Emperor is based on Lorgar's teachings. Averted by the time of Roboute Guilliman's return, however. The pragmatic Primarch chooses to work with the Ecclesiarchy that worships his father (and him) rather than attempting to stamp it out, despite his own distaste for such religious veneration.

* In the Krakoan Age of ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'', the Five (comprised of Hope Summers, Proteus, Tempest, Egg and Elixer) are revered by many mutants as they are the ones who are able to revive mutants, granting them their immortality. Of the five, leader Hope doesn't like it as she finds it really creepy.

** [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Luna and Celestia]] in ''Fanfic/UnderTheNorthernLights'', especially Celestia, who says she outlawed the worship of herself centuries ago in Equestria. They both reluctantly accept foreigners worshipping them, though Luna gets outright livid when she hears reindeer not only worship her and [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]] as the same entity, but used to practice [[HoldYourHippogriffs cervine]] [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice]]. Despite this, she keeps supporting the Temple of [[IHaveManyNames Hrimfaxi]] through the fic, though that seems to be for their social work in a poor nation and because of their claims that DarkIsNotEvil. [[spoiler: And maybe because she in her youth actually encouraged the forming of the cult, and feels responsible for it.]]
** Celestia and Luna again in [[Fanfic/RealityChecksNyxverse The Nyxverse]] -- as they explain in ''Alicornundrum'', they originally tried to avoid worship when they were younger, but ponies insisted on it. Eventually they got so fed up with it that they fled into the Everfree, sealed themselves in the Tree of Harmony cave, and put themselves in a magical sleep, hoping that when they woke up everyone would have forgotten about them. Instead, they woke to found that their followers had found them, dug them up, and ''built a castle on top of them'' (according to Celestia, Luna [[ClusterFBomb invented half of the curses existing today]] when they saw this). They use this as justification for making Twilight a Princess against her will; she's going to be worshipped anyway, they might as well make it official.
** In ''Fanfic/TheMLPLoops'', Celestia politely asks Twilight and company to stop swearing by her since they're effectively equal. They swear by trees instead, and it's not just the Looping version who feels this way - in one loop, an unAwake version of her learns about a Loop where her and Luna's Awake selves were angels, and also frequent and passionate speakers in support of atheism. The unAwake Celestia, writing back, promptly asks Twilight if they could start an atheist movement in Equestria.
** In [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/198011/blessing Blessing]], a story set in the ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'', Celestia tries to convince a stallion whose daughter is dying that she is not a deity and thus cannot save his daughter no matter how much he prays to her. [[spoiler:When his daughter dies anyway, the stallion merely blames ''himself'' for not having enough faith.]]
** In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', Celestia, while she ''is'' an actual deity, isn't comfortable with the adoration and the separation it puts between her and her little ponies...on the other hoof, Luna is perfectly fine with it.
** Upon her ascension, Sunset Shimmer of the ''Fanfic/OversaturatedWorld'' finds that an entire religion is developing around her, complete with holy images and competing sects. At first she tries to stop it, but eventually grows resigned and just throws up a Ewetube channel to direct their worship. (This eventually starts crossing with ParodyReligion in that while most of her worshippers are genuinely devout, there's also an element of self-aware silliness which creeps in; her worshippers acting as if they can't see how bizarre and embarrassing they're being is an ongoing source of joke material. Lemon Zest at one point actually explains that part of the courtesy involved in worshipping a deity who doesn't want worship is being elaborate and ludicrous enough to let said deity dismiss the real faith behind the ritual.)

** Although it was already serious, this gets an explanation that's even more dire in ''Mass Effect 3''. [[spoiler: The Reapers were created in response to the "cycle" of species creating [=AIs=] which warred against them (like the geth). They are imbued with the "essence" of a particular species, as seen in ''Mass Effect 2'', and see themselves as the true descendants of that species -- therefore they think of themselves as a sort of organic life, not synthetic (it is this [[FromACertainPointOfView twisted logic]] that makes them see their "harvest" as ''not'' an AI warring against organic life). Not only are the geth the very thing they were created to fight, the very idea of the geth becoming "like" the Reapers is both dire, dire heresy and an uncomfortable truth.]]

** The GodEmperor of Mankind explicitly denied his supposed divinity throughout his life and preached atheism, despite knowing that [[NayTheist Gods do, in fact, exist]]. It was only after the Literature/HorusHeresy, and being put on life support, that he could no longer prevent the various cults based around him gaining acceptance. Of note, it was worship ''specifically'' that annoyed him. [[CultOfPersonality Mere awestruck reverence was okay, and probably praiseworthy]]. He expected you to give up everything and do exactly what he wanted because he wanted it. He just didn't want your prayers when you could be killing his enemies or supplying his armies. He notably had no problem with you ritualistically calling him "the Emperor, beloved by all" every single time you had cause to mention him. The catalyst of the Primarch Lorgar's fall to Chaos was the Emperor ordering the Ultramarines to destroy the city Lorgar and his Word Bearers built that was centered around worshiping the Emperor as a god. Ironically, the Imperial Cult that venerates the Emperor is based on Lorgar's teachings. Averted by the time of Roboute Guilliman's return, however. The pragmatic Primarch chooses to work with the Ecclesiarchy that worships his father (and him) rather than attempting to stamp it out, despite his own distaste for such religious veneration.

* Several examples from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons:''
** In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting. The Lady of Pain's response to worship is either to banish the offender to a nearly inescapable maze, or simply kill him. It's mainly because her city, Sigil, is a god-free TruceZone, and due to the setting's laws she will actually become a goddess if enough people believe she is one. Of course, the ''reason'' Sigil is a god-free zone in the first place is because she says so and [[KillTheGod horribly kills]] any that try to enter.
*** It wouldn't be enough normally, but according to ''Pages of Pain'', she's a daughter of gods and thus is ready to become one herself. However, should this happen, she couldn't have her absolute blockade against deities in place and hide in Sigil at once. Which is likely to end as "half of the Multiverse's gods vs. the Lady and each other" war would begin the next minute or so. It should be noted that this explanation is as {{canon}} as any other explanation about the Lady, i.e. not at all. The official stance of Creator/{{TSR}} (and subsequently Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast) is that ''nobody'' [[InexplicablyAwesome knows exactly who or what she is]]. But either way, she is not fond of worship.
** Boccob, god of magic, has as his official title "The Uncaring". Apparently he passed from the "Stop bothering me with your prayers" stage to the "Fine, worship me if you like, but I'm not listening" stage centuries ago.
*** "Oh, Great Boccob, who is up there, rightly not giving a crap..."
** In the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms setting the god above the other gods and probable creator of the universe is Ao. Who literally did nothing whatsoever until some lesser gods tried to nick his power. His response caused him to become known to mortals at large for the first time and his power caused a fair few to worship him. No magical powers reached his clerics, he made no further appearances and those paying attention noticed that many of those worshipping him had a tendency to suffer misfortunes until they knocked it off.
** The classic adventure "Against the Giants" introduced an EldritchAbomination known as the Elder Elemental God. Ignoring the usual [[GodNeedsPrayersBadly divinity/mortal relationship,]] this entity would reward the occasional human sacrifice by granting wishes, but had a grumpy tendency to strike mortals who pestered it too regularly with blindness, insanity, or [[CriticalExistenceFailure death.]]
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pendragon}}'', each character has personality traits that measures the character's attitude and actions. Each religion in the game has a set of personality traits measure how close you are to your god(s). For the Wotanic faith of the Saxons, one of the traits is Worldly, which measures how little you care about being religious. This is less InsaneTrollLogic than it sounds like, it merely means that Wotan and his kin want to be ''emulated'', not worshipped. Who needs prayer and sacrifice when you have mortals splitting skulls and giving their followers golden rings in your name?
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' -- The GodEmperor of Mankind explicitly denied his supposed divinity throughout his life and preached atheism, despite knowing that [[NayTheist Gods do, in fact, exist]]. It was only after the Literature/HorusHeresy, and being put on life support, that he could no longer prevent the various cults based around him gaining acceptance.
** Of note, it was worship ''specifically'' that annoyed him. [[CultOfPersonality Mere awestruck reverence was okay, and probably praiseworthy]]. He expected you to give up everything and do exactly what he wanted because he wanted it. He just didn't want your prayers when you could be killing his enemies or supplying his armies. He notably had no problem with you ritualistically calling him "the Emperor, beloved by all" every single time you had cause to mention him.

** The catalyst of the Primarch Lorgar's fall to Chaos was the Emperor ordering the Ultramarines to destroy the city Lorgar and his Word Bearers built that was centered around worshiping the Emperor as a god. Ironically, the Imperial Cult that venerates the Emperor is based on Lorgar's teachings.
** Averted by the time of Roboute Guilliman's return, however. The pragmatic Primarch chooses to work with the Ecclesiarchy that worships his father (and him) rather than attempting to stamp it out, despite his own distaste for such religious veneration.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'' -- Necoho the Doubter is the Chaos god of ''atheism'', and he gets weaker the more worshipers he has.

** In the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting. The Lady of Pain's response to worship is either to banish the offender to a nearly inescapable maze, or simply kill him. It's mainly because her city, Sigil, is a god-free TruceZone, and due to the setting's laws she will actually become a goddess if enough people believe she is one. Of course, the ''reason'' Sigil is a god-free zone in the first place is because she says so and [[KillTheGod horribly kills]] an that try to enter.

** The Lady, the personification of luck, abandons all people who call on her by name. The only known temple built for her was destroyed by a lightning strike... several times. The Lady is an especially interesting example, because she may be the only example of this type of god in a world where GodsNeedPrayerBadly. Presumably, she survives because everyone believes in luck, despite no one actively worshiping it.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': [[CommandingCoolness Commander]]/[[TheCaptain Captain]] [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Benjamin Sisko]] is the "Emissary of The Prophets" to the Bajoran people, because he "met the prophets and was healed by them" by discovering the Bajoran Wormhole (the Prophets' home, the Bajorans' "Celestial Temple") and teaching them about linear spacetime and them helping him get over the death of his wife at [[CurbStompBattle Wolf-359]]. He was always reluctant towards the role, and was put off by the reverence many bajorans had for him. He got over that as well eventually when another claimant to the title of "Emissary", a bajoran from the past, pushed Bajoran society to return to the [[FantasticCasteSystem D'jarra]], which he saw as a regression and a damper on Bajoran/Federation relations. Determined to thwart that, he reasserts his claim after facing the Prophets themselves again (which was a test by them all along to remind him of his title), he more fully embraced his role in Bajoran culture.