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Trope of Religion in Asimov’s
Foundation Through the thematically connected
“
foundation”
series
Asimov reworks his ideas about empire, environment,
hegemonistic position of human civilizations. SF
works
as
metaphor, commenting on actual conditions in the
real
world
and offering solutions which deserve serious
consideration.
On a conceptual level, Foundation
perceives ‘feudalism’
and
its concomitants, imperialism, military
expansionism,
political intrigues for power as regressive.
Religious
revivalism may be used to serve political ends for
a
short
period, but it is finally a self-defeating
exercise. As
Ankor Jael tells Hober Mallow, “any dogma based on
faith
and emotionalism is a dangerous weapon to use on
others………
isn’t under our control anymore”. Nuclear power is
sold
to
the neighboring planets in the guise of “mystical
religion”. The gods of nuclear power however cannot
ensure
continued political and economical stability, for
one
planet or for the entire Galactic Empire!
Religion, like capitalism, is used as a political
weapon
for colonial expansion, in Foundation as it was in
Africa
and Latin America in the 19th Century. Societies
that
are
less technologically advanced than Terminus, those
using
fossil fuels rather than atomic power, are regarded
as
barbaric, as fit recipients for religious mumbo-
jumbo
that
prepares them for merger with Foundation.
Religion is not present in any form on the dying
imperial
center of Trantor or the future the future
epicenter of
civilization, Terminus, which are presented in the
first
two sections of Foundation. In the third
section, ‘The
Mayors’, religion is established not for terminus
but
for
the export to the neighboring planets to facilitate
trade
in atomic power and consolidate the growing power
of
the
Foundation. The fifth part, “ The Merchant
Princes”,
represents religion as a spent force, trade alone
is
strong
enough to carry forward colonial expansion. The
shift
to
trade, unsupported by religion, is brought about by
Hober
Mallow, a Master Trader. Economic forces are a more
powerful tool for hegemony & homogenization than
religion.
The religious system fostered by Salvor Hardin has
obvious
elements of Christianity. The Prophet Hari Seldon
is
akin
to Christ, a martyr figure, ‘a paradisial afterlife
is
assured to the faithful’, and ‘eternal elimination
of
the
sacrilegious’. Priests, high priests and
missionaries
ensure obedience and inveigle against heresy. They
assure
the believers that they are in the hands of
the “Great
Spirit”, in an obvious echo of Messiah. Though the
priest
and prince normally work in collusion, ensuring a
general
belief in the divine right of kingship, in cases of
conflict between the two pillars of authority,
obedience to
the priest ensures salvation to the soul.
Asimov presents religion in Foundation as a tool
deliberately devised for the specific purpose of
trade
and
colonial expansion. The purpose once served the
tool is
discarded, and it becomes a spent force. Those who
accept
the religion fostered by the Foundation are seen as
intellectually inferior savages. The residents of
Terminus
and the diplomats it sends in the guise of high
priests
do
not share the religious beliefs they sell to the
credulous,
ignorant neighboring planets. The reader, with the
author
is in a privileged position with Terminus as the
focal
point. The reader is not expected to spare any
sympathy
for
the ignorant savages who succumb to superstition,
who
have
no choice but to accept the ‘Guiding light’ of the
superior
power of the Foundation.
SF has used religion in a variety of ways. In
contrast
to
the use of religion by Asimov in Foundation, Frank
Herbert
in Dune portrays religion as a positive force use
to
unite
the indigenous people in a successful insurrection
against
a hated imperial power. “Religion in SF” can thus
be
seen
in a multiple ways, as a positive and constructive
force as
well as a tool employed cynically to further
political
ends.