Scam Religion: Difference between revisions
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Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ScamReligion 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ScamReligion, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license |
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'''NOTE:''' Only add examples that can be objectively verified to be scams according to the narrative. Thus, '''[[No Real Life Examples Please|NO Real Life examples]]''', since we can't see our world from the outside. That includes any religion that ''you'' personally consider to be a scam, no matter what evidence you have or how large majority of mankind agrees with you. If you think this trope is being ''[[Invoked Trope|invoked]]'' in real life, it's probably a [[Parody Religion]].
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': The Church of Leto, led by [[Sinister Minister|Father Cornello]], who gathers followers in Lior by convincing them he can do amazing miracles with power given to him by the sun god, Leto. In reality he's just a regular alchemist (and not even a particularly talented one), albeit one with a Philosopher's Stone that enhances his alchemy. Edward uncovers the scam very early on in the manga. Much, ''much'' later, we find out he was going to [[Life Energy|use his follower's souls]] as part of the [[Gambit Pileup]] orchestrated by the [[Big Bad]].
** It's implied that the Ishvalan religion was invented by {{spoiler|Father}} in order to have an easy genocide target when the time came. Of course, its also implied that this god intervened in the fight between {{spoiler|Wrath}} and Scar, blinding the former with a ray of light at a key moment, so [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|who knows]].
* ''[[The Tatami Galaxy]]'' has a combination religion/pyramid scheme.
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** Ironically, though Fosterism was founded by scam artists looking to get paid (and laid) by gullible people, their Supreme Bishops {{spoiler|become archangels when they die. Or perhaps resume archangelic identities they had prior to being born on Earth. It's not that clear.}}
* Bokononism in ''[[Cats Cradle|Cat's Cradle]]''. Quite openly.
* Hillman Hunter of ''[[The
* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin Missing Adventures|Missing Adventures]] novel ''The Crystal Bucephalus'', the Lazarus Intent was deliberately founded by a [[Con Man]] as a source of suckers who would bail him out when he finally got himself into real trouble.
* The book ''Leaving Fishers'' by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about a girl who joins a cult called Fishers of Men. Among the many other things wrong with it, one thing she finds out at the end {{spoiler|when she de-converts}} is that the head of the cult is using their donations to support a lavish lifestyle, while making it out as though he can barely afford things. {{spoiler|The main character admits to having given the cult her college savings...}}
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