The Interplay of Science and Religion in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series and Frank Herbert’s <i>Dune</i>

This paper compares the interplay of science and religion in the <i>Foundation</i> series (Isaac Asimov) to the <i>Dune</i> series (Frank Herbert). In the <i>Foundation</i> series, science has displaced religion in the future, though religion is present on various planets at various times, but only as a calculated political hoax or a false system of belief and practice. Salvor Hardin passes technological devices off as magical in the Four Kingdoms surrounding Terminus and a naïve priesthood emerges. On Comporellon, Trevise, who is in search of the Second Foundation, is immediately arrested. He meets with First Minister Lizalor and learns that Comporellon is a fundamentalist religious state which regards marriage as a sacrament, condemning the sexual relationship of two of his companions. But in <i>Dune</i>, religion and science go hand in hand with Paul Atreides (<i>Muadib</i>) becoming the Dune Messiah, and using his own powers (the voice), the Fremen, sandworms <i>and</i> blasters to defeat House Harkonnen. The religion is later codified and reified following the triumph and disappearance of <i>Muadib</i>. The Fremen and the Bene Gesserit are deeply religious groups who develop narratives to justify their oft times questionable practices. Leto, the son of <i>Muadib</i>, becomes the God Emperor of Dune, half human and half divine. So, in the <i>Dune</i> series the power of religion is central from the rise and disappearance of <i>Muadib</i> to the transmogrification of Leto.