History Main / IllegalReligion

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]", the State claims to have determined that Main/{{God}} does not exist and therefore has banned any form of religion. Possessing a [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] is a crime punishable by death. Wordsworth, being a devout Christian, has kept his hidden for twenty years.

* ''Film/CaptiveState'': Public religious displays are banned, as shown in background references such as a sign saying that praying and congregating is prohibited. This sets up a switch when one of the resistance members tells another to take something off because "you might as well wear a target". The obvious choice is the bandage covering where her tracker was, but it's the cross necklace she's wearing. It also helps explain just how many people oppose the aliens' occupation, since this would alienate the majority.

-->-- '''[[FictionalDocument Nords Arise!]],''' ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye:'' The Decepticons renounced Primus, the Primes, and the Matrix at the beginning of the war. Several million years later the Decepticon Justice Division hunt down and violently kill anyone still practicing any religion whatsoever, since Megatron proclaimed it a form of control. As opposed to violently killing people to make them all stay in line, which is just the normal workings of an empire, [[{{Hypocrite}} naturally]]. Adding to the hypocrisy, the D.J.D. religiously worship Megatron (or [[BrokenPedestal did at any rate]], and one of them murmurs prayers when nearing death.
* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'': Once he starts getting delusions of grandeur, Gromul Djun bans worship of the humans' deity Threksht, and making offerings to or idols of the Hidden Ones (i.e. the elves in the forest) while also declaring ''himself'' [[AGodAmI to be a god]], whom they alone must worship. After this and some other outrages, it's not long until they rebel.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanHolyTerror'': America under the Commonwealth has outlawed all religions besides Puritanism. The ones explicitly persecuted are Catholicism (as referenced by the Commonwealth's war against South American nations) and Judaism (Dr. Erdel is said to be an CategoryTraitor for being a Jewish collaborator to the Regime).
* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': A storyline involving the fictional country of [[{{Ruritania}} Slokovia]] featured this trope when a group of citizens began worshiping [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] (who has become the new King of Asgard following Odin's apparent demise) but the cult is violently repressed by the local dictator. Outraged at his followers' persecution, Thor tries to intervene but causes a diplomatic crisis because Slokovia is bordered by Latveria, which is ruled by ComicBook/DoctorDoom and he threatens to retaliate if the Slokovian leader is harmed, forcing his fellow Avengers to clash with the God of Thunder.
* ''ComicBook/JupitersLegacy'': One of Walter's reforms for the US is abolishing religion. We later learn that all houses of worship became schools, with Brandon saying they're being put to good use now. This, as you'd expect, prompts protests and even terrorist attacks from religious people.

* ''Fanfic/{{The End of the World|FernWithy}}'': The Capitol has banned religious worship, but it's shown several times that most of District 8 still practices Judaism in secret.

* During the reign of the Galactic Empire in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe, the Jedi were hunted down and driven to near-extinction by Imperial forces, their religion dwindling from universally recognized to often ridiculed as old superstition. Emperor Palpatine and his right hand Darth Vader were members of the evil Sith order, the ancient enemies of the Jedi. ''Film/RogueOne'' shows the Church of the Force also was banned and its holy sites destroyed, because the Empire was afraid of any belief in this. The new ExpandedUniverse books also say they banned religion in general (though obviously it was hard to enforce), with atheism promoted instead (including here not just disbelief in gods but also the Force).

* In ''Film/EscapeFromLA'', the new extreme right wing President who takes over the United States outlaws all religions other than Christianity as well as atheism. It is punishable by death through deportation to the hellish, crime-ridden Los Angeles Penitentiary Island. Taslima, one of the inhabitants, tells Snake that she was an American Muslim before she was shipped off to L.A.
* ''Film/VForVendetta'': Islam has apparently been outlawed by the Norsefire regime, since Gordon is shot just for possessing a Qur'an (even when he's not Muslim). Presumably all Muslims have been killed or imprisoned by them.

* ''Film/{{Silence}}'' takes place in feudal Japan where Christianity is outlawed by the Shogunate, and it has to be practiced in secret by those who believe in it. [[spoiler:It's revealed that the BigBad knows about the crypto-Christians, as he admits to the main protagonist, but isn't really interested in persecuting them, since they are a minority and they don't really represent a threat to the state so long as they are out of sight and abjure their faith in public.]]

* ''Film/CaptiveState'': Public religious displays are banned, as shown in background references such as a sign saying that praying and congregating is prohibited. This sets up a switch when one of the resistance members tells another to take something off because "you might as well wear a target". The obvious choice is the bandage covering where her tracker was, but it's the cross necklace she's wearing. It also helps explain just how many people oppose the aliens' occupation, since this would alienate the majority.

* ''Film/TheHolyOffice'': Judaism, along with Islam and Protestantism, are outlawed in New Spain. This doesn't prevent the Jews from practicing in secret.

* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'': Christianity has been banned in the Japanese Pacific States, and this is {{implied}} within the Reich as well, given that even a Neutral Zone book shop owner only sells Bibles under the table. The [[BountyHunter Marshal]] finds this out and confirms with his reaction that it's basically contraband, even though the Neutral Zone technically has no laws. Hitler [[TruthInTelevision actually did have plans]] to replace Christianity with a [[CultOfPersonality new religion centering on himself]], according to some papers uncovered by the Allies. Judaism was banned in Nazi Germany already. In this setting, Imperial Japan has followed suit; Shinto is the official religion and practicing others is punishable by death. However, this seems more of a move to appease their Nazi allies than any real antipathy, as all non-Japanese are equally second-class citizens regardless of religion. Japanese officials don't mind looking the other way unless they can use the laws to their advantage, such as blackmailing Frank for his Jewish heritage.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "The End of the World", it's done as an ArsonMurderAndJaywalking gag.
-->'''Announcement:''' Guests are reminded that Platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation, and religion.
* ''Series/NoughtsAndCrosses'': It's mentioned that a lot of Nought religious celebrations are outlawed. Prime Minister Folami allowing them to celebrate Midsummer is part of her reformist approach.
* ''Series/MidnightSun2016'': Anders relates that the Sami religion was suppressed in the past, with their sacred drums being burned and shamans prosecuted as witches. Because of this, shamans mostly live in hiding to this day.

* Defied by Dionysus in Greek mythology, who was known for killing rulers who made worship of him illegal.

** As mentioned, the various Cyrodillic Empires tend to dislike the idea of outlawing religions for theological reasons, as a lingering reaction to the extremism of the Marukhati period — which does not mean it does not outlaw religions, it just does so for political reasons, like connections to anti-Imperial movements (many Meridian cults), being involved with conspiracies to usurp the throne (there was a crackdown on Mehrunes Dagon cults after the Simulacrum), or attacking the legitimacy of the Septim Dynasty (Arcturianism).
* [[KnightTemplar Anton's]] campaign in ''[[VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic Might and Magic: Heroes VI]]'' begins with him being declared Duke of the Griffin Duchy and outlawing any religion except the worship of Elrath, the Dragon of Light. This upsets the orc tribes who live in the lands bordering Anton's Duchy, who prefer ancestor worship over organised religion, and Baron Djordje, who maintains temples to Elrath's brother Ylath, Dragon of the Skies, in his lands.
* In the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'', the Brotherhood of Nod (a hybrid of a religion and a nation state) is considered illegal in all territories under GDI control or influence due to Nod actively pursuing multiple wars with GDI and its constituent nations. After the Second Tiberium War, with the world's division into Zones, the GDI controlled Blue Zones enforce their ban on Nod's teachings, while the Yellow Zones not under GDI occupation are effectively a Nod theocracy. The few places that aren't either are usually part of the mutant [[HufflepuffHouse Forgotten]].
* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Revanites are an illegal cult within the Empire that follows the teachings of Revan, a man who had been both Jedi and Sith almost three hundred years earlier.
** Also on Voss, the dreamwalkers practice forbidden rituals.
* ''VideoGame/BioShock''
** In ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', all organized religion is illegal in the city of Rapture (though Andrew Ryan says in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' that citizens are allowed to worship in the privacy of their home), which results in Bibles and other religious items being smuggled in with other contraband.
** In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', the only legal religion in Columbia is that of the Founders with Zachary Comstock as its prophet, which means that worshipers of other religions (such as Buddhism, which was practiced by Chen Li and his wife in one timeline) must do so in secret. Booker [=DeWitt=] comments that Comstock isn't crazy about the idea of people worshiping idols that aren't him.
* The Chantry in ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has enough clout in most human nations to prevent any other religions from taking root. The Qunari are even less tolerant of other religions in their lands.

* Pagan Min in ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' wants the citizens of Kyrat to worship him as a GodEmperor, and has outlawed the old religions and social gatherings at places of religious significance, such as temples and mani wheels. [[spoiler:If Sabal ends up taking over at the end, he outlaws every other religion aside from the Kyrati religion and puts all others to death.]]
* In ''VideogGme/PillarsOfEternity'', after the Saints War and the spreading of [[SterilityPlague Waidwen's Legacy]], the worship of Eothas has since been outlawed and the followers actively persecuted. Éder, one of your companions, is one of the last remaining worshipers of Eothas due to the fact that he fought against St. Waidwen during the war (he doubted Waidwen's claim to being a prophet and the possibility of him actually being right personally haunts him).

* The [[TheEmpire Dwendalian Empire]] from ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' has a small list of state-approved religions whose teaching are deemed in line with Imperial doctrine, and requires all religious practises to take place within state-sponsored temples. Any private religious practise or proven worship of a non-approved god can lead to a fine and a month's imprisonment.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', [[DaydreamBeliever The Church of Trek]] became an incredibly popular and powerful religion...so powerful it started taking over governments. Since The Trek Wars prior to the start of the series, any reference to The Church or its [[Franchise/StarTrek sacred texts]] are explicitly banned.

* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'': Christianity has been banned in the Japanese Pacific States, and this is {{implied}} within the Reich as well, given that even a Neutral Zone book shop owner only sells Bibles under the table. The Marshal finds this out and confirms with his reaction that it's basically contraband, even though the Neutral Zone technically has no laws. Hitler [[TruthInTelevision actually did have plans]] to replace Christianity with a [[CultOfPersonality new religion centering on himself]], according to some papers uncovered by the Allies. Judaism was banned in Nazi Germany already. In this setting, Imperial Japan has followed suit; Shinto is the official religion and practicing others is punishable by death. However, this seems more of a move to appease their Nazi allies than any real antipathy, as all non-Japanese are equally second-class citizens regardless of religion. Japanese officials don't mind looking the other way unless they can use the laws to their advantage, such as blackmailing Frank for his Jewish heritage.

* ''Fanfic/{{The End of the World|FernWithy}}'': The Capitol has banned religious worship, but several times it's shown that most of District 8 still practices Judaism in secret.
* ''Fanfic/ChasingDragons'': One of the many draconian laws Stannis subjugates the Ironborn to after crushing Balon's Rebellion is to ban worship of the Drowned God, on the grounds that the religion is blamed for fueling the Ironborn's RapePillageAndBurn culture. This forces devout Drowned God worshippers to either continue to do so in secret, or flee to Robert's more religiously tolerant kingdom in Myr.

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

* According to ''FanFic/TheVictorsProject'', all religion in Panem is banned except for worship of the state (although people in Districts 7 and 10 still believe in a higher power, as does Enobaria's best friend in District 2). When the District 2 Victors celebrate [[YouMeanXmas Wintermas]], Boudicca offers a thanksgiving prayer to the Capitol and [[PresidentEvil President Snow]], and all colloquial references to God are instead replaced with "Snow," including in cursing.
-->'''Beetee''': Of all the Snow-damned, idiotic, foolish stunts…
* ''Fanfic/TheEndOfTheWorld'': The Capitol has banned religious worship, but several times it's shown that most of District 8 still practices Judaism in secret.

* ''Film/VForVendetta'': Islam has apparently been outlawed by the Norsefire regime, since Gordon is shot just for possessing a Qu'ran (even when he's not Muslim). Presumably all Muslims have been killed or imprisoned by them.

----

!!Examples:

[[folder:Literature]]
* Averted in ''[[Literature/DragonJousters Joust]]''. The Tians allow Altans in captured territory to continue to worship their own deities, to avoid the problems that would result from underground worship. (The fact that the Tian and Altan pantheons are almost identical doesn't hurt, either.)
* In Creator/DavidEddings's ''{{Literature/Belgariad}}'' and ''{{Literature/Malloreon}}'' series, the Bear Cult, based on a misguided worship of the Alorn's god Belar, has to be periodically suppressed for its fanaticism.
** In turn, the Bear Cults ''wants'' to do this the other Kingdoms of the West, forcing them to worship Belar as opposed to their own gods (or all of them in the case of the very ecumenical Sendars).
** While the outlawing of the Bear Cult is the banning of a specific form of an accepted religion, a straighter example is the banning of the worship of Torak in all the Alorn Kingdoms. Similarly, in Mallorea, traditional Karand religion is banned, mostly because it involves the worshipping and summoning of ''demons''.
* In ''Literature/TheWitcher'' universe, Coram Agh Tera, the Cult of the Lionhead Spider, is a forbidden religion in many of the civilized nations due to its practice of HumanSacrifice, and while the persecution is not as intense as it has been in the past, very few places will allow Coram Agh Tera cultists to preach openly. The government of Temeria is particularly keen to suppress the cult within their borders, and membership of the Lionhead Spider cult is a crime akin to murder.
* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', both Omnia in ''Literature/SmallGods'' and Borogravia in ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' banned any religion other than the state one (Omnianism and Nugganism, respectively). Borogravia's neighbour and arch-rival Zlobenia banned the Nugganatic religion, which was probably for the best.
* Downplayed in the ''Literature/StarCarrier series'', where the Terran Confederation's "White Covenant" law means that, while religion isn't banned outright, many of its common practices are. In particular, proselytizing, many missionary activities, and conversion by threat or force are considered violations of basic human rights. This came about after Islamic terrorists nuked several major cities and set off World War III, and understandably doesn't sit well with a lot of religious groups (the Muslims especially, since it bans a core tenet of the faith, to bring the word of Allah to the infidel).
* In ''[[Literature/TortallUniverse The Immortals]]'', Emperor Ozorne of Carthak restricted or discouraged traditional religious practices and tried to set himself up as an object of worship, but he stopped short of actually banning religion for fear the gods would take umbrage and depose him. He ended up pushing them far enough to [[spoiler:put Daine in place to demolish his regime (and several palaces) with an army of animate dinosaur skeletons]].
* In ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'', religion has been outlawed and pictures of people practicing it in secret are treated as something akin to pornography.
* In 2230 in the novel ''{{Literature/Valhalla}}'', all religion is banned without exception. The villains of the novel are colonialist missionaries.
* In the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series, Christianity as well as all other religions except for Carpathianism become illegal to practice during the latter half of the Tribulation when [[TheAntichrist Nicolae Carpathia]] is "resurrected" and [[AGodAmI proclaims himself to be God]]. Surprisingly averted by God and Jesus Christ in the Millennial Kingdom, since they allow The Other Light members to practice their religion within certain limits.
* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''[[Literature/WorldWar Colonization]]'' trilogy, [[LizardFolk the Race]] does not exactly outlaw human "superstitions" in their territories, but they do want to encourage conversion to their own reverence of the [[GodEmperor Spirits of Emperors Past]]. To accomplish this, they impose certain restrictions, such as charging people a fee to enter temples and forcing students in their medical school to pay respects to the shrine of the Spirits of Emperors Past. They have better success in China, where they managed to frame the practice in ways already similar to traditional Chinese ancestor reverence, and worse luck in the Middle East, where poor words from the Race ground troops make it a direct challenge to Islam.
* In ''Literature/Timeline191'', the US government faces rebellions from the Mormons of Utah during every war they fight with the CSA, with the Union Army crushing the rebels each time. This mirrors the real-life conflicts of the Mormons with the USA, and UsefulNotes/TheTroubles. It's sparked by the federal government cracking down on their polygamy in 1881.
* in ''Literature/CatsCradle'', every successive ruler of San Lorenzo outlaws Bokononism (and is an ardent Bokononist). It's actually an important part of the religion: since the poverty and relatively abysmal living conditions of the tiny nation and its populace really are pretty ''hopeless'', the founder(s) of Bokononism decided that the religion should at least provide an interesting and entertaining drama to give the people something else to focus on. So, they took on the dual roles of the Holy Prophet in the jungle and the Evil Dictator in the city, eventually both succumbing to BecomingTheMask to one degree or another.
* In the United States of ''Literature/ChristianNation'', all religions except for Christianity are banned.
* ''Literature/AnnalsOfTheWesternShore'': In ''Voices'', the Alds have outlawed worship of Ansul's FantasyPantheon. While they don't make any effort to evangelize ''their'' religion, they come down brutally on anyone they catch saluting one of Ansul's many religious statues or shrines.
* Christianity is, of course, an IllegalReligion in ''Literature/SearchTheSevenHills''. The Praetorian Arrius explains why; "They could sacrifice their babies in the forum if only they'd give a slice of the meat to the Genius of the Emperor. But they won't."
* ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'': Depending on where you are in Europe, either Catholicism, or some — or all — forms of Protestantism may be illegal. Some places switch back and forth multiple times over the course of the story.
* In the Final Empire of ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'', all religions except for the [[CorruptChurch Steel Ministry]] are illegal, as an extension of the fact that it's illegal to regard anyone but [[EvilOverlord the Lord Ruler]] as a god. Even then, only the Obligators (the Ministry's priests and bureaucrats) are permitted to engage much in the ritual and spiritual side of the faith — the Lord Ruler prefers his followers to show more material forms of devotion.
* In the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', Empress Laseen crushed the cult of WarGod Fener after she ascended the throne, and the only people seen worshipping him are either non-Malazans or Malazans who are willing to take the risk of persecution and worship him anyway.
* ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': Everything except the regime's particular fundamentalism is banned. Being a Catholic priest is a capital crime, and it's mentioned that the Church ordered clergy to stop wearing the cassock because of this. Quakers are also mentioned as being persecuted, along with Baptists (who have rebelled). Jews are allowed to convert or leave for Israel. Those who stay but practice Judaism in secret are executed.
* ''Literature/UndergroundZealot'': ''All'' religions have been banned, as religious conflict somehow started World War III.
* ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'': Following a nuclear attack by Islamic terrorists on the US, Islam is banned and all Muslims within its territories are displaced. Most of the world including the rest of the American continent, UK, Japan, China, and Australia follows suit, with the exception of the European Union, who turns into a Caliphate with the influx of Muslim refugees and them taking over. The only states where Muslims are tolerated under non-Muslims are Russia and South Africa, and even then, they are treated like second-class citizens where ''even African natives under apartheid are treated better''.
** Within the Caliphate, Christianity is tolerated, but it's also given second-class status to Islam. Christians are essentially slaves that can be killed at will, their testimony is half the weight of an Muslim, and proselytizing is punishable by [[CruelAndUnusualDeath crucifixion]].
* The Creator/MarquisDeSade proposed this, saying that Catholicism should be eradicated in France with mass terror and violence. He wanted practicing it to be a capital crime, and replaced with atheism plus his own nihilistic philosophy which said basically "anything goes".
* In the new ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse, the Empire is revealed to have prohibited organized religion, and more specifically belief in/worship of the supernatural generally. Of course, there were still many underground religions like the Church of the Force.
* Played with in the ''Literature/DreamscapeVoyagerTrilogy''. The widely held belief in the world is that the gods are universally evil, and spiritual leaders are dedicated to helping people 'avoid' them. However, while it is illegal to outright worship them, there is no law against painting a mural of one on the deck of your ship, naming your publically recognized mercenary band after one, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking or using their names to curse]].
* ''Literature/TheReluctantKing'': The theocracy of Tarxia forbids every religion besides theirs. Foreign visitors who aren't converts are only permitted for short periods, having to wear placards reading "Licensed Heretic" while in Tarxia.
* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': One feature of the monotheist religions if they are fanatical is suppressing all other sects.
* ''Literature/TerraIgnota'': Except in designated Reservations, all organized religion is banned as a result of the [[GreatOffscreenWar Church Wars]], to the point where simply ''discussing'' theology in a group of three or more people "unchaperoned" is specifically outlawed. Possessing religious iconography isn't illegal, but since those religions are taboo, nobody wants it anyways. However, ''non''-organized religion is tolerated: to address peoples’ spiritual needs, which haven’t [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions magically vanished]], specially trained counselors called sensayers help them develop and practice one-person religions, individual to each of their clients.
* ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'': Drow cities (at least Lolthite ones) ban worship of other gods. For non-Drow, the first offense means paying a heavy fine, the second death. For Drow, worshipping other gods is punishable by death no matter what.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Arduin}}'' supplement ''Arduin Grimoire Volume 6: House of the Rising Sun''. The vicious deity Sunsagora is extremely evil and her worshippers castrate males and burn them alive. As a result, her worship is forbidden almost everywhere in Arduin.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}''
*** In the Theocracy of the Pale, the only legal religion was worship of Pholtus. All other religions were forbidden.
*** In many areas, religions based on evil deities were officially forbidden because of the death and destruction their worshippers tended to cause. Chief among them is the worship of Tharizdun, due to him being an OmnicidalManiac so evil that [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the other evil deities cooperated]] to [[SealedEvilInACan trap him]]. His worshipers tend to be trying to free him.
*** ''Greyhawk Adventures'' supplement. Incabulos is a NeutralEvil deity whose worship services are carried out in underground or remote forest areas to avoid detection. His priests are secretive in order to avoid those who hate evil. The temples of the NeutralEvil deity Nerull operate secretly in underground vaults to avoid the authorities because his ceremonies often involve HumanSacrifice.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Forgotten Realms}}''
*** Several countries in Faerun outlaw the worship of Talos (not to be confused with the Elder Scrolls deity), the god of storms, destruction and natural disasters.
*** Supplement [=FR1=] ''Waterdeep and the North''. The city of Waterdeep forbids belonging to any religion that kidnaps or sacrifices living beings, steals their property, or carries out attacks on non-worshippers.
*** Supplement ''Forgotten Realms Adventures''. Temples and shrines of the NeutralEvil deity Cyric are not tolerated in most cities. They're only allowed in Evil-aligned or very tolerant areas. Churches of the LawfulGood god Ilmater are ruthlessly persecuted by the authorities in Evil areas such as Zhentil Keep and Mulmaster.
*** Supplement ''Ruins of Zhentil Keep'' area card "Secret Temple". Temples of the deities Bane and Cyric in good-aligned lands are hidden from view because their followers know that the governments of those areas would attack the temples if they knew where they were.
*** ''Magazine/{{Polyhedron}}'' magazine #131 article "Pillars of the Realm". Religions that have an Evil CharacterAlignment are forbidden in the city of Ravens Bluff. The religious order of knighthood called the Pillars of the Realm try to discover evil religions operating within the city and deal with them.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}''
*** The Church of the Silver Flame rules Thrane as a theocratic state, and while religions like the Sovereign Host are allowed within its borders, their adherents find life less comfortable, and few other religions, particularly the Blood of Vol (whose association with the undead is utterly abhorrent to the Church), survive for long.
*** The only religion allowed within the confines of Riedra is the PathOfInspiration.
** ''Magazine/{{Imagine}}'' magazine Special Edition, which explains the Pellinore campaign. In the County of Cerwyn, the Council of Guardians does not tolerate Chaotic (ChaoticGood, ChaoticNeutral, ChaoticEvil) religions.
** ''Magazine/{{Polyhedron}}'' magazine #33 adventure "The Sword and the Anti-Hero", which is based on Characters/FinnishMythology. In the land of Kittala, all of the religions of the land of Pohjola (such as that of Loviatar, the Maiden of Pain) are forbidden.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''
** In the backstory, the Emperor outlawed all religion during the formative years of the Imperium (except for the [[MachineWorship Cult Mechanicus]], because the Mechanicum was necessary and their religion was probably deemed "acceptable"). He promoted state-enforced atheism, publicly because religion was a superstition and a hindrance, privately because he hoped to quash Chaos Cults an attempt to [[GodNeedsPrayersBadly starve the Chaos Gods to death]]. Unfortunately, it didn't work due to a research failure on his part: the Chaos gods are fueled not by prayer, but by emotion. A galaxy at war was great for the Chaos Gods in the short term, but they knew they had to do something and banded together to break the Imperium.
** As a corollary to the above, the Emperor sent his [[TrulySingleParent "sons"]] to unite the galaxy into Imperium. One of them, Lorgar of the Word Bearers, chose to evangelize the cult of the Emperor in spite of his father's decree against religion. After a time, the Emperor publicly and painfully censured Lorgar, who turned to his homeworld's old religion which followed Chaos, and it was enough of a foot in the door for Chaos, [[Literature/HorusHeresy but that's another story]]. Ironically, the illegal Imperial Cult started by Lorgar was institutionalized shortly after the Emperor's [[OnlyMostlyDead "death"]]. Other religions are still ruthlessly suppressed.
** There are actually countless variations on the cult of the Emperor, as establishing a single version on the million worlds of the Imperium is impossible. Instead, whether or or not a particular cult is heretical or not is basically up to the local governor/Ecclesiarchy, and the Inquisition intervenes if they think they're getting too lax. This has the unfortunate side effect of allowing genestealer cults to flourish under certain circumstances, as unlike Chaos cults, who are dead-set on toppling the Emperor and whose acts are rather obvious, the genestealers are allowed to keep worshiping a bastardized version of the Emperor as a father figure, which then leads to the Tyranid fleets attacking.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': for the most part, only the cults of Chaos are outlawed by the church of Sigmar, as most other religions have non-AlwaysChaoticEvil gods (for example, there's a FriendlyRivalry between followers of a WarGod and a bear god).
** There are, however, occasional bans on specific cults and their practices for even non-Chaos gods, although they are predominantly imposed by the Empire's secular authorities: good examples would be cults of Khaine, a particularly dangerous war god to the High Elves, god of murder and assassination to everyone else; cults of Nagash, the Lord of Undeath (even before his ascension to actual godhood, there were a few); and those who worship Ranald, god of luck, in his aspect as the patron of gamblers, swindlers and thieves tend to find their actions curtailed. Those that worship Ranald in his aspect as Handrich, god of merchants and commerce, don't have that problem.
** In neighbouring Bretonnia, the official position is that only the state religion, venerating the Lady of the Lake, is an actual religion, everything else is peasant superstition to be wiped out when the local lord deigns to notice. However, the majority of peasants worship Shallya, goddess of mercy and healing without interference from their overlords, anyone from outside the kingdom is permitted to worship any non-Chaotic gods as they wish (on the grounds that "foreigners don't know any better"), and the coastal towns and cities worship Manann, god of the seas as a pragmatic defence against storms and tidal waves.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': The elven nation of Tir Tairngire banned the Universal Brotherhood cult within its borders. They had good reason to: the organization in question is devoted to converting human beings into insect spirits. Aztlan revoked the Roman Catholic Church's tax-exempt status in 2027 and then outlawed it in 2041, in order to promote Aztechnology's Aztec revival religion. Yes, they banned Catholicism in what used to be Mexico. This has gone over as well as expected.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}''
** Razmiran outlaws worship of any deity but their god-king Razmir within the nation's borders.
** After a particularly long and bloody religious CivilWar, the nation of Rahadoum outlawed all religion and divine magic within its borders.
** The worship of Rovagug is banned pretty much everywhere for very good reason. Rovagug is a DestroyerDeity that every other god wants to keep imprisoned. Worshipers of him want to free him so he will destroy all of creation.
** In [[VestigialEmpire Taldor]], the worship of the NeutralGood sun goddess Sarenrae was outlawed for decades because of politics. Sarenrae is a solidly benevolent deity, but she's also the patron god of Taldor's greatest rival, and the Taldan emperor worried that the faith harbored treasonous foreign influences.
** Averted with worship of Asmodeus for the most part. No one really likes him or his worshipers. But even the Good Aligned Gods will admit that Asmodeus at least will work with you without backstabbing you if things get dire enough. And that he does give out good, if suspicious advice. It helps a lot that his worshippers will follow the letter of the law, if not the spirit.
* On Mars in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the chief religious order, the Orthodox Fellowship, considers ''every other Martian religion or sect heretical and illegal''. Whether their influence actually spreads that far is debatable, but they enforce their bans as much as possible.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'', two of Calabria's four major houses have outlawed their ancestor's pre-[[CrystalDragonJesus S'allumer]] faiths. House Avoirdupois drove the Heliodromencer's underground some 700 years ago while House Bisclavret's "savage" cousins in the Phelan tribes still follow the {{Druid}}s out beyond the reach of the Church and its' fanatics. There's no real trace left of whatever House Rinaldi worshiped before Saint Helloise came to them, while House Doloreaux never converted as a whole and still practices the old faith of Lutarism.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Mindjammer}}'' the New Commonality of Humankind has not only banned most religions, but also memes such as democracy, communism, fascism, and [[BrainUploading "the Transmigration Heresy"]]. Despite the whole "collective memory" thing and the fact that the Commonality is basically a communist dictatorship.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The Ancient Greek and Roman world were tolerant of religion so long as it did not contravene the Gods of the State, i.e. official religion.
** One of the charges against Creator/{{Socrates}} at his trial was that he practiced private beliefs against the state religion. This led them to accuse him of impiety, corrupting the youth and subverting the state.
** The Romans faced one of the greatest struggles during the UsefulNotes/JewishRevolts not because they saw Judaism as illegal per se, but because their occupation was violating, perhaps unwittingly, Jewish customs and traditions, namely Pompey marching into the Temple's inner sanctum, the "Holy of Holies", that their PuppetKing Herod was unpopular and this sparked a major religious uprising that continued until the Fall of Masada. Judaism would continue to trouble the Romans with further rebellions until Hadrian crushed and scattered the Jews into diaspora and even renamed Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, forbidding the re-establishment of the Temple. Jews who adjusted to Roman customs and accepted Roman rule were not proscribed, but the main tenets of their religion and its ties to Jerusalem were definitely forbidden.
** Christianity endured periods of persecution (albeit sometimes exaggerated), indifference, and finally active patronage on account to its growth during the "crisis of the third century". Christianity initially faced objections because they refused to acknowledge the Caesar as a GodEmperor, and the fact that its hero Jesus was crucified, which to Roman sensibilities marked him as a criminal and {{Outlaw}} beyond the pale. The Roman elite such as Lucian of Samosata saw Christianity as similar to other Roman and foreign cults which had cropped up across the empire at the time and viewed it with bemused contempt. Eventually, its appeal among Roman lower classes spread and finally it attained official support from the Emperor Constantine, who was claimed to have been led to victory by the Abrahamic God after seeing Christian symbols in a vision. He legalized it, though it wasn't until some fifty years later under Emperor UsefulNotes/TheodosiusI it became the state religion.
** When Christianity started gaining ground, the old pagan religions suffered declining faithful, proscription, and dereliction of their property — mostly during the reign of Theodosius (albiet with precedents under earlier emperors). Temples of Jupiter and Mars were used as roadside privies, and subject to vandalism and MonumentalDamage. Christians also burnt many books from the era critical of them. Pagans were actively persecuted, temples and statues were destroyed (except for those preserved by the state and some responsible bishops and priests), and fell into disrepair.
* While UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain is often noted by scholars for its religious tolerance (often also exaggerated), this changed when the Almohad Caliphate rose to power, outlawed Christianity and Judaism, and forced its minorities to convert to Islam or face death — something completely unprecedented in the region's history. The Almohads were considered [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalists]] even by their own contemporaries, with their founder being previously exiled from every city he preached in because he accused others of being "[[HolierThanThou insufficiently Islamic]]". As such, even those who converted were still discriminated against because their rulers felt they weren't sincere enough in their faith (unsurprisingly, since they did it under pressure). It was only after the Almohads declined in power that they abandoned these puritanical doctrines and policies.
* The Roman Catholic Church actively prohibited heresies and declared crusades against TheRemnant of pagan communities. Although sometimes this policy was pursued independently — for instance, UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}, who crushed pagans in Saxony — the Church generally condoned or refused to acknowledge this violence. This includes the Wendish Crusade and the notoriously bloody Albigensian Crusade which crushed Catharism, a revival of Manichaeanism that spread from Hungary to Southern France.
** Contrary to general belief, the Roman Catholic Church never pursued an official coordinated policy to proscribe and persecute Judaism. Some Popes were quite tolerant and even liberal (such as UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI), others were openly antisemitic and limited Jews to ghettoes. Low-level bishops and priests could be openly antisemitic and encourage pogroms during the Black Death and in other eras, while other bishops in Germany and Hungary sheltered and protected Jews during the People's Crusade (the starting point of populist antisemitism in European history). However, kings and queens appealing to the sentiments of their subjects and seeking to expand the control of the local Catholic Church would promote policies of expulsion. UsefuLnotes/EdwardTheFirst banned Jews from England, Philip the Fair proscribed their property and expelled them, and other nations followed similar policies.
** In the history of UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}, the Reconquista and the early years of UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition featured mass persecution of Jews and Muslims across Spain, many of whom were forced to convert. Even after conversion, they were labeled New Christians and treated as second-class citizens to distinguish them from Old Christians. There were also accusations that some Jews and Muslims forced into conversion were HidingBehindReligion and practicing their old beliefs BeneathSuspicion of Christian piety. Some of these accusations were actually true and would be recognized and celebrated today as an act of resistance on the part of oppressed people preserving their culture from tyranny, but at the time it was a serious slur and led many New Christians to backdate and fake their lineage to fit in. Those who refused to convert became refugees, and many of them, ironically enough, found a home in Rome, welcomed by Pope Alexander VI (who ''was'' Spanish), who gave them rights to live without any pressure of conversion.[[note]]Pope Alexander VI, being a Borgia and otherwise quite corrupt, would face trouble from his successors who invoked his philanthropy to Jews as a rebuke.[[/note]]
* When Protestantism arrived, the reigning Catholic Church saw it as another heresy rather than a separate religion. However, Protestantism attracted the support of kings and lords in Germany, Holland, Sweden, and later England. This would lead to the Reformation and later the Wars of Religion.
** Protestantism in turn persecuted other minority faiths, ''and other Protestant sects''. Martin Luther was fiercely antisemitic and wrote many pamphlets that were revived by the Nazis, and he also allied with state authorities against Protestant sects that were more egalitarian than he was (namely Thomas Muntzer) and suppressed them.
** In England, the Anglican Church sponsored by the King UsefulNotes/HenryVIII would persecute English Catholics and shut down monasteries. Later Protestant English monarchs and UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell would persecute Irish Catholics and create division by encouraging settlements of Protestant nobility among a largely Catholic peasantry, leading to divisions (initially religious, later national, now ethnic) that persist to the present day. Catholicism was never declared illegal officially, but Catholics in England and Ireland were treated as second-class citizens (albeit better than Jews and other minorities) with restricted civil rights until the 19th Century.
** The Anglican Church persecuted Protestant dissenters such as Baptists, Quakers, and other sects, many of whom settled in America to escape the Church of England. Because dissenting Protestants were such a big part of American society and politics, they disliked an official organized church authority (at the time, that is), and this led to consensus for the First Amendment, a policy that forbids any official government position or endorsement of religion, that separates Church and State and also upholds religious liberties. Initially, this applied only to the federal government (some states then still had official churches, and prosecuted preachers from minority sects at times for preaching without a licence). By the 1830s, however, these were abolished. Blasphemy laws did not last much longer in the US. Sadly, though, some Native American religions and rituals would be banned later. Even now, there is much dispute over the right extent of religious freedom, with Congress and courts wrangling over it regularly.
** Scotland dissolved and banned Catholicism in 1560, though bans on mass were often not enforced. Catholic holdouts still existed in the Highlands region, and provided support for Catholic monarchs later in the Jacobite Risings. Priests were subject to arrest.
** Of note is Queen Mary I's reign, in which she tried to restore Catholicism in England, and enforce it with the burning of Protestants. The sheer amount of victims (over 300 of them in a five year reign, including tradesmen, women, children, and a ''pregnant'' woman), coupled with her marrying UsefulNotes/PhilipII of Spain (which brought fears of the above mentioned Inquisition coming to England), turned the people against her and against Catholicism, and when her half-sister Elizabeth took the throne, one of the first things she did was re-establish the Protestant church. The fears of a Catholic England so scarred the people that they overthrew the next Catholic monarch to come, and to this day Catholics are barred from the line of succession to the British throne.
* UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution resulted in the first instance of secular persecution of Christianity.
** On account of the Catholic Church being the largest landowner in France at a time of economic and political crisis, many French politicians, writers and thinkers instituted comprehensive policies to seize and distribute the land to peasants, middle-class aspirants, and liberal nobles. They also instituted the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, demanding that French priests swear loyalty to the French government and abjure their vows to the Pope. A few priests took the Constitutional Oath, like the famous anti-racist and abolitionist Henri Gregoire, but many of France's devout opposed this change and most priests refused to take the vows, playing a major role in unleashing the counter-revolution as the Revolutionary hardliners became enraged at their continued and active defiance, guillotining many of those that refused.
** It must be noted that the Revolutionaries gave equal rights to all minority religions (Protestants, Jews) and supported the Constitutional Clergy and mainly targeted pre-Revolutionary Catholics. During the Terror, they released a policy of Dechristianization, which led to vandalism (albeit considerably exaggerated) of many churches and cemeteries. The cemeteries had graffiti proclaiming "Death is an eternal sleep", priests and nuns were guillotined, and monasteries were vandalized. The Notre Dame Cathedral saw its altar attacked and replaced with a "Statue of Liberty" (the Roman Goddess Liberty[[note]]Which led to its presence in Revolutionary iconography finally resulting in [[Art/StatueOfLiberty Lady Liberty]][[/note]]). Some Revolutionaries such as Robespierre opposed Dechristianization and ended it, while Henri Gregoire, the Constitutional clergyman, advocated defending Church property and opposed vandalism.
** The Revolutionary government created its own state-sponsored secular religions to replace Catholicism. First was the explicit atheistic and anthropocentric [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason Cult of Reason]], which worshipped Reason, in 1793. Just one year later, at the height of his power, UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre replaced it with the deistic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being Cult of the Supreme Being]], which itself only lasted for two months (7 May--28 July 1794) when Robespierre fell from power and was beheaded. After that both faded from view, and were officially banned by UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte when he officially reestablished Catholicism in 8 April 1802.
* Creator/KarlMarx famously remarked that religion is "the opium of the masses".[[note]]In context of the text and the time, this was not necessarily negative -- Marx saw opium as a painkiller as it was seen in that time, and basically relieving suffering. Marx in other articles criticized revolutionaries for advocating that religion is the main source of social problems and hinders progress rather than economic inequality. He pointed out that America was an advanced nation and religious. He felt that religion would decline if socialists relieved the problems that make people turn to religion.[[/note]] Communist revolutionaries invoked this remark and officially promoted atheism among their cadres, education systems, and general propaganda, while also persecuting religion and believers to varying degrees.
** In Russia, as in France, the ruling Orthodox Church was a powerful presence in administration and society and owned much property. UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin suppressed the Orthodox Church, promoted atheism in society and education, and forbade religious education in schools. UsefulNotes/JosefStalin increased the persecution of all religions (even minorities) and the Orthodox Church at first before reviving it during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII under government control to help the war effort.
** Other left-wing groups took anti-Catholic activities more seriously. Mexico saw the Cristero War during TheRoaringTwenties where priests were banned and driven underground and religious iconography was often seen as a mark of treachery. Communist Albania went so far as to ban religious practice entirely. UsefulNotes/MaoZedong suppressed traditional worship and practices and persecuted Tibetan Buddhism, but later successors driven by the fascination of tourists to Tibet have promoted lamaseries and moderated their stance while making images, texts and addresses of the Dalai Lama taboo. On a lesser note, during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar left-wing fighters attacked and killed clergy, burning churches or converting them for secular uses, with much the same grievances as above.
* UsefulNotes/NaziGermany was notoriously antisemitic and scientific racialist. It outlawed Judaism as a religion and even persecuted ethnic and cultural Jews, or Jews who had converted to Christianity (for sincere and/or social careerist reasons).
** Hitler and the Nazis were not entirely friends of Christianity either. Hitler was publicly a Christian, but the Nazi policy of state control by party meant that they clamped down on religious instructions and interfered in doctrines of the Church. Some Catholics and Protestants supported the Nazis, but those who didn't could face jail time and execution or deportation to concentration camps. Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted as a group over their refusal to swear loyalty oaths or serve in the military (both forbidden by Witness beliefs), with some being executed and many imprisoned in concentration camps. "YHVH" was even ordered erased wherever it was displayed in churches, as this was the "Jewish" name of God. In one instance, local Nazi officials ordered even crosses removed from churches, but this was a step too far as you might expect. After protests, the edict was withdrawn. The Nazis also had plans to turn Jesus into an Aryan figure if they couldn't simply abolish Christianity and replace it with their own religion. For the moment, the Nazis backed a so-called "Positive Christianity" and "German Christian" movement which aligned with their ideology. Their supporters managed to take control of the Lutheran Church in Germany. The Confessing Church, made up of dissident Protestants that refused to join, was driven underground, with members subjected to the treatment stated above. Hitler initially signed a concordat with the Catholic Church on coming to power, but frequently broke its terms, and by the late 1930s Catholics were actively being persecuted (even if they were not openly dissident). The Catholic bishops protest at the Aktion T4 program (exterminating disabled and mentally ill patients), which managed to stop it temporarily, especially angered Hitler, and he swore to "settle with them" after the war ended. Hitler's private beliefs are still not entirely clear, though he did denounce Christianity and of course Judaism. Even in private, though, he also denounced atheism, saying it was inhuman and claimed to believe in God (though perhaps of a deist or pantheist variety).
** The Nazis outlawed atheist and freethought groups as well as Freemasonry in Germany in 1933. In one instance, the headquarters of the German Freethinkers League wound up being used by the churches of Berlin as a bureau to convert people and give religious advice. In a lesser example, the SS loyalty oath denounced atheists, while banning them from joining. Freemasons were also deported and executed in concentration camps alongside Jews and Gypsies. In practice though regarding the SS, those terms had socialist connotations in Nazi Germany. Any non-socialist who was not Catholic or Protestant (and Muslim in certain cases), [[http://apjjf.org/-Hans-Joachim-Bieber/4902/article.pdf including some who might have been atheists]] simply identified as "God believer", (Gottgläubig) who in fact made up a [[https://books.google.com/books?id=SHl7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55&dq=religion+nazi+ss+protestant+catholic disproportionately large percentage]] of the SS (25% by 1938) compared to the German population at large, where all but [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nazi_Germany 1-6% belonged]] to Protestant or Catholic Churches officially. German SS units [[https://books.google.com/books?id=QYKuDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59&dq=chaplains+waffen+ss&hl=pt-BR were not even assigned chaplains]] in contrast to regular German Army practices. Open atheism was associated with Bolshevism and communism generally, the ideology that was the Nazis' chief enemy. All open atheists were therefore persecuted by association with this.
* In the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Independent State of Croatia]] (which was just an [[NonIndicativeName Axis puppet regime despite the name]]), Eastern Orthodoxy was outlawed alongside Judaism because it was the Serbs' favored religion, while the State only recognized Roman Catholicism and Sunni Islam as "brother religions that kept the blood of Croats true". As such, Serbs faced persecution from both Catholic and Muslim fascists via ethnic cleansing, deportation and forced conversions.
* UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi banned Christianity in 1587, ordering all Christian missionaries to leave Japan.
** He saw the religion as a threat to his dream of unifying Japan, and politically, this was done to reduce the influence of the Christian daimyo of Kyushu. A decade later in 1597, Hideyoshi had twenty-six Christians, known today as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-six_Martyrs_of_Japan Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan]], crucified as an example to native Japanese seeking to convert to the religion. The banning of Christianity went even further after the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimabara_Rebellion Shimabara Rebellion]], and (even after Christianity was again made legal in 1871 with the reopening of the country) there are still some "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan hidden Christians]]" (''kakure Kirishitan'') who descend from the survivors of the persecution.
** This is in contrast to his predecessor UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga, who kept the Christians around (mainly because he wanted their guns) but had all but declared war on certain Buddhist sects (who, unlike the Christians, were a political threat to him). This ended up being his undoing.
** Later historians note that the Japanese policy was a result of the advice given to them by Protestant Dutch traders. They pointed out that the Catholic Church had promoted colonialist oppression in South America among native peoples and destroyed the Mayan and Aztec ruling class (true). The Japanese shogunate, fearful of Christian expansion and persecution, felt they had to take a preemptive strike and force Christians to apostasize. Notably, while Catholic Christianity was banned from Japan during its period of isolation, Dutch traders and Protestant merchantmen were welcome at the port of Nagasaki (originally a Catholic majority port and seat), so long as they toed the fumie[[note]]A small wooden icon of Jesus which the authorities used to force Catholics to apostasize. The Protestants, being less ritualistic, did not see the fumie as a Christian icon and did not feel they were abjuring their faith.[[/note]] and stayed within limits. This continued until the end of isolation.
** Hideyoshi also had problems with certain Buddhists. The Ikko-Ikki (militant Buddhist) monks were mortal enemies (and a major thorn in the side) of his ally Nobunaga (who went so far as to destroy their Nagashima fortress, killing everyone inside and burning Ishiyama Hongan-ji to the ground but sparing many of the defenders' lives) and therefore certainly a major stumbling block on the road to a unified Japan. Ironic that Hideyoshi and Tokugawa would clamp down on Christianity when Nobunaga's own brother Nagamasu was Catholic. In another irony, the Ikko-Ikki then joined with Hideyoshi in 1580.
* Missouri Executive Order 44 of 1838 stated that all Mormons in Missouri "must be exterminated or driven from the state," essentially outlawing Mormonism within. Several massacres of Mormons took place, with the rest fleeing. It wasn't officially rescinded until 1976. The federal government later also came into conflict with the LDS Church, mostly over polygamy, from open combat in the Utah War to later legal prosecutions. It culminated with the church itself being dissolved and its property seized. At last, prompted by this, Mormon doctrine was revised to forbid polygamy (although unofficially the practice continued for some time, and splinter sects rejected the change entirely).
* In the ''[[Literature/TheTanakh Tanakh]]'' (Old Testament to Christian readers), worship of anything other than the one and only God was illegal and punishable by death according to many laws and decrees by the prophets and is listed as the First Commandment ("Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."). But for much of Israel's history, many rulers not only allowed worship of other things, but actively facilitated it (after all, if they didn't, what were all those prophets complaining about?). They were okay with magi (Persian Zoroastrian priests) even in periods where they otherwise had officially banned all other forms of worship too, since Cyrus The Great was viewed as God's servant foretold by Isaiah after he freed the Israelites enslaved by the Babylonians, allowing them to return home. Today, Israel officially allows any religion to be practiced, but accounts from neo-pagans claim they would be cut to pieces if they ever publicly admitted to worshiping someone like Anat or Thor.
* In around the 5th century CE, the Sassanid Persian Empire was intolerant of any religion other than Zoroastrianism, enforcing a ban on them and attempting to force its Christian Armenian subjects to convert. The ensuing rebellion, led by Vartan Mamikonian, ended in a PyrrhicVictory for the Persians and eventually led to Persia becoming more lenient due to their needing Armenia's cooperation in dealing with the invading Huns. Modern Armenians credit Vartan's revolt with saving Armenia's religious identity.
* Zoroastrianism and paganism itself were banned in the Armenian Kingdom in the 4th century, until the kingdom got taken over and partitioned by Persia and Rome. Conversion to Christianity still didn't happen overnight, but the temples to the various Armenian gods were destroyed soon after the king converted. This was the common path conversion to Christianity took in many kingdoms.
* While Singapore is a secular society and tolerates other religions, the Jehovah's Witnesses are banned within the city state (mainly because Singapore has a mandatory military draft, and Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to serve in any military or swear loyalty to any person or thing other than God). Similarly, the Unification Church is banned in Singapore because the government sees the church as a cult.
* Many countries with a Muslim majority forbid conversion to another religion from Islam, or blasphemy. Prosecution of atheists, Christians, and minority religious adherents for alleged violations of these laws occurs in many parts of the Muslim world, along with extra-legal attacks. Some of these countries also persecute people who follow the "wrong" kind of Islam. The most extreme is Saudi Arabia, which forbids anything but Wahhabist Sunni Islam in the kingdom. Christians are persecuted in the country, with churches, missionaries, and Bibles all illegal. Atheism is also forbidden and declared a form of terrorism.
* Islam is illegal in [[https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/738462/Slovakia-law-Islam-ban-registered-religion-Eu-migrant-quota-Muslim-sentiment Slovakia]].
* Contrary to popular belief, religion in general ''isn't'' outlawed in current-day China. However, it is against the law for a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to follow a religion, presumably meaning you can't have a government job if you're religious. Moreover, some sects (like the Falun Gong, independent Christians, Uighur Muslims, and Tibetan Buddhists loyal to the Dalai Lama) are banned/persecuted. Religion generally was suppressed in the early period under Mao, especially during the Cultural Revolution.
* While there was never an act that ''fully'' outlawed indigenous faiths in the United States and Canada, there were many attempts to curtail local practices. For instance, Canada banned the potlatch ceremony, common among several Pacific Northwest tribes, from 1885 to 1951 on the grounds that it was a barrier towards getting the tribes to adopt Christian European practices. The Sun Dance was likewise banned from 1895 to 1951. In the States, certain aspects of tribal ceremonies, ranging from access to sacred land to use of agents such as peyote, were effectively hampered by various ordnances until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed in 1978.
[[/folder]]

** Christianity endured periods of persecution (albeit sometimes exaggerated), indifference, and finally active patronage on account to its growth during the "crisis of the third century". Christianity initially faced objections because they refused to acknowledge the Caesar as a GodEmperor, and the fact that its hero Jesus was crucified, which to Roman sensibilities marked him as a criminal and {{Outlaw}} beyond the pale. The Roman elite such as Lucian of Samosata saw Christianity as similar to other Roman and foreign cults which had cropped up across the empire at the time and viewed it with bemused contempt. Eventually, its appeal among Roman lower classes spread and finally it attained official support from the Emperor Constantine, who was claimed to have been led to victory by the Abrahamic God after seeing Christian symbols in a vision. He legalized it, though it wasn't until some fifty years later under Flavius Theodosius Augustus it became the state religion.
** When Christianity started gaining ground, the old pagan religions suffered declining faithful, proscription, and dereliction of their property — mostly during the reign of Emperor Theodosius (albiet with precedents under earlier emperors). Temples of Jupiter and Mars were used as roadside privies, and subject to vandalism and MonumentalDamage. Christians also burnt many books from the era critical of them. Pagans were actively persecuted, temples and statues were destroyed (except for those preserved by the state and some responsible bishops and priests), and fell into disrepair.
* While UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain is often noted by scholars for its religious tolerance, this changed when the Almohad Caliphate rose to power, outlawed Christianity and Judaism, and forced its minorities to convert to Islam or face death — something completely unprecedented in the region's history. The Almohads were considered [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalists]] even by their own contemporaries, with their founder being previously exiled from every city he preached in because he accused others of being "[[HolierThanThou insufficiently Islamic]]". As such, even those who converted were still discriminated against because their rulers felt they weren't sincere enough in their faith (unsurprisingly, since they did it under pressure). It was only after the Almohads declined in power that they abandoned these puritanical doctrines and policies.

** Of note is Queen Mary I's reign, in which she tried to restore Catholicism in England, and enforce it with the burning of Protestants. The sheer amount of victims (over 300 of them in a five year reign, including tradesmen, women, children, and a ''pregnant'' woman), coupled with her marrying Phillip of Spain (which brought fears of the above mentioned Inquisition coming to England), turned the people against her and against Catholicism, and when her half-sister Elizabeth took the throne, one of the first things she did was re-establish the Protestant church. The fears of a Catholic England so scarred the people that they overthrew the next Catholic monarch to come, and to this day Catholics are barred from the line of succession to the British throne.

** It must be noted that the Revolutionaries gave equal rights to all minority religions (Protestants, Jews) and supported the Constitutional Clergy and mainly targeted pre-Revolutionary Catholics. During the Terror, they released a policy of Dechristianization, which led to vandalism (albeit considerably exaggerated) of many churches and cemeteries. The cemeteries had graffiti proclaiming "Death is an eternal sleep", priests and nuns were guillotined, and monasteries were vandalized. The Notre Dame Cathdral saw its altar attacked and replaced with a "Statue of Liberty" (the Roman Goddess Liberty[[note]]Which led to its presence in Revolutionary iconography finally resulting in [[Art/StatueOfLiberty Lady Liberty]][[/note]]). Some Revolutionaries such as Robespierre opposed Dechristianization and ended it, while Henri Gregoire, the Constitutional clergyman, advocated defending Church property and opposed vandalism.

[[folder:Film]]

* In the {{Film/Apocalypse}} film series, Christianity is considered illegal to practice, as One Nation Earth, ruled by the {{Antichrist}}, actively hunts down all who do.

* Prevalent in more modern or futuristic settings, an EmperorScientist or similar wants their society to embrace scientific progress and sees religion as [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions trappings of the unenlightened past or what's holding them back]]. They often view the religious as incapable of scientific thought despite any evidence to the contrary.

When adding RealLife examples, please list historical examples only, and keep in mind the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement due to the ''very'' sensitive nature of religion.

* In the ''[[Literature/TheTanakh Tanakh]]'' (Old Testament to Christian readers), worship of anything other than the one and only God was illegal and punishable by death according to many laws and decrees by the prophets and is listed as the First Commandment ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me."). But for much of Israel's history, many rulers not only allowed worship of other things, but actively facilitated it (after all, if they didn't, what were all those prophets complaining about?). They were okay with magi (Persian Zoroastrian priests) even in periods where they otherwise had officially banned all other forms of worship too, since Cyrus The Great was viewed as God's servant foretold by Isaiah after he freed the Israelites enslaved by the Babylonians, allowing them to return home. Today, Israel officially allows any religion to be practiced, but accounts from neo-pagans claim they would be cut to pieces if they ever publicly admitted to worshiping someone like Anat or Thor.

[[folder:Mythology and Folklore]]

** Of note is Queen Mary I's reign, in which she tried to restore Catholicism in England, and enforce it with the burning of Protestants. The sheer amount of victims (over 300 of them in a five year reign, including tradesmen, women, children, and a ''pregnant'' woman), coupled with her marrying Phillip of Spain (which brought fears of the above mentioned Inquisition coming to England), turned the people against her and against Catholicism, and when her half-sister Elizabeth took the throne, one of the first things she did was re-establish the Protestant church. The fears of a Catholic England so scarred the people that they overthrew the next Catholic monarch to come, and to this day Catholics are barred from the line of succession.

In cases involving a genuine, overt ReligionOfEvil, as opposed to a faith that is merely painted as such by their opposition, this trope is usually not portrayed in the same negative light as banning a faith for other reasons. In such cases, the faith's will be given ample KickTheDog moments, usually involving HumanSacrifice, to make it abundantly clear it really ''is'' deserving of prohibition.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye:'' The Decepticons renounced Primus, the Primes and the Matrix at the beginning of the war. Several million years later the Decepticon Justice Division hunt down and violently kill anyone still practicing any religion whatsoever, since Megatron proclaimed it a form of control. As opposed to violently killing people to make them all stay in line, which is just the normal workings of an empire, [[{{Hypocrite}} naturally]]. Adding to the hypocrisy, the D.J.D. religiously worship Megatron (or [[BrokenPedestal did at any rate]], and one of them murmurs prayers when nearing death.

-->'''Beetee''': Of all the Snow-damned, idiotic, foolish stunts …
* ''Fanfic/TheEndOfTheWorld'' The Capitol has banned religious worship, but several times it's shown that most of District 8 still practices Judaism in secret.

* In ''Film/CSATheConfederateStatesOfAmerica'' the Christian Reform Act bans any religion not based on Christianity. It's noted that there was much debate before deciding that Catholicism was safe under the act, and that the Jews were nearly thrown out, but Jefferson Davis's dying wish (and reminder that it was a Jew who saved the Confederacy) allowed for a small settlement of Jews on Long Island.
* ''Film/{{Silence}}'' takes place in feudal Japan where Christianity is outlawed by the Shogunate, and it has to be practiced in secret by those who believe in it. [[spoiler:It's revealed that the BigBad knows about the crypto-Christians as he admits to the main protagonist, but isn't really interested in persecuting them since they are a minority and aren't really represent a threat to the state so long as they are out of sight and abjure their faith in public]].

* ''Film/StarshipTroopers3Marauder'': Religion, although not prohibited entirely, is much discouraged by the government (which appears to take an official atheist stance), with anyone outspoken called "religious fanatics" and repressed. At the end they realize religion is useful however, switching course entirely to declare that God does exist and make their own very nationalist interpretation of Christianity the state church for instilling loyalty.

** In turn the Bear Cults ''wants'' to do this the other Kingdoms of the West, forcing them to worship Belar as opposed to their own gods (or all of them in the case of the very ecumenical Sendars).
** While the outlawing of the Bear Cult is the banning of a specific form of an accepted religion, a straighter example is the banning of the worship of Torak in all the Alorn Kingdoms. Similarly in Mallorea traditional Karand religion is banned, mostly because it involves the worshipping and summoning of ''demons''.

* In ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'' religion has been outlawed and pictures of people practicing it in secret are treated as something akin to pornography.

* ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'': Following a nuclear attack by Islamic terrorists on the US, Islam is banned and all Muslims within its territories are displaced. Most of the world including the rest of the American continent, UK, Japan, China and Australia follows suit with the exception of the European Union, who turns into a Caliphate with the influx of Muslim refugees and them taking over. The only states where Muslims are tolerated under non-Muslims are Russia and South Africa, and even then, they are treated like second-class citizens where ''even African natives under apartheid are treated better''.

* In the new ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse the Empire is revealed to have prohibited organized religion, and more specifically belief in/worship of the supernatural generally. Of course, there were still many underground religions like the Church of the Force.

* ''Literature/TerraIgnota'': Except in designated Reservations, all organized religion is banned as a result of the [[GreatOffscreenWar Church Wars]], to the point where simply ''discussing'' theology in a group of three or more people "unchaperoned" is specifically outlawed. Possessing religious iconography isn't illegal, but since those religions are taboo, nobody wants it anyways. However, ''non-''organized religion is tolerated: to address peoples’ spiritual needs, which haven’t [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions magically vanished]], specially trained counselors called sensayers help them develop and practice one-person religions, individual to each of their clients.

* Pagan Min in ''Videogame/FarCry4'' wants the citizens of Kyrat to worship him as a GodEmperor, and has outlawed the old religions and social gatherings at places of religious significance, such as temples and mani wheels. [[spoiler:If Sabal ends up taking over at the end, he outlaws every other religion aside from the Kyrati religion and puts all others to death.]]
* In ''Videogame/PillarsOfEternity'', after the Saints War and the spreading of [[SterilityPlague Waidwen's Legacy]], the worship of Eothas has since been outlawed and the followers actively persecuted. Éder, one of your companions, is one of the last remaining worshipers of Eothas due to the fact that he fought against St. Waidwen during the war (he doubted Waidwen's claim to being a prophet and the possibility of him actually being right personally haunts him).
* In ''Videogame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'', a flyer Geralt can read on a notice board mentions that King Radovid has declared the Eternal Fire the only permitted religion in Redania, and wearing the symbols of any other religion is punishable by being burned at the stake.

** The Romans faced one of the greatest struggles during the UsefulNotes/JewishRevolts not because they saw Judaism as illegal per se, but because their occupation was violating, perhaps unwittingly, Jewish customs and traditions, namely Pompey marching into the Temple's inner sanctum, the "Holy of Holies", that their PuppetKing Herod was unpopular and this sparked a major religious uprising that continued until the Fall of Masada. Judaism would continue to trouble the Romans with further rebellions until Hadrian crushed and scattered the Jews into diaspora and even renamed Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, forbidding the re-establishment of the Temple. Jews who adjusted to Roman customs, and accepted Roman rule were not proscribed but the main tenets of their religion and its ties to Jerusalem were definitely forbidden.

** When Christianity started gaining ground, the old pagan religions suffered declining faithful, proscription, and dereliction of their property -- mostly during the reign of Emperor Theodosius (albiet with precidents under earlier emperors). Temples of Jupiter and Mars were used as roadside privies, and subject to vandalism and MonumentalDamage. Christians also burnt many books from the era critical of them. Pagans were actively persecuted, temples and statues were destroyed (except for those preserved by the state and some responsible bishops and priests), and fell into disrepair.

* The Roman Catholic Church actively prohibited heresies and declared crusades against TheRemnant of pagan communities. Although sometimes this policy was pursued independently - for instance, UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}, who crushed pagans in Saxony — the Church generally condoned or refused to acknowledge this violence. This includes the Wendish Crusade and the notoriously bloody Albigensian Crusade which crushed Catharism, a revival of Manichaeanism that spread from Hungary to Southern France.

* When Protestantism arrived, the reigning Catholic Church saw it as another heresy rather than a separate religion. However Protestantism attracted the support of kings and lords in Germany, Holland, Sweden and later England. This would lead to the Reformation and later the Wars of Religion.

** The Anglican Church persecuted Protestant dissenters such as Baptists, Quakers and other sects, many of whom settled in America to escape the Church of England. Because dissenting Protestants were such a big part of American society and politics, they disliked an official organized church authority (at the time that is), and this led to consensus for the First Amendment, a policy that forbids any official government position or endorsement of religion, that separates Church and State and also upholds religious liberties. Initially this applied only to the federal government (some states then still had official churches, and prosecuted preachers from minority sects at times for preaching without a licence). By the 1830s, however, these were abolished. Blasphemy laws did not last much longer in the US. Sadly though, some Native American religions and rituals would be banned later. Even now there is much dispute over the right extent of religious freedom, with Congress and courts wrangling over it regularly.

* Creator/KarlMarx famously remarked that religion is "the opium of the masses".[[note]]In context of the text and the time this was not necessarily negative -- Marx saw opium as a painkiller as it was seen in that time, and basically relieving suffering. Marx in other articles criticized revolutionaries for advocating that religion is the main source of social problems and hinders progress rather than economic inequality. He pointed out that America was an advanced nation and religious. He felt that religion would decline if socialists relieved the problems that make people turn to religion.[[/note]] Communist revolutionaries invoked this remark and officially promoted atheism among their cadres, education systems and general propaganda, while also persecuting religion and believers to varying degrees.

* UsefulNotes/NaziGermany was notoriously antisemitic and scientific racialist. It outlawed Judaism as a religion and even persecuted ethnic and cultural Jews, or Jews who had converted to Christianity (for sincere and or social careerist reasons).
** Hitler and the Nazis were not entirely friends of Christianity either. Hitler was publicly a Christian but the Nazi policy of state control by party meant that they clamped down on religious instructions and interfered in doctrines of the Church. Some Catholics and Protestants supported the Nazis but those who didn't could face jail time and execution or deportation to concentration camps. Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted as a group over their refusal to swear loyalty oaths or serve in the military (both forbidden by Witness beliefs) with some being executed and many imprisoned in concentration camps. "YHVH" was even ordered erased wherever it was displayed in churches, as this was the "Jewish" name of God. In one instance, local Nazi officials ordered even crosses removed from churches, but this was a step too far as you might expect. After protests, the edict was withdrawn. The Nazis also had plans to turn Jesus into an Aryan figure if they couldn't simply abolish Christianity and replace it with their own religion. For the moment, the Nazis backed a so-called "Positive Christianity" and "German Christian" movement which aligned with their ideology. Their supporters managed to take control of the Lutheran Church in Germany. The Confessing Church, made up of dissident Protestants that refused to join, was driven underground, with members subjected to the treatment stated above. Hitler initially signed a concordat with the Catholic Church on coming to power, but frequently broke its terms and by the late 1930s Catholics were actively being persecuted (even if they were not openly dissident). The Catholic bishops protest at the Aktion T4 program (exterminating disabled and mentally ill patients) which managed to stop it temporarily, especially angered Hitler, and he swore to "settle with them" after the war ended. Hitler's private beliefs are still not entirely clear, though he did denounce Christianity and of course Judaism. Even in private though he also denounced atheism, saying it was inhuman and claimed to believe in God (though perhaps of a deist or pantheist variety).

* Contrary to popular belief, religion in general ''isn't'' outlawed in current-day China. However, it is against the law for a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to follow a religion, presumably meaning you can't have a government job if you're religious. Moreover, some sects (like the Falun Gong, independent Christians, and Tibetan Buddhists loyal to the Dalai Lama) are banned/persecuted. Religion generally was suppressed in the early period under Mao, especially during the Cultural Revolution.

** Christianity endured periods of persecution (albeit sometimes exaggerated[[note]]Being fed to lions, plus many gruesome martyrdom stories have no historical evidence for them-much was written once Christianity triumphed.[[/note]]), indifference, and finally active patronage on account to its growth during the "crisis of the third century". Christianity initially faced objections because they refused to acknowledge the Caesar as a GodEmperor, and the fact that its hero Jesus was crucified, which to Roman sensibilities marked him as a criminal and {{Outlaw}} beyond the pale. The Roman elite such as Lucian of Samosata saw Christianity as similar to other Roman and foreign cults which had cropped up across the empire at the time and viewed it with bemused contempt. Eventually, its appeal among Roman lower classes spread and finally it attained official support from the Emperor Constantine, who was claimed to have been led to victory by the Abrahamic God after seeing Christian symbols in a vision. He legalized it, though it wasn't until some fifty years later under Flavius Theodosius Augustus it became the state religion.

* Pagan Min in ''Videogame/FarCry4'' wants the citizens of Kyrat to worship him as a GodEmperor, and has outlawed the old religions and social gatherings at places or religious significance, such as temples and mani wheels. [[spoiler:If Sabal ends up taking over at the end, he outlaws every other religion aside from the Kyrati religion and puts all others to death.]]

** In ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', all organized religion is illegal in the city of Rapture (though citizens are allowed to worship in the privacy of their home according to Ryan in ''VideoGame/BioShock2''), which results in Bibles and other religious items being smuggled in with other contraband.

* In the ''Literature/BookOfExodus'', the commandment to worship only the Abrahamic {{God}} made any other types of religion illegal. Not only did this include not practicing the various pagan faiths found in the area, it also included an expectation to destroy peoples who did, and served as a way of making them seem like {{asshole victim}}s by painting them as "godless heathens" (this didn't always happen in practice, but it was expected).
* In the apocryphal [[Literature/BooksOfMaccabees books of the Maccabees]], Judaism as practiced by the Jews that chose to remain faithful to God's Law was considered illegal by the rulers like Antiochus Epiphanes whenever they forced their Greek religion and culture upon the Jews.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheStorykeepers'' centers around an illegal religion. The main characters are ancient Christians during the reign of UsefulNotes/{{Nero}}.

** When Christianity started gaining ground, the old pagan religions suffered declining faithful, proscription, and dereliction of their property -- mostly during the reign of Emperor Theodosius (albiet with precidents under earlier emperors). Temples of Jupiter and Mars were used as roadside privies, and subject to vandalism and MonumentalDamage. Christians also burnt many books from the era they now deemed pagan. Pagans were actively persecuted, temples and statues were destroyed (except for those preserved by the state and some responsible bishops and priests), and fell into disrepair.