History Main / GodBeforeDogma

[[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Done well]], it's AnAesop about how people are people and there is a fundamental core of reasonable humanity in every institution. Done poorly (usually, because the sympathetic character is blatantly incorrect in his knowledge of relevant scripture, making him more offensive than TheFundamentalist to true believers) it can read as a weak attempt to not lose a substantial number of readers who may be religious.

* Against what many people think of the band, Music/BadReligion gives off this message. Religion is not the problem. It is those who insist their teachings are the best for everyone and, in a worst case scenario, manipulate organized faith for personal gain.

* This is the message of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel''. Despite living in a town populated with screwed-up fundamentalists, Orel hangs on to his faith in God, which allows him to [[EarnYourHappyEnding find a fulfilling adulthood.]]

* ''Series/Tyrant2014'': Season 3 introduces a moderate Islamic faction aiming to elect their own candidate in the upcoming presidential election of Abbudin that opposes both the Al-Fayeed dictatorship that has reigned for decades and the radical insurgency led by the Army of the Caliphate.

[[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Done well]], it's an aesop about how people are people and there is a fundamental core of reasonable humanity in every institution. Done poorly (usually, because the sympathetic character is blatantly incorrect in his knowledge of relevant scripture, making him more offensive than TheFundamentalist to true believers) it can read as a weak attempt to not lose a substantial number of readers who may be religious.

Done well, it's an aesop about how people are people and there is a fundamental core of reasonable humanity in every institution. Done poorly (usually, because the sympathetic character is blatantly incorrect in his knowledge of relevant scripture, making him more offensive than TheFundamentalist to true believers) it can read as a weak attempt to not lose a substantial number of readers who may be religious.

* Judge Claude Frollo from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'' is a self-righteous religious extremist who believes that he alone is virtuous among the "common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd", and uses his considerable authority to persecute and purge those he deems "beneath him" (i.e., the Gypsies) while claiming to be God's soldier. He is contrasted with the Archdeacon, who is the complete opposite of Frollo, and shows compassion and kindness to Esmeralda when she seeks sanctuary in his church.

** There's also a scene that pretty directly recreates the parable of The Good Samaritan, with Jesus badly wounded after a fight with the vampires; a priest and cop refuse to help this strange bearded man lying in a gutter, but a drag queen takes Him in and saves His life.

* Judge Claude Frollo from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'' is a self-righteous religious extremist who believes that he alone is virtuous among the "common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd", and uses his considerable authority to persecute and purge those he deems "beneath him" (i.e., the Gypsies) while claiming to be God's soldier. He is contrasted the Archdeacon, who is the complete opposite of Frollo, and shows compassion and kindness to Esmeralda when she seeks sanctuary in his church.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry5'': The main antagonists are a [[WesternTerrorists militaristic Christian terrorist cult]] known as the Project at Eden's Gate. Among the player's allies that opposes the them is [[BadassPreacher Jerome Jeffries]], a Catholic priest who used to be friends with its [[BigBad leader]] [[SinisterMinister Joseph Seed]] before he kidnapped and brainwashed Jerome's congregation and tried to have him killed.

* A minor version with Longinus, the BadassPreacher and ArmsDealer in ''VideoGame/FarCry4''. He's working with the [[LaResistance Golden Path]], one of whose co-leaders, Sabal, is a religious devotee of Kyrat's FantasyPantheon bordering on TheFundamentalist. Longinus himself has a rather... [[ArtisticLicenseReligion warped view of theology]], and it shows, saying things like "What gun would Jesus use?" and naming his guns after Biblical passages. That said, if Ajay brings Sabal to power by killing [[TheCaligula Pagan Min]] [[spoiler:and Sabal's partner Amita]], Sabal ends up [[spoiler:[[FullCircleRevolution becoming a tyrant just like Pagan Min]], who enforces Kyrat's worst traditions on the populace and decides to enact ThePurge on anyone in Kyrat who did not follow his religion, which is likely a large percentage of Kyrat's people since Pagan Min made it an IllegalReligion]]. Longinus, on the other hand, is not interested in converting the Kyratis to his religion, he's just [[spoiler:searching for blood diamonds that he sold back when he was a [[AfricanTerrorists warlord]], so that he can be TheAtoner]]. Once Ajay finds all the [[spoiler:diamonds]] for him, he thanks Ajay for his help and leaves Kyrat [[spoiler:to find the rest of the blood diamonds]]. And in contrast to [[spoiler:Sabal,]] Longinus never betrays Ajay.

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* In ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'', this trope is typically the primary difference between the less-evil religious characters and the really evil religious characters in general. However, [[AuthorTract since the author despises religion]], it's [[CrapsackWorld depressingly rare]].
** Jesus in particular embodies this trope - [[FridgeBrilliance which isn't all that]] [[ShownTheirWork different from his biblical depiction]]. Most of his fellow Angels avert this though.

[[folder:Films — Animated]]
* Judge Claude Frollo from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' is a self-righteous religious extremist who believes that he alone is virtuous among the "common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd", and uses his considerable authority to persecute and purge those he deems "beneath him" (i.e. the Gypsies) while claiming to be God's soldier. He is contrasted the Archdeacon, who is the complete opposite of Frollo, and shows compassion and kindness to Esmeralda when she seeks sanctuary in his church.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie''
** Affectionately parodies this trope, Flanders accepting what is clearly a many-eyed, radiation-mutated squirrel as the deliberate work of his Creator.
--->'''Flanders:''' Well, this certainly seems odd, but...who am I to question the work of the Almighty?

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Literature ]]

* Nickie rejects the absurd restrictions set by Mrs. Beeson on behalf of ''Literature/TheProphetOfYonwood'', but she still believes God is good and would honor people's differences instead of marginalizing them.

[[folder:Live Action Television ]]

[[folder:Music ]]

--> But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.

[[folder:Tabletop Games ]]

* Called out several times in ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', where religions are mostly seen as a "human thing," given to mankind as a way to approach the God that the angels already know to worship. Even the few Archangels that explicitly prefer a particular religion (Catholicism for Laurence and Dominic, Islam for Khalid and Zadkiel) still acknowledge that worthy contributions can be made by those of other faiths. By contrast, the Demon Prince of Factions, Malphas, *loves* fine points of dogma ...
--> '''Novalis, Archangel of Flowers''': Every human religion since the first boils down to just two principles: Behave and don't hurt each other.

* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' includes this as a part of the [[ToBeLawfulOrGood contrast]] between Valjean and Javert. Javert believes the road to Heaven is paved with good works and straying from that road means you're irredeemably evil, while Valjean has experienced forgiveness and does good for the sake of doing good. Nicely summed up in their respective [[IAmSong "I Am" Songs]].
--> '''Javert''' ("Stars"): He knows his way in the dark, but mine is the way of the Lord, and those who follow the path of the righteous shall have their reward. And if they fall, as Lucifer fell: the flame, the sword!
--> '''Valjean''' ("Who Am I?"): My soul belongs to God I know, I made that bargain long ago. He gave me hope when hope was gone, he gave me strength to journey on. (''performs a HeroicSacrifice'')

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[[folder:Webcomics ]]

[[folder:Web Original ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'': The Bishop of Targoviste is pretty much responsible for starting the story's events by burning Lisa Tepes on the stake as an witch and sending her husband [[{{Dracula}} Count Dracula]] in a genocidal warpath against mankind. He is particularly portrayed as an anti-intellectual, bigoted, self-righteous fanatic that persecutes "heretics" (i.e. people perceived to be too intelligent) and employs priests as armed thugs to exploit the populace. This drew some backlash since the Church had a supporting role in the [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} original games]] and was perceived to have given AdaptationalVillainy due to [[Creator/WarrenEllis one of the writers']] [[WriterOnBoard views on Christianity]]. However, Season 1's last episode depicts a [[OneSceneWonder nameless priest]] that is genuinely devout and helps fend off the demonic invasion by blessing water to be used against them.

* One of the running themes in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. The titular character even has a magic song, Sheol Fear, that specifically causes those who put dogma before morality to go temporarily insane when they hear it.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"A man shall be known by his learning: but he that is vain and foolish, shall be exposed to contempt." -- [[Literature/BookOfProverbs Proverbs 12:8]]''\\

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Literature/BookOfProverbs "A man shall be known by his learning: but he that is vain and foolish, shall be exposed to contempt."]]''\\

** {{God}} Himself, apparently, is very much in favor of this trope - up to the point where Paul all but outright says God likes to ''troll'' the self-righteous:

** In ''Literature/TheFourGospels'', UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} accuses the scribes and Pharisees of being {{Rules Lawyer}}s and missing the Law of Love. When they criticize him for healing a man on the Sabbath, as working on the Sabbath is against Jewish law, Jesus responds it's never against the law to help someone (this is accepted by Judaism currently- no law comes before saving a life).

Done well, it's an aesop about how people are people and there is a fundamental core of reasonable humanity in every institution. Done poorly (usually because the sympathetic character is blatantly incorrect in his knowledge of relevant scripture, making him more offensive than TheFundamentalist to true believers) it can read as a weak attempt to not lose a substantial number of readers who may be religious.

* Against what many people think of the band, ''Music/BadReligion'' gives off this message. Religion is not the problem. It is those who insist their teachings are the best for everyone and, in a worst case scenario, manipulate organized faith for personal gain.
* The ''Music/WithinTemptation'' song "The Truth Beneath the Rose" describes a warrior who slaughtered in the name of his religion, only to face SanitySlippage at all of the lives he has taken. In spite of his faith and UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans being what ruined him, the song is spent begging God for forgiveness.
* The song "The Light" by ''Music/TheProclaimers'' is a condemnation of [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalists]], while at the same time the singers establish, "I believe in God all right/ It's folk like you I just can't stand."

** In ''Literature/TheFourGospels'', USefulNotes/{{Jesus}} accuses the scribes and Pharisees of being {{Rules Lawyer}}s and missing the Law of Love. When they criticize him for healing a man on the Sabbath, as working on the Sabbath is against Jewish law, Jesus responds it's never against the law to help someone (this is accepted by Judaism currently- no law comes before saving a life).

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** In Old Testament times, the main problem was that people were making new (often more lenient) rules that violated the old dogma (for example, allowing idolatry), and the true prophets were standing up for the old order. In the case of idolatry, the people were not putting God before Dogma, so the true prophets had to straighten them out.
** In ''Literature/TheFourGospels'', USefulNotes/{{Jesus}} accuses the scribes and Pharisees of being {{Rules Lawyer}}s and missing the Law of Love. When they criticize him for healing a man on the Sabbath, as working on the Sabbath is against Jewish law, Jesus responds it's never against the law to help someone (this is accepted by Judaism currently- no law comes before saving a life).
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* ''Literature/SmallGods'' has Om discovering that his "followers" believe in the organization, hierarchs, high exquisitors, prophetic texts, rituals... anything but Om himself. Since GodsNeedPrayerBadly, this means he ended up starved into near-oblivion by his own church and doesn't even have enough juice to perform the only miracle he wants now -- which is, obviously, braining the guy currently responsible for this state of affairs. It's implied that this is a common fate for Gods in the Discworld, made worse ''because'' they care about the prayers more than the people doing the praying; they're uncaring, indifferent and arrogant about their followers and the religions they create, meaning that all kinds of horrible systems, institutions and atrocities get created in their name... which means that people lose faith in the Gods but keep the institutions going out of fear, leading to the Gods getting starved of faith while being trapped within the same religions that are starving them and unable to adapt into a new form that might sustain them (the prevalence of OddJobGods in TheVerse is hinted to be because less powerful but smarter Gods instead adopting forms and beliefs that may give them less power but enable them to evolve when circumstances change).

* ''Literature/SmallGods'' has Om discovering that his "followers" believe in the organization, hierarchs, high exquisitors, prophetic texts, rituals... anything but Om himself. Since GodsNeedPrayerBadly, this means he ended up starved into near-oblivion by his own church and doesn't even have enough juice to perform the only miracle he wants now -- which is, obviously, braining the guy currently responsible for this state of affairs. It's implied that this is a common fate for Gods in the Discworld, made worse ''because'' they care about the prayers more than the people doing the praying; they're uncaring, indifferent and arrogant about their followers and the religions they create, meaning that all kinds of horrible systems, institutions and atrocities get created in their name... which means that people lose faith in the Gods but keep the institutions going out of fear, leading to the Gods getting starved of faith.

* The story of Sebastian Thor in the background lore of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. In the 36th Millenium, the Imperium was ruled by the mass-murdering SinisterMinister [[TheCaligula Goge Vandire]] in what was called the Reign of Blood. Thor was a minor preacher on a small planet who criticized Vandire's rule - which would have gotten him killed had Vandire's cronies not [[HeelFaceTurn switched sides upon hearing Thor's sermons]]. It got to the point that the Imperium rose up against the tyrant Vandire, with the church he ruled later [[HoistByHisOwnPetard declaring him as a heretic]] and his female bodyguards [[OffWithHisHead decapitating him]].

* ''Fanfic/AngelOfTheBat'':
** A major theme of the second part is whether one can love God and love a system of worship that they openly acknowledge feels contradictory. Considering the writer is an idealistic Roman Catholic, the answer is yes.
** A sad but hopeful version of this is the cornerstone of the story's [[ShrugOfGod ambiguously canon]] second epilogue: [[spoiler: The both Catholic and bisexual Cassandra Cain declares God wouldn't want her to pretend to not have a life with the woman she loves. Cassie asks her girlfriend to marry her, saying that even if the Catholic church rejects them, they can't take away her belief and love of God.]]
** The story's sequel, ''Times of Heresy'', deconstructs the concept in its presentation of minor antagonist, radio Evangelist Cameron Gram. Gram argues that this idea is appealing because EvilIsEasy and people forget that while GodIsGood, GoodIsNotNice. Cassandra herself wants to continue appealing to the trope, but finds she doesn't have a good answer for why she should know better than a man who has clearly been practicing Christianity much longer than she has.

* A major theme of the second part of Fanfic/AngelOfTheBat is whether one can love God and love a system of worship that they openly acknowledge feels contradictory. [[spoiler: Considering the writer is an idealistic Roman Catholic, the answer is yes.]]

* Friar Tuck in the RobinHood mythos is a 'good' religious foil for the villainous Bishop Hereford.

* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** In Old Testament times, the main problem was that people were making new (often more lenient) rules that violated the old dogma (for example, allowing idolatry), and the true prophets were standing up for the old order. In the case of idolatry, the people were not putting God before Dogma, so the true prophets had to straighten them out.
** In the New Testament, Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of being {{Rules Lawyer}}s and missing the Law of Love. When they criticize him for healing a man on the Sabbath, as working on the Sabbath is against Jewish law, Jesus responds it's never against the law to help someone (this is accepted by Judaism currently- no law comes before saving a life).

* ''Literature/SmallGods'' has Om discovering that his "followers" believe in the organization, hierarchs, high exquisitors, prophetic texts, rituals... anything but Om himself. Since GodsNeedPrayerBadly, this means he ended up starved into near-oblivion by his own church and doesn't even have enough juice to perform the only miracle he wants now -- which is, obviously, braining the guy currently responsible for this state of affairs.

[-Image by [[http://www.bibleillustratedproject.com Bojan Teodosijević]], used with permission-]]]

* ''Series/{{Tyrant}}'': Season 3 introduces a moderate Islamic faction aiming to elect their own candidate in the upcoming presidential election of Abbudin that opposes both the Al-Fayeed dictatorship that has reigned for decades and the radical insurgency led by the Army of the Caliphate.

[-Image by [[http://www.bibleillustratedproject.com Bojan Teodosijević,]] used with permission-]]]

** Affectionately parodies this trope, Flanders accepting what is clearly a three-eyed, radiation-mutated fish as the deliberate work of his Creator.