History Main / CorruptChurch

* Mercilessly and hilariously skewered in Music/{{Genesis|Band}}' 1991 song ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7Ntj3-XHY Jesus He knows Me]]'', which had the members playing corrupt televangelists and singing about it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', Happy-Happyism seems to exist only to enable a leader to abuse the power of the Mani Mani Statue, which eventually ends up enabling Pokey.

Compare with the {{Cult}}. Contrast with the SaintlyChurch. Can potentially overlap with ChurchMilitant, if the church is both evil ''and'' badass.

* Mercilessly and hilariously skewered in Music/{{Genesis}}' 1991 song ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7Ntj3-XHY Jesus He knows Me]]'', which had the members playing corrupt televangelists and singing about it.

* Taken to an almost absurd degree by the film ''Film/KingArthur'', going so far as to invent a martyrdom for the historical heretic Pelagius and portray Saint Germanus of Auxerre (who died two decades before the film is set) as a backstabbing tyrant.

** Despite nominally being a BigGood in Kirkwall, the refusal of the Grand Cleric in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' to deal with the problems of mages and templars was seen by some as acceptance of Templar abuses and got to the point [[spoiler: where Anders decided to remove even the chance of compromise by blowing up the Chantry, resulting in an all-out war between mages and templars.]] Likewise, her lack of action towards some of her fanatical underlings and their crusade against the Qunari led to [[spoiler: the city being attacked and the Viscount being killed, leading to a major power vacuum that destabilised Kirkwall further, setting up the Mage-Templar explosion.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' :

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' Ever since the death of the empress, the Overseers from the Abbey of the Everyman seems have become corrupted, pretty much enacting martial law and rounding up anyone that might be thought as heretics. The High Overseer intentionally breaks every one of the seven strictures every day as his own little joke.

* ''VideoGame/DragaliaLost'' has the Ilian Church being a mess of corruption and backstabbing. An apocryphal document known as the Scrolls of Perdition, which claims that the Goddess Ilia is the mother of the Other, has split the Southern Grastaean Church into warring factions of Conservatives (those who refuse to believe that the goddess gave birth to the world's ultimate evil) and the Perditionists (those who believe all of Ilia's children must still be given respect, even the most vile ones capable of destroying the world). The North Grastaean church in Grams is even worse with the rich nobles forcing the poorer citizens to pay for the honor of praying above their station to the goddess and allowing Templars to publicly murder them if they don't pay up.

* In ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' the church of Innocence has become this in spades, between its [[KnightTemplar fanatical templars]], [[AllCrimesAreEqual brutal punishments for any infraction]], [[PlayingWithSyringes large-scale human experimentation]], and attempts by multiple leaders to TakeOverTheWorld or [[GodhoodSeeker ascend to divinity.]] Innocence is one of the [[JerkassGods few gods]] who proves sane and benevolent once he's no longer using High Templar Avarius as an avatar, implying this is solely the result of mortal corruption.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'': The main villains of the game are the Exorcists of "The Abbey". The church was a benign religion that existed before the Exorcists came but then the Abbey placed their deity Empyrean Innominat as the new being of worship at its center. While the leaders of the Exorcists are the BigBad, it is somewhat subverted and played with as most people in the church aren't all that bad; some are actively shown trying to help the citizens of the world. Additionally, the church isn't "corrupt" in the traditional sense. They really do practice [[TheNeedsOfTheMany their core philosophy]], the leadership merely never outright tells the people of the [[WorldOfSilence horrifying lengths]] they're planning to take it.

** Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul spends a lot of time arguing with specific Christian churches who fell to similar heresies - [[Literature/BookOfGalatians Galatia]] and [[Literature/BookOfColossians Colossae]] were infiltrated by legalists, [[Literature/BookOfCorinthians Corinth]] was overtaken by libertines, [[Literature/BookOfThessalonians Thessalonica]] was troubled with doomsday cults, etc.

** Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul spends a lot of time arguing with specific Christian churhes who fell to similar heresies - [[Literature/BookOfGalatians Galatia]] and [[Literature/BookOfColossians Colossae]] were overtaken by legalists, [[Literature/BookOfCorinthians Corinth]] was overtaken by libertines, etc.

* In an incident in ''Literature/TheFourGospels'', UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} spent a lot of his time castigating the religious authorities of the day for various offenses -- most commonly for using their strict adherence to comparatively minor religious laws as an excuse to consider themselves HolierThanThou, while neglecting things like ministering to the poor. One of the few times Jesus actually straight-up loses his temper was upon seeing that merchants and moneychangers had turned the outer courtyard of the temple into a marketplace, where they charged ridiculous prices for doves (for the people who were unable to bring their own sacrifices). Jesus promptly chased them out with a whip.

* Karse in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series is a theocracy. At first everything was fine, but then it became corrupt and stayed that way for close to a millennium until Vkandis Sunlord (also known by the FanNickname Vkandis the Unsubtle) decided to make his displeasure known, and a BoltOfDivineRetribution later, rearranged the Church.

* Played with in ''Series/MediciMastersOfFlorence''. In their youth, the Medici brothers scheme, bribe, and blackmail to make a former scoundrel the pope, with the understanding that he shall patronize the Medici bank. However, Eugene IV goes on to become a GoodShepherd, described by Cosimo as the first truly holy man he's ever met.

* The Church of the Eternal Fire in the ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' series. Not only is it founded by a madman in order to stave off a supposed apocalypse, it's also blatantly anti-magic, racist, and very corrupt. While it does attempt to do good in the form of the Order of the Flaming Rose, which hunts monsters and protects the common people, their rule in the city of Novigrad is essentially a theocracy, where {{witch hunter}}s prowl the streets and [[BurnTheWitch burn people at the stake]] daily. Even at the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'', they blame the war with [[TheEmpire Nilfgaard]] on nonhumans, magic users, and witchers instead of on Nilfgaard, which began the war without provocation. It's also seen that their witch hunters prowl the countryside in Velen, hanging people seemingly at random. While they do try and protect the common people from magic users, most magic-users in the setting are relatively benevolent, except for the manipulative Lodge of Sorceresses, with many even serving as advisors to rulers in the Northern Kingdoms.

If the Corrupt Church is used for satire, the CrystalDragonJesus might appear.

* The Mechanists of the second ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' game.

* Played with in ''Series/MediciMastersOfFlorence''. In their youth, the Medici brothers scheme, bribe, and blackmail to make a former scoundrel the pope, with the understanding that he shall patronize the Medici bank. However, Eugene IV goes on to become TheGoodShepherd, described by Cosimo as the first truly holy man he's ever met.

[[folder:Manwha]]

* The Temple of Aria in ''Manwha/DoomBreaker'' is one of a the major religions and a major money lender. Any adventurers that couldn't pay for their medical expenses end up as slaves until they pay their debt.

[[folder:Manuwha]]

* The Temple of Aria in ''Manuwha/DoomBreaker'' is one of a the major religions and a major money lender. Any adventurers that couldn't pay for their medical expenses end up as slaves until they pay their debt.

* In Music/LimpBizkit's "The Priest".

* ''ComicBook/{{Monstress}}'' has the Cumaea. Originally just an insignificant religious organization that worshipped the psychic scientist, Marium, who discovered [[AppliedPhlebotinum Lilium]] and developed the applications for it, they've since grown to become a fundamentalist cult which all but controls the Federation of Man by force. Professor Tam Tam claims that, if she were alive today, the science-oriented Marium would scoff at the Cumaea.

* Mercilessly and hilariously skewered in Music/{{Genesis}}' 1991 song ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7Ntj3-XHY Jesus He knows me]]'', which had the members playing corrupt televangelists and singing about it.

** While the Chantry of Andraste doesn't actively harass and mistreat Fereldans, (actually, it's quite nice and pleasant), it is the main reason behind many, ''many'' social and racial problems and wrong-doings throughout Thedas. Due to the fear of BloodMagic, nearly all Mages are to be feared and despised, leading them to be rounded up and imprisoned in the [[MageTower Circle]], supposedly for their own protection. Elves are often seen as second-class citizens and forced to live in Alienages, where they are subject to much racism from humans. The Chantry likewise [[KickTheDog repaid]] the Dalish Elves assistance in helping Andraste free Thedas from the Tevinter Imperium, by later branding them heretics for not worshipping the Maker and leading an [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Exalted March]] against their new homeland, reducing them to wandering nomads. Not to mention, the Chantry's method of ensuring [[ChurchMilitant the]] [[KnightTemplar Templars']] remain loyal is to addict them to [[FantasticDrug Lyrium]] under the excuse that it'll make them more powerful, despite knowing that it can lead to paranoia, emotional instability, and full-blown psychosis.

* The Church of the Eternal Fire in the ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' series. Not only is it founded by a madman in order to stave off a supposed apocalypse, it's also blatantly anti-magic, racist, and very corrupt. While it does attempt to do good in the form of the Order of the Flaming Rose, which hunts monsters and protects the common people, their rule in the city of Novigrad is essentially a theocracy, where witch hunters prowl the streets and burn people at the stake daily. Even at the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'', they blame the war with [[TheEmpire Nilfgaard]] on nonhumans, magic users, and witchers instead of on Nilfgaard, which began the war without provocation. It's also seen that their witch hunters prowl the countryside in Velen, hanging people seemingly at random. While they do try and protect the common people from magic users, most magic-users in the setting are relatively benevolent, except for the manipulative Lodge of Sorceresses, with many even serving as advisors to rulers in the Northern Kingdoms.

* The worship of Oyashiro in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' [[spoiler: did not originally have horrific cannibalistic rites]].

* ''Film/SilentNight'': Reverend Madeley skims from the collection plate and hits on young female parishioners, and wonders why nobody is showing up to church anymore.

Major villains from the Corrupt Church can include {{Sinister Minister}}s, {{heresy}}-crushing Inquisitors, and other [[AmbitionIsEvil typical ambitious villains]] using a convenient power structure for their own ends. The CreepyCathedral tends to be their base of operations. If a work is set in the modern day, then the leader of the Corrupt Church will often be a televangelist, in which case the "[[StrawmanPolitical straw Christian conservative]]" aspects will be ratcheted UpToEleven. The [[StrawCharacter Strawman Conservative]] may be a member, or even a leader, in one of these.

* The Church of Origin in ''LightNovel/RollOverAndDie'' is this UpToEleven. The rank and file are good and decent people genuinely trying to make the world a better place, but the upper echelons are corrupt as hell. Known to the general public, they have conspired with the nobility and royalty to outlaw any and all medical treatment that does not involve their own healing magic as "heretical," purely for the sake of maintaining a monopoly, dooming countless people to suffer and die under easily treatable ailments that their healers can't deal with because the effective medicine is outlawed. Clergy members who try to circumvent this and allow the herbal remedies to be used can find themselves ''illegally'' being dragged off to a KangarooCourt to [[ReleasedToElsewhere "be excommunicated."]] Flum and a young acolyte Sara find hard evidence that the church is involved in GodhoodSeeker human experimentation and that the most heinous of the atrocities laid at the feet of the Demons were in fact false flag operations, purely to get convenient true believers and test subjects. Even the "god" they want to release is implied to be an OmnicidalManiac that wants to wipe out all life.

* ''Film/JohnWick'': Little Russia church serves as BigBad Viggo's front with his hidden cache of money and blackmail material.