Is is possible for a Druid/Cleric/Divine Class to unknowingly serve their deity?

For example; I may know OOCly and design my character to be a Druid of Mielikki, but would it be unlikely for him to consider himself as worshipping the forests, animals and environment rather than actively thinking "I am worshipping a Goddess"?

(I realise that the Earthmother/Chauntea already covers this sort of question for the example, but I'm wanting to know if it could also apply to other deities, or causes.)

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I'd venture a guess to say that in other campaign settings, where the gods are less possessive and jealous, that might be possible. But in the FR, and especially the FR after the Time of Troubles, I'd imagine the gods are kind of persnickety about distributing their blessings to someone who couldn't care less about that specific god's dogma. (Which would be the case for someone who believes she's getting her spells from nobody in particular.) The gods are well aware that their own power is directly tied to the total strength of belief of their worshipers, so why would they squander that power on someone from whom they'd not be getting any overt service in return?

From an OOC standpoint, the FR is unlike some other campaign settings in that it's explicit in the rules that a cleric can't just give her faith to an entire general pantheon, and a ranger or druid can't just worship disembodied, non-personified nature. A divine caster *must* specify a single deity from whom she gets her powers, and that's not some subconscious thing that that you can sort of stumble into without knowing it, I think. It has to be an expressly willful act of devotion, a conscious decision on the part of the character.

Just my opinion, of course.

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That makes sense for the most part.

I read in a thread about Blackguards that in some cases, Blackguards are working unknowingly for a higher power. From that thread came the idea that so long as the BG is acting within the interests and portfolio of the deity, then they will receive the benefits of that deity. And the BG may think that these powers come from the fiend which they made the pact with, but that fiend might have been working for one of the dark dieties.

I think in the case of a cleric, then what you said in your post would apply directly. They'd be actively making the decision to devote themselves to a particular deity.

So far I've been going off what I've read here amongst some other info about druids:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Druid
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Silvanus

I'm not suggesting that my character would get his spells from nature itself, or that his own views wouldn't align with the dogma/portfolio of the deity he serves. Only that he would consider himself a servant of nature, rather than a servant of the deity. I'm not really looking for justification either way, just trying to get more info on the question so I can flesh out a story I'm working on.

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Well, you'd have to pray to your god to receive your spells, so...yeah. It's not unwittingly. However, it's possible to pray to one god for spells and have another one grant them (in some special cases).

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I'll stay away from making insights into the Druid's chance at this, as I often have and our tree-britches wearing DM's fail at me for it.

But I'm quite certain a Favored Soul would be capable of serving a deity without direct knowledge of it. They're pretty much the divine equivalent of Sorcerers.

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That's completely backwards. A favored soul would be even less likely to do such a thing than a cleric would. Complete Divine describes them as "a living manifestation of their deity," or some such. (I don't have the book in front of me.)

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I don't think the phrase "a living manifestation of their deity" precludes them from simply not knowing. I'm looking at Complete Divine right now and it just says they understand their connection to the divine at a young age. But it never says they know explicitly from the get go who gave them their powers, especially considering you can be born as one. Seems like it would take all of the fun out of discovering it anyway.

Additionally, given that a Favored Soul's spells aren't gained from any studying, it's all the more likely that they wouldn't learn about their patron until a little bit down the road, until they sought the answer for themselves or someone pointed it out to them.

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