Good People Worshipping Evil?

[ARandomGod]

I was glancing through the Book of Vile Darkness and an idea caught my mind:

Is it possible for a good-aligned cleric to be "tricked" into worshipping an evil deity (or, as the BoVD seems to push, a demon/devil)? And when I ask this, I mean in the same idea that clerics and paladins recieve spells and abilities and still appear to be good.

I think this is fully possible, however, what are some of the metaphysical problems that might arise? Can a person truly give up some of their very being and faith to a god if they are not truly worshipping that being with the "full knowledge"? I do tend to agree with this idea that it is somewhat difficult for an evil god to get those prayers if they aren't aimed at him...

...of course, evil gods do seem to excel and being underhanded, don't they?

I was just wondering what other theories on this idea might be around out there?

Oh, it's certainly possible. I've read books with similiar concepts. I've based an intricate game world with that concept in it's core. Of course, there are indeed conflicts... the clerics of this church (these churches) don't gain access to as high spells, or as many spells. The evil gods in question don't really get much "benifit" from being worshipped in this manner. But they don't really need that. Their main benifit from that is the near complete denial to the good gods of these worshippers. These "clerics" are denied to the opposition. Insidious, evil, and very worth the effort expended to keep them up.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

The 3rd Edition of the Ravenloft CS dealt with this, interestingly, I think.

Basically, clerics were only required to be one step from the "ethical" alignment of their gods (ie Lawful-Neutral-Chaotic)

That way you could have Lawful Good clerics of Bane/Lawgiver and CE clerics of the Morninglord.

 

[ARandomGod]

The 3rd Edition of the Ravenloft CS dealt with this, interestingly, I think.

Basically, clerics were only required to be one step from the "ethical" alignment of their gods (ie Lawful-Neutral-Chaotic)

That way you could have Lawful Good clerics of Bane/Lawgiver and CE clerics of the Morninglord.

That's not the same thing at all. That's an arrangement wherein the gods aren't fooling anybody, and the worship is going how it's supposed to. We're talking about a Chaotic Evil god tricking Lawful Good people into worshipping said chaotic evil god. Of course, what I was talking about is the CE god making up a fake LG religion and "sponsoring" it by giving the clerics some powers, etc. Basically setting up a warped version of the LG worship in order to siphon off legitimate LG congregations. That, and clerics of this religion actually get better as they step away from their "god's alignment", or towards the alignment of the god that's empowering them.

And it's good because this tainted worship doesn't really give the LG gods anything substantial, while simultaniously removing something subtantial from them... AND it's easier to corrupt good people who aren't really being protected by the god they worship. (Because that god is secretely EVIL!)