History Main / ReligionOfEvil

* In ''Ape and Essence'' by Aldous Huxley, the post-apocalyptic Los Angeles is ruled by Belial worshipers. The devastation wrought by WorldWarIII made them lose belief in any deity but a malevolent one.

[[folder: Manhwa]]

* The Omekata cult from ''Manga/FutureDiary''. [[spoiler:It's revealed they weren't always like that, until Tsubaki's parents aka the leaders were killed by a treacherous follower when they were about to disband it [[GiveHimANormalLife to give their daughter a normal life]]. From then on Tsubaki been kept as their prisoner, sexually/physically abused by the members while being made to pose as their high priestess.]] And even more so, [[spoiler:in the parallel dimension created at the end, the murder of the leaders is prevented and the Omekatas remain as a benevolent group.]]

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity,'' the NebulousEvilOrganization Pyramid has aspects of this, with their worship of the living Sekhmet Stone that leads them.

** ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' had a StoryArc that culminated in the CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'' dealing with the Universal Church of Truth, originally founded by an evil, insane future version of [[ComicBook/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]] via time-travel. They believe in everlasting life, which doesn't sound bad until you learn this dimension is called the Cancerverse. They operate by the creed of "convert or die", and have armies fueled by their sheer, unrelenting faith in life to back that up, as [[LastOfHisKind Gamora]] can attest. And the Magus, their founder, takes control of them to summon [[EldritchAbomination the Many-Angled Ones]] into the main universe.

** [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] himself is apparently a religious figure in a [[StrawNihilist nihilistic]] cult that he inspired/founded on an alien planet, headquarted in something called [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche the Nietzsche institute]]. He doesn't bother to tell them when he decided that nihilism wasn't working for him anymore.

* ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'' takes place in Hell and as such two of these examples: the Masters of Infinity and the Lords of Limbo. The former is the state religion of [[TheEmpire Draconia]] and resembles Christianity with members assembling at the church for mass to receive their blessing, while the former is more like an traditional Satanist/Occultist cult. In either case, [[EvilVersusEvil both of them are demonic and at odds with each other]].

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy'': While the various Sith Orders in Star Wars have gone through numerous iterations and generally only worship themselves, the comic introduces Darth Krayt and his One Sith, a cult run by the Dark Lord [[spoiler:([[TheParagonAlwaysRebels formerly the fallen Jedi]] Asharrad Hett)]] that teaches that all members of the Sith are a united entity following a singular vision, which in practice means they worship Krayt as much as anything else. This is so totally at odds with the openly selfish goals of the traditional Sith that the [[SpiritAdvisor Holocrons of past Sith Lords]] declare Krayt TheHeretic and refuse to pass on their wisdom to him, but his reasoning [[VillainHasAPoint is an attempt to put an end to the infighting that crippled previous Sith Orders]] precisely because they followed a strict SocialDarwinist path.

** ''The Seventh Victim'' is complicated; one of the heroes gives a ShutUpHannibal near the end where he accuses the Satanists of being {{Nietzsche wannabe}}s. Also, the Satanists are mostly nonviolent and prefer to use social pressure to make people commit suicide rather than just killing them (one of them even comments on the contradiction inherent in their refusal to commit violence versus their need to kill all who betray them). But the leader does claim that he worships evil and refers to himself as "evil".

* ''Film/{{Dagon}}'' (2001): In a small town called Imboca on the coast of Galicia in Spain, [[spoiler:a drunken tramp named Ezequiel tells Paul how the denizens of the town have overthrown Christianity in favour of the fish god Dagon, who has brought them wealth from the sea in the form of fish and gold, and the only way to appease the fish god, Dagon, was through Human Sacrfice, which [[HumanSacrifice they did]] to Paul's girlfriend Barbara [[DownerEnding in the end of the film]]. ]]

* In ''Film/FreshMeat'', Heri Crane is attempting to resurrect an old Maori cult called Solomonism that believes that [[IAmAHumanitarian cannibalism]] is the path to [[ImmortalityImmorality immortality]].

* It's treated more in the ExpandedUniverse materials than in the original films, but the Sith in ''Franchise/StarWars'' are a surprisingly... complicated example. The Sith (originally a now-extinct alien species from the planet Korriban) do not see themselves as evil, but rather as embracing a proper, SocialDarwinist philosophy of how society should be organized -- an {{Ubermensch}} ideal, KlingonPromotion as a key tool to weed out the weak, etc. Combined with their view that the Force serves them, and not the other way around, this makes the Sith more of a PathOfInspiration for TheDarkSide than a Religion of Evil.

* The worship of Torak in the ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'', a prime example of the case where only the Grolims (priests) have any real faith and the masses follow out of fear. They keep the faith into the ''Malloreon'', even though Torak is now dead. At the end, it's said that [[spoiler:Eriond]]'s first act as a god will be turning the Grolims towards a less vicious path.

* Played with in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. There are a few demon-worshiping cults, and Evil Harry Dread has occasionally run a temple of evil, but most people who've compared Discworld demons to Discworld gods have decided the main difference is PR. The worshipers of [[CosmicHorror Bel-Shamharoth, the Soul Eater]], on the other hand, are clearly insane. And mostly very, very dead (it should be pointed out that there is a "Young Men's Reformed Cultists of the Ichor God Bel-Shamharoth Association", or "YMPA" in Ankh-Morpork, too).

* The state religion/culture of Skrea in ''Literature/TheKingdomsOfEvil''

* Both played straight and subverted in Mike Carey's post-ComicBook/TheSandman novels.

* A quintessential example is the Esoteric Order of Dagon from the Creator/HPLovecraft story ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth''. They restore the economy of a local fishing town, and in exchange [[spoiler: everyone in town has to agree to have sex and reproduce with FishPeople. Soon the town is entirely inhabited by territorial and violent half-humans.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse''

* The Shine Shine Dan from ''Series/WarriorOfLoveRainbowman'' are the KKK (against Japanese) [[RecycledINSPACE with monsters]] and FacelessMooks.

** ''TableTopGame/{{Planescape}}''

** TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening has the Ministry of Paternoster, one fourth of the [[AncientConspiracy Seers of the Throne's]] major factions. To them, [[{{Muggles}} Sleepers]] worshiping Supernal truth profanes the [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Exarchs]], so it is their duty to [[PathOfInspiration remove all truth in religious doctrine]] while being true to the Seer credo of utter domination over the Sleeping world. Notable for being a ''KnightTemplar'' Religion of Evil, since unlike most, cynical Seers, [[BelievingTheirOwnLies they have deluded themselves into truly believing they're a good thing for the world]]-once all Supernal truth has been scoured from the Fallen World, the Exarchs will make the world a utopia under their benevolent hand. In this, they're a pretty good EvilCounterpart to Pentacle mages (the default good guys), who all make a point of questioning their own beliefs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has the Healing Church. They are ultimately responsible for Yharnam's obsession with blood, seeking to spread the Old Blood that they had discovered in the defiled Pthumerian tombs under the city. When people started transforming into monsters when misusing the blood, rather than back down, they hid the connection so that their leaders, the Choir, could continue their ascension attempts. The main game sees the Choir turn innocent civilians into proto-Great One monsters, torch a section of the city when the Ashen Blood plague (which they created and spread ''on purpose'') got too bad, and encourage a vicious cycle of hunters turning into beasts, and clerics turning into the worst beasts of all. The DLC shows they did ''even worse''. [[spoiler: They had hunters specifically to kill anyone who found out their secrets, they turned the patients in the Astral Clocktower into malformed lumps of flesh, and the nightmare itself is a curse placed on them for the atrocities they committed against the Fishing Hamlet]]. Ironically, the [[EldritchAbomination gods]] they worship and are [[GodhoodSeeker desperately trying to emulate]] are implied to be far less malevolent.

* The Rest In Peace Cult, also known as the Rippers, from ''VideoGame/DaysGone'' qualifies. They shave their heads, carve and burn their own bodies to resemble the [[NotUsingTheZWord freakers]] that they worship. They are so hopped up on PCP that, despite not wearing any armor, or any clothes at all from the waist up in the case of all male members, they are substantially tougher enemies than most other survivors the player fights in the game. The evil bit comes from the fact that they are known to kidnap and torture other survivors until they either join or die, [[spoiler: including the player character, Deacon at one point in the game, but this is more because the Cult's leader has a history with Deek and his sidekick Boozer...]]

** The worshippers of the Frenzied Flame are less of an organized religion, and more like a loosely organized doomdsay cult, as the Outer God they worship wants nothing less than to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out all life]]. Very few people actually willingly worship the Frenzied Flame; most are either drawn to it in a moment of despair, or the yellow flame of Frenzy [[EyeScream burrows its way inside its victims' eyes]] and turns them completely insane.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':

* At first glance, the Order of the Harvest Moon from the adventure game ''VideoGame/{{Harvester}}'' seems like a slightly skewed BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats. Once you've passed the final step of their initiation ritual, which involves navigating an EvilTowerOfOminousness, killing horrible monsters, and having [[NietzscheWannabe sinister and nihilistic]] conversations with really nasty people, you've discovered their true colors... and their true intentions.

** One of the DummiedOut bits from ''Soul Reaver'' before it was gutted due to time constraits would have involved Raziel killing a human priestess in the last human settlement who was using mind control to send humans into a vampire den.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the Geth religion comes down to the total extinction of all organic life in the galaxy. Unfortunately, the gods they worship -- the Reapers -- are quite real... And in an expansion of the trope [[spoiler:The reaper Sovereign sees them as so inferior that it is insulted by the Geth's worship of it.]]

** The kett of ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' have one, [[spoiler:seeing it as a religious duty to "exalt" any lifeform they meet, turning them into more kett, with their empire being some mix of an aristocracy and a theocracy, their leaders having titles taken from human religions, and their larger military bases looking like alarming mixes of cult centers and slaughterhouses.]]

** The first game, meanwhile, had the "People of the Eye", who were working to ressurect the [[LizardFolk Creator Race]] through such means as attempting genocide against an entire city through a MysticalPlague.

* The Order in ''{{VideoGame/Strife}}''. They worship a malignant god, which involves blood sacrifices, mass murder, human processing and overall plenty of evil, demented stuff. Said god is [[spoiler:actually an {{Eldritch Abomination}} from outer space which operates by draining worlds of all their life-force.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'' the Brotherhood of Cain, founded by disgruntled loyalists of a mad ruler, took to worship the Morning Star by HumanSacrifice. Abaddon, the High Priest of Satan, also preaches human desires are sacred, leading to serial killers becoming high priests and being able to torture, rape and murder with impunity, such acts even being praised.
* In ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'', some deities can be associated with the spheres of murder or torture. Moreover, cults worshipping demons or vampires can appear during generation.

** The Cult of Kellith, worshiping the daughter of Gothmog (and granddaughter of Shub-Niggurath)... who, for all that she's ostensibly a lust demoness, started out as a human, is currently attending Whateley Academy as a student, and is generally not a bad person. (Although there are signs that she's starting to actively distance herself from her previous human existence and morals, so this ''may'' change in the future -- she ''is'' a CosmicHorror in the making, after all.) The head of the cult was actively trying to turn Carmilla evil [[spoiler:until she killed him]]. Cultists have been seen to do things like sacrifice cute animals in her name. And there may be ''a hundred thousand'' of them out there doing god only knows what.

* WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife: In the episode "Schnit-heads", Heffer is seduced into a sausage-worshiping cult, who also execute un-believers with bowling balls.
* In the fifth season of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', the main villainous faction are a secretive, all-female cult that worships [[BigBad Aku]], the GodOfEvil who has tyrannically ruled Earth for thousands of years. These women cultists are led by a HighPriestess, who gave birth to seven daughters [[spoiler:that are the ''literal'' [[HalfHumanHybrid Daughters of Aku]]]]. The cult has raised, trained, and brainwashed these seven girls ([[WouldHurtAChild through very harsh and abusive means]]) to become a team of {{ninja}} warriors with [[LaserGuidedTykeBomb the goal of killing]] [[TheHero Samurai Jack]] himself, in hopes of earning attention and blessings from Aku. But not only do the Priestess' daughters all fail miserably to kill Jack, it turns out that Aku doesn't even remember or care about his own cult, [[spoiler:except when he sensed the presence of [[SoleSurvivor his last Daughter]], Ashi]].

Because ReligionIsMagic, devout practitioners and [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking high-ranking]] [[SinisterMinister clergy]] will use BlackMagic and TheDarkArts; you can expect the HighPriest to emanate a CrossMeltingAura. Whatever deity the Religion of Evil worships will generally be the GreaterScopeVillain; with DemonLordsAndArchdevils, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, JerkassGods, {{Satan}}, a GodOfEvil, TheAntiGod (or even ''the one-and-only'' [[GodIsEvil God Himself]]) all being likely candidates.

* An episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' featured a cannibalistic villain who worshiped Satan (or some kind of demonic entity). During the raid on his house, they find a hidden, demonic shrine, the walls of which were covered in Francisco Goya's Black Paintings and creepy symbols and {{Madness Mantra}}s written in blood. It's notable that the profilers state "He doesn't kill because he believes in Satan, he believes in Satan because he kills."

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', until its destruction Phyrexia (think equal parts CyberneticsEatYourSoul, BodyHorror, and TheLegionsOfHell) always had religious traits, with [[BigBad Yawgmoth]] at the head. These traits have been exaggerated by the [[http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/137 white-mana faction]] of the reborn Phyrexia, calling itself the Machine Orthodoxy. In keeping with its Phyrexian nature, it really isn't very pleasant; the flaying and horrible mutilation of enemies and converts, gratuitous use of ritualized surgery, and [[OurAngelsAreDifferent stripping angels of their honour]] and [[FallenAngel turning them into sociopathic monsters]] all get four thumbs up from the average Whiterexian. For added horror, white has [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=218058 Phyrexian Unlife]], which depicts [[UncannyValley an androgynous but most likely female porcelain mask looking at her newly-completed hands]]. And who do you do this to when you cast it? A [[{{mooks}} creature]]? No. Your opponent? No. You do it to ''yourself''.

** ''[[ComicBook/DCPride2022 DC Pride: Tim Drake Special]]'': The Children of Dionysus are a Gotham based cult that worships Dionysus, is enamored with his chaos aspect and kidnapps teenagers to beat them and then cut out their hearts in human sacrifices. They notably only kidnapp teens who are caught asking questions about them.

* Robin Jarvis has three of these in his two ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' trilogies; the cults of Jupiter, Hobb (and his co-gods Mabb and Bauchan), and Suruth Scarophion. All of them practice sacrifice of their fellow sapient animals, since there are no human characters, in gruesome manners. Jupiter eats his sacrifices, Hobb's unfortunately named followers, the Hobbers skin their victims alive in a process referred to as the "bloodybones", and Scarophion's cult (known as the Scale) poison their victims with his blood, which dissolves the victim into a puddle of tar. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids You know, for kids]].

** The Order of Rot worships [[AlienKudzu the Scarlet Rot]], and in fact most of its worshippers are actually ''spawned'' from it. They seek to spread the Scarlet Rot to 'bless' people with their mind-warping body-rotting disease, and actively seek a goddess, an avatar of Rot itself, to lead them in this effort. Said goddess, Malenia, [[StopWorshippingMe would much rather they left her alone]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has the Healing Church. They are ultimately responsible for Yharnam's obsession with blood, seeking to spread the Old Blood that they had discovered in the defiled Pthumerian tombs under the city. When people started transforming into monsters when misusing the blood, rather than back down, they hid the connection so that their leaders, the Choir, could continue their ascension attempts. The main game sees the Choir turn innocent civilians into proto-Great One monsters, torch a section of the city when the Ashen Blood plague (which they created and spread ''on purpose'') got too bad, and encourage a vicious cycle of hunters turning into beasts, and clerics turning into the worst beasts of all. The DLC shows they did ''even worse''. [[spoiler: They had hunters specifically to kill anyone who found out their secrets, they turned the patients in the Astral Clocktower into malformed lumps of flesh, and the nightmare itself is a curse placed on them for the atrocities they committed against the Fishing Hamlet.]]

** The Yuuzhan Vong have a priesthood devoted to genocide, non-consensual bio-forming, and extreme masochism. They actually consider themselves guardians and caretakers of life. The problem is their central tenet is "life is full of suffering, therefore suffering is good."

** The Yuuzhan Vong have a priesthood devoted to genocide, non-consensual bio-forming, and extreme masochism.

** The "With Light" cult of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'' counts, what with one of its members being an international arsonist and its leader perfectly willing to murder a helpless young girl in cold blood.

* ''Videogame/CultOfTheLamb'' takes place in a setting ruled by a brutal cult known as the "Old Faith". The protagonist is a lamb who is recruited by a renegade dark god known as "The One Who Waits" to create an equally sinister cult in his name and take down the leaders of the Old Faith. In-game while you can certainly be a cruel leader by enacting such things as sacrificial rituals, approving cannibalism or exploiting your followers for labor and money, keeping your followers happy and healthy is crucial for the survival of your cult lest they die or rebel.
* In ‘’VideoGame/CrusaderKings’’ 2 with the Monks and Mysteries DLC, you can join Demon Worshiping cults (such as worshipping Satan for Christians, Hel for Germanic Pagans, and Kali for Hindus). You gain more points in the society the more sinful and terrible traits you have. Activities include sacrificing people, abducting people (usually so you can sacrifice them), and desecrating temples to gain enough points to gain the power to curse, possess, or even the absorb the life essence of other characters. Worshipping demons is also the only way to heal certain condition, including the potentially game ending Castrated one. However, you will occasionally be inflicted with terrible genetic traits, and if you are caught everyone will hate you and you can be burned at the stake by your liege.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/kte-2013-kapala-mendes The Children of the Scarlet King]], they worship the Scarlet King (the equivalent of Satan in the Foundation universe) and their faith tells them that they will rule the Earth in the future, but only after the Scarlet King destroys it. By the way, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-231 they created SCP-231...]]

** The Order of Rot worships [[AlienKudzu the Scarlet Rot]], and in fact most of its worshippers are actually ''spawned'' from it. They seek to spread the Scarlet Rot to 'bless' people with their mind-warping body-rotting disease, and actively seek a goddess, an avatar of Rot itself, to lead them in this effort. Said goddess, Malenia, [[StopWorshipingMe would much rather they left her alone]].

** The Order of Rot worships [[AlienKudzu the Scarlet Rot]], and in fact most of its worshippers are actually ''spawned'' from it. They seek to spread the Scarlet Rot to 'bless' people with their mind-warping body-rotting disease, and actively seek a goddess, an avatar of Rot itself, to lead them in this effort.

* The D∴G Cult from the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' (specifically the ''Crossbell arc'') are a particularly depraved example: they're a secret cult that denies the existance of [[MotherGoddess Aidios]], they have the knowledge of demon summoning and the creation of a FantasticDrug. They're also known to [[WouldHurtAChild kidnap children]] (mostly young girls) as young as ''5'' in order to [[ForScience experiment on them]], torture them, straight up ritually mutilating and murdering them and, at least in one occasion, rent out their victims to child brothels for some extra cash. ''Holy. Crap''. Thankfully, an international investigation took down most of their lodges and members before the start of the series, though some remnants remained. It should also be noted that the series generally doesn't go ''this'' dark, except when the Cult is involved.

* The Followers of Kira from ''Manga/DeathNote'' are either [[KnightTemplar true believers]] who are happy to see the rule of law supplanted by the will of a merciless god of retribution or [[GreedyTelevangelist opportunists]] who are happy to make money by publicizing and promoting same.

* The Followers of Kira from ''Manga/DeathNote''. Ironically they are killed off by Kira (actually Teru Mikami, a follower of Kira, but Light would have done it himself if he wasn't being watched) as they were obviously creating the cult simply for prestige and greed. After [[spoiler:Light's death]] they reemerge, praying for Kira's return. Possibly a subversion since we never see them do anything evil themselves, but just worshiping an evil-doer.

%% * The upcoming Cult Of The Lamb; cute anime beastmen join an evil cult to save themselves from an even worse cult.