Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-12351857-20130809061636/@comment-98.239.192.193-20130811015123

The worship of Malacath is more open probably due to the Orsimer keeping to themselves. Due to this, I doubt that many people aside from the Orsimer even know enough about Malacath to like or dislike the worship of him. As we know, Orsimer are strong warriors and some may wish to allow the worship so as to not piss them off so that they can be hired on as bodyguards, used as allies in war, etc.

Nocturnal is also one that is not really feared because she is not actively evil. Brynjolf and Karliah say that she merely hides things in shadows and grants luck to her worshippers, which is why the Theives' Guild worships her. Hiding and having a bit of luck isn't actively evil or hurting anyone, which is probably why people don't pay her worship much mind (if they are even aware of it).

Azura represents dawn and dusk, which to me represents balance. Her worship is probably allowed because she does just as much good as she does evil. Aside from the Dunmer, she's probably viewed as a neutral Daedra, rather than good or evil.

Probably the last one worshipped somewhat openly would be Meridia. She guards the dead so is probably viewed as being mostly good, but she wouldn't hesitate to destroy defilers. Her worshippers are probably just not acknowledged, partly due to common worship of Arkay, I would think.