Good People Worshipping Evil?

[The Amazing Dingo]

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?

 

[Timeboxer]

I must admit that I don't find this likely, at least by the RAW, because "A cleric of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity's alignment (see the detect evil spell for details)." If your deity is evil, then your aura is evil, and you'd probably be able to tell about that.

'course, I'm sure there are some ways around that, somehow.

 

[Carpe DM]

This is a great way of putting the problem. As it appears in regular theology, all power must come from good (divine) or another *ahem* source. If the source is not good (divine), therefore, it must be *ahem*. Then certain power sources -- usually pacts and "witchcraft" -- are designated as "not being divine."

I have designed an entire area of my world where witches and heretics are relentlessly hunted by witchhunters and Inquisitors -- and here's the interesting bit: both sides are good, and the Inquisition isn't necessarily wrong. People can acquire power through dark pacts, which have horrible consequences for everyone around them -- and the Inquisition is the only thing that stands in the way.

I think this dynamic is the key to truly interesting moral conflicts. Think the 100 years war, or any other conflict of cultures in which two "lawful good" countries go to war. Often it's over determinations of this sort: that one side is apostate from the worship of the true god. (Before more historians jump on me, I am aware that the 100 years war was not primarily a religious war).

best,

Carpe

 

[LoneWolf23]

It could be possible, if the cult is isolated and the rituals involve occult languages or clouds the true nature of the entity being worshipped behind a lot of obscure symbolism.

 

[Trickstergod]

For one, I don't think that there's ever been such a thing as a warring of nations that would be appropriately described as lawful good on either end...

As for clerics worshipping a being antithetical to their alignment, one thing I don't bother with, anyway, is having the clerics alignment aura correspond with the deities, anyway. Don't much like that idea, with undead, clerics or otherwise, really.

From there, it doesn't necessarily seem too out there - in certain circumstances. For example, worship to placate certainly seems appropriate. That is, say, the god of the sea is an evil, spiteful thing, so many seaside communities have priests that seek to placate the god (which seems, in general, to make more sense then ones who seek to encourage and spread the gods general destructiveness, at least in their own communities). The priests are ostensibly good whereas the god is still evil.

Of course, that doesn't quite mesh with the D&D idea that gods need worship and are empowered by it, but I tend to neglect that a little, anyway. My gods are a bit more independent then that, if not completely.

It also depends on what the evil being represents. For example, perhaps the god of the night is evil. A priest might worship the god, not knowing this (depending on what kind of scripture or preaching was presented to the priest), and serve as someone who grants safe passage through the night and sees the god as one whose moon shines down to guide others and to grant sailors direction through the stars. Or something like that.

Most deities have some ambiguous aspect to them that could be worshipped by any alignment (war most prominently). So long as the DM's fine with that, it certainly can make sense. The contradicting alignment priest just needs something to latch onto and an alignment appropriate interpretation for that in the priests worship. And so long as the deity itself is fine with that (or somehow incapable of saying otherwise, like with, say, Eberron), then I'd say it can make sense.

 

[Timeboxer]

As for clerics worshipping a being antithetical to their alignment, one thing I don't bother with, anyway, is having the clerics alignment aura correspond with the deities, anyway. Don't much like that idea, with undead, clerics or otherwise, really.

I have to admit that I rather like the Eberron way of doing it, in which good and evil aren't definitions but rather like blood types. Good people can do evil things and evil people can do good things -- it's just that a beep on the Evilometer just means to a paladin, "I should look after him. He has darkness in his heart." But it's not really meaningful unless you've done something evil.

Thus, the whole clerics-have-deity's-aura thing isn't really too meaningful. And it makes it so that an evil cleric in a corrupt LG organization is nearly undetectable...

 

[painandgreed]

Can they be tricked in a Jack Chick way where the god rips off his mask, and lo, it turns out that the god they followed was an evil god after all? I don't think so. Maybe, but it would be hard. Certainly, an evil god of trickery or illusion or their servants could probalby detect as a non-evil alignment. What would be more likely would be the gods or their servants playing on the needs and desires of said clerics. They're human and have human wants and flaws. He could offer them the things that their god can't or won't offer them. These could be selfish desires or could be things the cleric might even want for the greater good. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The evil god might offer what seems to be a greater good for a small evil and might even be able to hide this small evilness from the said good god. Of course, later, the cleric is going to be in trouble with their own god and the only place they'll have to run to if they fear punishment will be the evil god. This is where wisdom comes in and not falling for such traps.

Here's a question: Let's say that one god tempts the cleric of another god. Offers him the deal too good to refuse and everything he's ever wanted. If the cleric turns would he simply become similarly leveled cleric of the new god?

 

[Hand of Evil]

At one time I remember hearing of a order of the church that worshipped satan, the reason behind it was that he would not be jeleous. This can be applied to any game, vile god has to be worshipped to keep him bound, or just the fear of the big bad, using the line 'hey, we are keeping him from 99% of the rest of the world.

 

[jester47]

I don't see why not. Without discussing religion on these boards, I would point out that it happens everyday in real life, no matter the religion.

If your religion is to worship cats, and you are really into dogs and say you are into cats, then you worship dogs.

Aaron.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

It gets easier in Call of Cthulhu, where humans are highly capable of self-delusion. A frequent favorite when discussing the Cthulhu Mythos is that the entity Moses encountered on Mount Sinai was actually Yog-Sothoth...


Of course, most of the Mythos deities aren't technocally <i>Evil</i>. But from the perspective of humanity, this makes little practical difference...