Religion

Various religions have existed before and after the Great War.
==Background==
In the centuries following the Great War, some major pre-War religions and belief systems split into new delineations, while others continue to march along as they had for centuries prior. This is the case with Christianity, as various Christian settlements and denominations exist, such as Catholicism and Mormonism. Christian organizations such as the Abbey of the Road send missionaries to preach the faith while scavenging holy sites for religious relics for restoration. The Catholics of Saint Monica's Church espouse a post-War version of the real-world story of Saint Monica, in which Monica is a ghoul. The followers of Dharma were originally from Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh backgrounds, and include the founders of Shady Sands. Pre-War religious cults survived, and even thrived, in the absence of any kind of pushback from law enforcement or competing cultural institutions. These include the Hubologists, the Cult of the Mothman, and those who attempt to commune with Ug-Qualtoth.
However, in the wake of nuclear devastation, many new cults were established with a variety of belief systems. Some were developed over time from mythologized retellings of real events, such as the "Father in the Caves," the Sorrows deity inspired by Randall Clark's interactions with the fledgling tribe upon their arrival in Zion Canyon. Many small cults revere the spirits of plants and animals,The Courier: "Tell me about yourself."Antony: "I've been around dogs all my life. They're my life, always were - Then the Legion came. "(Antony's dialogue)The Lone Wanderer: "I'm not so sure about this. Tell me more."Jimson: "Your caution is a credit to your wisdom - only a fool eats before he knows the meal. You are worthy to attempt the Ritual of the Mother Seed! Venture west to the great bog, and within you shall find the mother of all Punga Fruit. She stands taller than a man, and her vines guide our future. Collect her seeds, and kneel before her wisdom. Only then will you be ready to enter these sacred halls."(Jimson's dialogue) such as the Vipers,The Vault Dweller: "{1007}{}{Vipers}"Killian Darkwater: "{1107}{Kill72}{The Vipers are a crazy bunch from up north. They worship snakes, or something.}"(Killian Darkwater's dialogue) or the tribe at Brahmin Wood. The Treeminders worship a captive "god," Harold the tree-mutant, despite his protests. Not all cults were created altruistically, such as the Renewal Cult, which was created wholly by a megalomaniacal mutant rat to take over the world. 
The Children of the Cathedral are another doomsday cult,Fallout Bible 0: "2152 As their influence slowly spreads throughout the wastes, the Master finds humans, doomsday cultists, and rather than dip them in the vats, he demands their obedience as spies - their leader is a man named Morpheus, and he pledges his followers to the Master. Morpheus and his cultists form the future core of the Children of the Cathedral. " who serve the Master as a façade for his plan to use the FEV to unite humanity as supposedly perfect mutants.Fallout Bible 0 Timeline repair: Second strike:"2156 The Master sees advantages in establishing a benevolent "religion," the Children of the Cathedral, and using them as spies in settlements throughout the wastes. Missionaries from the Children of the Cathedral spread slowly across the wasteland, acting as eyes and ears for Morpheus and the Master." They originally served some kind of Dark God under the guidance of Morpheus, until the Master found them. He demanded their allegiance as spies, and their leader accepted. The Children set up small hospitals at settlements across New California to proselytize and spy. The Cathedral and its "god" were destroyed in a massive nuclear detonation in 2162.Fallout Bible 0: "2162 March 3 Vault Dweller kicks the Master's ass." Some mutants still serve the lost cause of Unity.Gammorin's Army and Attis Army Others have found new spiritual callings, such as the wandering nightkin tribe who worship a brahmin skull they call Antler. 
Ghouls have been known to form their own cults, especially those cast out from other societies. The Bright Brotherhood sought transcendence by escaping Earth on rocket ships. In the ruins of Kansas City, the ghoulified followers of Plutonius worship a nuclear warhead. 
Similarly, the Church of the Children of Atom worship a deity they call Atom, and directly worship nuclear warheads. They essentially believe that each atom contains within it an entire universe, and their beliefs involve releasing those universes.The Sole Survivor: "What's Division?"Brian Richter: "Release. Release of your potential. Of all the worlds locked away inside you. Broken apart and reborn a thousand times over through the Glow. "(Brian Richter's dialogue)The Sole Survivor: ""Isolde: " "(Isolde's dialogue) They see the Great War as a creative event, rather than a destructive one, and hold those who were called to Atom at that time to be fortunate.The Lone Wanderer: "Why do you worship the bomb?"Cromwell: "Those who were called to Atom during the Great Division were very fortunate. They were permitted to aid in the process of Atom's creation. We kneel before it and ask that Atom call us to aid him. We pray that out of our meager bodies, he will create new life."(Cromwell's dialogue) They generally seek their own "Divison," and the "Division" of the world around them, achieved by absorbing and spreading radiation, or causing nuclear detonations. They hold nuclear weapons to be holy instruments. A large and eclectic faith, they are spread out across the wasteland, and their leaders often differ slightly in their interpretation of the Church cosmology. Some groups, such as the followers of Confessor Cromwell at Megaton, are ostensibly peaceful. They have existed there uneventfully alongside the community for generations,"Started out as a small settlement of people trying to get into Vault 101. When they were denied, they stuck around here.""Some of 'em started worshipping the thing like a god. Now we've got a whole goddamn Church. They're nuts, no doubt, but mostly harmless."(Lucas Simms' dialogue) and the sheriff assesses them as "mostly harmless." They even claim to practice charity. However, the assessment of "usually pretty harmless" was incorrectly applied to the followers of Confessor Alvarado,"They called themselves the 'Children of Atom.' Worship radiation, or something like that.""Yeah. They're usually pretty harmless. Don't know what's gotten into them."(The Rite of Spr(ay)ing) who ghoulified innocents, and threatened to detonate a nuclear bomb. Still other practitioners have been known to kidnap, forcibly baptize, brainwash,The background of Hannah in Far Harbor. or even sacrifice passing outsiders.Jalbert Brothers Disposal terminal entriesKingsport Lighthouse terminal entriesSmall skirmishes between the Church of the Children of Atom on the Island and the Harbormen described throughout the Fallout 4 add-on Far Harbor. They’ve also been known to poison towns' water supplies with radiation.Piper Wright: ""The Sole Survivor: "I suppose so."Piper Wright: " "The Sole Survivor: "Seems that execution didn't quite take, huh?"Piper Wright: " "(Piper Wright's dialogue) It's claimed they pass down the locations of missile sites over generationsThe Sole Survivor: "How did you discover this place?"Henri: " "(Brother Henri's dialogue) and guard them in preparation for a Great Divide.Henri: ""The Sole Survivor: "I'm looking for some bombs... nuclear bombs."Henri: " "(Brother Henri's dialogue) In 2286, they attacked several settlements across the Commonwealth in service of a prophet calling himself the Last Son of Atom.The main plot of Winter of Atom. By late 2287, they were almost entirely driven out of the region.
The concept of heresy also survives in the wasteland. The Apostles of the Eternal Light are a group in the Capital Wasteland who split from the Church of the Children of Atom because they do not believe in the "Great Division."The Lone Wanderer: "You'll see the true power of Atom when I detonate that bomb in Megaton."Curie III: " "(Curie III's dialogue) They seek "Enlightenment" through ghoulification or through death by radiation poisoning. Their leader, Mother Curie III, considers herself opposed to the doctrine of "Division" described above, emphasizing the transformative power of radiation over time. She also disagrees with Cromwell over whether the detonation of the bomb at Megaton would serve Atom's will. Her most outspoken acolyte Gerard blasphemes against her in turn: although he shares her enthusiasm for ghouls, Brother Gerard is enchanted at the prospect of detonating the "Great Symbol of Atom" and resolves to pray for this outcome.The Lone Wanderer: "You'll see the true power of Atom when I detonate that bomb in Megaton."Gerard: ""(Gerard's dialogue) 
On the Island, a Child named Sister Gwyneth rebelled against the Atomites by devoting herself to "Nothing," essentially espousing nihilism as a religion, complete with a sacred place where she sermonizes. This was born from a crisis of faith which occurred when she discovered the definition of an atom from a pre-War textbook,The Sole Survivor: "You saw something you didn't understand and it scared you. Now you've turned your back on Atom and your family."Gwyneth: " "(Gwyneth's dialogue) and came to view Atom as an insignificant speck in an unbearable voidGwyneth: ""The Sole Survivor: "The truth of Nothing? What does that mean?"Gwyneth: " "(Gwyneth's dialogue) and a false god. She hopes to spread the word of Nothing to those she once lived alongside.The Sole Survivor: "The Children of Atom want you dead. You need to stop defiling their holy sites."Gwyneth: " "(Gwyneth's dialogue)The Sole Survivor: ""Gwyneth: " "(Gwyneth's dialogue)
==Introduced==
Name	Game
* Children of the Cathedral
* Christianity
* Dharma	Fallout
* Gods of the Vault worship at Arroyo
* Goddess of the Sea
* Hubologists
* Renewal
* Sulik's tribe	Fallout 2
* Reaver Movement
* Brahmin worship at Brahmin Wood
* Whachutu tradition
* Plutonius worship at Gravestone	Fallout Tactics
* Church of the Lost	Fallout BoS
* Church of the Children of Atom
** Apostles of the Eternal Light
* Saint Monica's Church
* Abbey of the Road
* Treeminders
* Ug-Qualtoth
** Dunwich-Blackhall occult tradition
** Corrupted Blackhall tradition
** Punga communion	Fallout 3
* Antler worship
* Bright Brotherhood
* Cult of Mars
* Dead Horses
* Great Khans
* Hangdogs
* Mormons
* Sorrows
* Twin Mothers
* Twisted Hairs
* Vipers
* White Legs	New Vegas
* All Faiths Chapel
* Pillars of the Community
* Church of the Children of Atom
** Mother of the Fog worship
* Precursor communion
* Unaffiliated raider rituals
* "NOTHING" worship	Fallout 4
* Cult of the Mothman
** The Enlightened
** The Followers of the Winged One/Brothers of the Wood/"Dim Ones"
* Miscellaneous cryptid worship
* Pipe worship	Fallout 76
==Notes==
* Megaton settlers may quote from the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, and the Koran, foundational texts related to Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam respectively, when reacting to news of a character's death in dynamic conversations.Megaton settler: """"""(Megaton conversations; Megaton settlers' dialogue)
* One of the political parties within Vault 11 was called the Divine Will Bloc.
* One of the brains within the calculator was called the Evangelist brain.
* In addition to Fallout 3s Treeminders, Harold was also worshipped by the Church of Harold in the canceled Project V13.
* The All Faiths Chapel in Diamond City is a space open to prayer of any denomination or creed. It was briefly occupied by the Children of Atom in 2286.Winter of Atom p.102: "The Children of Atom are taking over the All Faiths Chapel, citing that they need a place from which they can help the locals. Pastor Clements strongly opposes their occupation of the chapel. Most Lower Field residents trust the Children of Atom and support their speaking out about the resource hoarding of the Upper Stand residents. Lower Stands locals frequently agree with the Church’s critical view of the Minutemen—who they claim are nothing more than a self-serving militia looking for a foothold in the city."
* Vault 94 was designed to test the adaptability of non-violent ideological groups when presented with post-apocalyptic societies.Vault 94 terminal entries; Tyrone Hayes' terminal, VAULT 94 OVERSEER INSTRUCTIONS The dwellers belonged to an agrarian religious community, led by Pastor Gabriella Salavar.Vault 94 terminal entries: Vault 94 OverviewVault 94 terminal entries: Welcome Letter
* If Gwyneth is convinced to fear the wrath of the Church of Atom during her quest, The Heretic, she will flee the Island to evangelize for her new faith.Gwyneth: "I will spread the truth of Nothing to the whole world!""The Children of Atom are lost beyond hope. I can do nothing more for them.""I tried to show the Children of Atom the truth, but they would not see it. Now I must show that truth to others.""Soon... I will begin my journey soon.""You have shown me a new path. Soon the whole world will know the truth of Nothing!""I will spread the holy word to the masses! Nothing is real!"(Gwyneth's dialogue) 
* Altars to "NOTHING" can be found at a pylon near Hornwright Estate and in a room at Fort Defiance. Each site centers around graffiti reading "NOTHING is real" and features a single prominently displayed human skeleton, indicating some kind of organized worship of "NOTHING" in Appalachia.
** This graffiti is identical to graffiti left on the Island by Gwyneth. In both games, the texture is titled DLC03DecalAtom01. 
==References==
Non-game
 
pt:Religiões
ru:Религия