The Machine Crusade - Entry #2

Recently in this blog, I brought up the question of what makes us human and connected with this, I touched on religion.  I never felt like I got a strong sense of how religion fit in to the 15,000 year landscape of human history addressed by these 16 Dune books but I am starting to form some ideas about it now.

First, I would like to define religion as I had once done in a "Religions of the Eastern World" course back in 1981 when I was a junior at Lafayette College.  The working definition we used in the course was that religion's purpose was to supply answers to the fundamental questions of why we are here, what is our purpose, and what happens after we die.  By this definition, just because a religion might tell you how to live, what to do and not to do, that does not make it a religion.  During this course I came to the conclusion that Judaism, my "religion", was primarily a way of life and not a religion as it really did little to answer these fundamental questions.  But I digress.

On p. 103 of The Machine Crusade, we find Omnius and Erasmus discussing religion.  Erasmus explains to Omnius the following:

From what I have observed, I would conclude that humans are either agnostics or outright atheists, unless they are exposed to extreme pain or stress.  Such attitudes go in cycles through their history, ebbing and flowing like a great tide of human affairs.  Religious belief is on the upswing now, with the Jihad as a catalyst.  (The Machine Crusade, p. 103)

And then a couple of pages later, there is this chapter starter quote:

Unfortunately, some wars are won by the side that is the most fanatical in a religious sense. The victorious leaders harness the holy energy of collective insanity.

--COGITOR KYWNA, The Art of Aggression

(The Machine Crusade, p. 106)

That is when it dawned on me.  Religion is key to the story.  It is a key weapon.  The Herberts don't talk about how religion may answer those central human questions.  They talk about fanatical religious paths and leaders using religion as a tool of war.  That is exactly why Omnius wanted to understand it better as it was being successfully used against the Synchronized Worlds.  And Iblis Gingo spent considerable energy to figure out how to fan the flames of religious fanaticism to feed the Jihad.

Since I really enjoy learning about and discussing all religions, it always had disappointed me that the Dune story had so little for me to contemplate in this area.  But I now have a different perspective to consider.  I have not studied fanatical religions but I see more and more of it in our own society and it worries me.  I don't think further insight from Dune is going to give me less to worry about.