Church Police: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

This trope also covers the closely related phenomenon of "internal" religious police, a very similar group as this, but strictly working within their own religious community and having no connection to an external state apparatus, and little or no jurisdiction over non-members.

 

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Trinity Blood]]'', the AX and the Inquisition conduct investigatory, espionage, and covert operations for the papacy. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K94Dov21aIw Including hunting vampires].

 

** In ''Bloodhype'', Kitten Kai-sung and the Tolian named Porsupah are agents of the Church's Intelligence Arm sent to the planet Repler to investigate the trade in the illegal drug bloodhype.

* In ''[[Inheritance Trilogy]]'' the order of Intempas has Order Keepers to protect the laws.

* In ''[[His Dark Materials]]'', each branch of the Church has its own enforcement, usually a sort of armed police with an intelligence wing. The Church also has an overall army.

* In ''[[Kraken (novel)|Kraken]]'', all of London's cults have armed wings, usually former soldiers who defend their cult and hunt down apostates. Some, such as the Church of God Kraken, have "apocalypse brigades" designed as a last-ditch, kamikaze defense of the congregation. Others, like the Dharma Buddhists and the Chaos Nazis, are entirely militant.

* The short story ''[http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts/PeterWatts_Heathens.pdf A Word For Heathens]'', by Canadian sci-fi author [[Peter Watts]], features brutal descriptions of a future totalitarian theocracy that artificially boosts the religious centers of the brains of it's shock troops in order for them to feel ''righteous'' as they slaughter innocents.

* The Faith Militant in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': They are the military arm of the Faith of the Seven. In the book ''A Feast for Crows'' they are shown to be acting in a rather police-like manner.

* As much as Big Brother and the Party had replaced God and religion in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', the Thought Police would count as this trope, similar to the Telegrammaton Clerics in ''[[Equilibrium]]''.

 

* ''[[The Tribe]]'' had the Chosen, and in particular, their Praetorian Guard, both of whom were of the [[Faceless Mooks]] in hooded robes variety. They were a religious cult that worshipped the slain Zoot as a God, and extolled the virtues of "power and chaos." They were led by a [[Sinister Minister]], the Guardian, and his lieutenant.

** In the final episode, members of another hooded, robed tribe were briefly shown; however, it was not established if the costume served a religious purpose, though it might have been meant to connect them visually to the distinctive outfits of the Chosen.

* The Ori made use of these in ''[[Stargate SG-1|Stargate SG 1]]''.

* [[Church of Happyology|Synthiotics/New Realism]] in the cyberpunk miniseries ''[[Wild Palms]]'' had two versions, really both extensions of the same authority, that of the Church's founder, Senator Kreutzer: one was a well-dressed bunch of thugs in suits who beat up and silenced people (they worked more or less directly for the Senator's crypto-fascist political organization, the Fathers); the other was a group more closely affiliated with the Senator's religious role as founder of Synthiotics: [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|They dressed like naval sailors]] and accompanied young demagogue Coty Wyckoff.

* The Divine Order in the series ''[[Lexx]]'' and its TV Movies had such a force, but as their society was a more traditional theocracy, they were more or less the same as the League of 20,000 Planet's regular military (Priests, however, were sometimes shown and more frequently implied to have some kind of police-like authority, though we mostly saw them tending to His Divine Shadow).

* The ''[[Sliders]]'' ran afoul of several of these in their [[Alternate Universe]]-hopping adventures. Of particular note was an Earth where America was controlled by a fundamentalist religious group that outlawed modern technology and science, and employed a network of police and spies to confiscate advanced technology.

** "Nobody expects [[The Spanish Inquisition]]!"

** There is also The Bishop, a crimefighter who stops clergymen from being murdered... or at least he would [[The Cavalry Arrives Late|if he ever got there in time]].

* ''[[Farscape]]'' has The Nebari Establishment, another example of a totalitarian society where service to the State is the State Religion, employs agents who will do anything to advance the Establishment's goals, including "Mind-Cleansing" other species and rebellious members of their own kind. Their behavior regarding "the greater good" borders on religious reverence. In their case, the "salvation" (re-integration) of non-comformists is a matter of [[Mind Control]] technology. Of course, the Nebari are a race of [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]], with the few Nebari encountered away from their homeworld being either ruthless government agents like Varla or rouge non-conformists like Chiana.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' has The Sabbat, a vampire organisation which apes the practices of the Catholic Church, has it's own Inquisition, who're responsible for ensuring ''ritae'' are performed correctly, that Sabbat officials conduct themselves properly and for rooting out heretics, infiltrators and demon-worshippers.

 

* In the ''[[Dragon Age]]'' series, the Templar Order enforces the [[The Church|Chantry]]'s [[Ban on Magic]] across all lands. Also, the Seekers of Truth (another) functions as [[Internal Affairs]] for the Templars themselves.

** The [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Qunari]] (who are actually a religion rather than the species typically called qunari and technically kossith) have the Ben-Hassrath, who are spies in non-qunari lands as well as enforcers of qunari ideological purity; you meet one in the ''Mark of the Assassin'' DLC.

 

* The Star Org in ''[[Last Res0rt]]'' are partially semi-official police (especially on Last Resort station) and partially the [[Church Militant]] of the [[Church of Happyology|Endless]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]