Imperium (Warhammer 40,000) - Religious Extremism

Religious Extremism

The Imperium promotes the Imperial Cult, the worship of the Emperor as humankind's only true god and rightful master. He is the savior, the only one who can protect Humanity from the dangers of the cosmos. However, this is contrary to the Imperium's founding principles and a subversion of the Emperor's own wishes. Before the Horus Heresy, the Emperor had imposed and promulgated the secular rationalist Imperial Truth, and set out to free humanity throughout the galaxy from the shackles of superstition and religion, while specifically forbidding worship of himself as divine. It is unclear exactly when and how the worship of the Emperor as god became common practice, however this occurred after he was put on life support.

Just as all human-inhabited worlds must be brought under the Imperium's control, all other religions must be expunged. The state religion, which is the responsibility of the Ecclesiarchy or Adeptus Ministorum (the State Church), preaches that unquestioning obedience and self-sacrifice is the best way to honor the Emperor. It teaches that mutants (with few exceptions) are vile perversions of the holy human form, and thus they are subject to the worst oppression. Rogue psykers ("witches") are harbingers of doom. Heresy is the worst crime of all despite the deliberate vagueness of the official definition, and those judged as heretics are stripped of all rights and punished in the most horrific fashion.

Religion is a central theme in all Warhammer 40,000 fiction. Most human protagonists, from warrior-monk Imperial Space Marines (the Imperium's shock troops, supersoldiers and special forces) to Witch Hunters of the Inquisition, are fanatical worshipers of the God-Emperor.

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