Been sucked into Dune lore along with the rest of the world these past few weeks and have gone down some rabbit holes about the Bene Gesserit, along with their long machinations such as seeding planets with the Missionaria Protectiva or producing the KH.
Are there any non-dune science fiction or fantasy books or series (I’ve already got the first 6 dune books on my list) that also explore the idea of religion being used as a tool by a powerful group to shape culture and civilizations over time? I’m especially interested if it focuses on the… I guess strategic(?) aspects of religion being used on people or used against one another. Bonus if there’s a holy war involved that’s being fought over millennia.
Not really looking for alternative history about real world religions – purely interested in fictional ones. Though I guess I would count religions evolved from currently real world ones on a long enough time scale as fictional enough. (Yes yes, all religions are technically fiction and all that.)
by JoypulpSkate