In Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) World War Terminus (WWT) wiped out most of humanity from Earth by 2021. To save humanity from extinction, some of mankind’s brightest were sent to Mars to survive. However, those who remained on planet Earth lived following a new moral structure or religion of life known as Mercerism.

This religion is different from the current religions some of us live by today. Those remaining on Earth began to covet any living creature. Every family had an animal of some sort; however, some could not afford an animal. Those who do not own an animal did not want to deprive Wilbur Mercer, so the alternative is to buy a cheaper realistic simulacrae (robot animals). This was not the only thing deceiving in this novel; there are also companies that build realistic humans. Shortly, both mechanical animals and humans began to blend in and then became difficult to identify. Despite the difficulty, mankind typically valued artificial animals while artificial humans, known as Androids, were despised and destroyed.

The time period described in the novel is completely futuristic compared to our current times. Humans in this time period seem to be dependent on technology. This dependency is nearly to a point of obsession or even religious worship, where one cannot live without a technological device. Is this the terrifying possibility for our future on Earth? Is it possible for us, humans, to need and even possess over technology to such an extent that we will become machines ourselves? How did this new moral structure of life, Mercerism, come about?

Mercerism is the new religion of this time period based on the teachings of Wilbur Mercer; although not directly claimed throughout the novel by his followers, Mercer seems to be a god or deity. Such a deity could compare to Jesus Christ, god of Christianity. Christians follows the teachings of Jesus Christ, which are provided in various documents known as scriptures explaining his life, death and resurrection (“Intro to Christian Theology”, n.d.). Mercer could also resurrect the dead; for example, an android named Pris destroys a spider by removing its legs. However, when Mercer is near the spider’s bones reversed themselves (Dick, 1968).

Christians follow Jesus’ teachings in life by attending church to worship the sacrifices made by Jesus Christ as well as prayer to repent from sin committed (“Intro to Christian Theology”, n.d.). Although similar to Christianity, in its resurrection theology, Mercerism does not require its followers visit a church and worship, but to depend on technological devices such as: the empathy box and Penfield mood organ. The empathy box allows its users to experience empathy of other individuals. The mood organ allows for users to regulate their emotions by dialing a number associated with the desired mood. Ultimately, these devices Mercerists (Mercer’s followers) use connect together all believers within Mercer’s mind and with other believers; similarly, to the spiritual connection Christians make with Jesus Christ experienced through worship and prayer.

Mercerism being an empathy-based religion requires each of its followers to care for, nearly possessing, an animal (real or artificial), and if one cannot afford/does not own an animal it is considered immoral and anti-empathic (Palumbo, 2013). Mercerists must also display empathy towards other individuals and work for the good of the remaining community. If incapable of empathy, one is determined to be an android. However, to differentiate androids from humans requires the use of the Voigt-Kampff test. This test is often given by a bounty hunter asking hypothetical questions involving the harm or death of animals; the response, however, is not important. The bounty hunter analyzes the eye muscles and capillary reaction to determine if the testee is human or android.

Religion has a powerful hold on humans, it has survived and has continued to thrive for 100,000+ years. Every culture has a religion and there is more than 85% of the world’s population that have some sort of religious belief (Azar, 2010).

At the end of the novel, the androids wanted to expose Mercer by broadcasting on TV an investigative report by Buster Friendly.

“We may never know. Nor can we fathom the peculiar purpose behind this swindle. Yes, folks, swindle. Mercerism is a swindle!” (Dick, 1968)

Buster Friendly exposes the Mercerism religion as false with Mercer being an old drunk actor. Mercer does admit to being a fraud, also admitting to Rick that there is no salvation. So does this mean that Mercerism is not real? This religion is considered to be true to its believers (John Isidore, Iran and Rick Deckard) although its “deity” has been disproved. This is one concept that the androids and Buster Friendly cannot understand; if exposed as false why are there still believers? Humans, unlike androids, have a need for spiritual faith. Religion is, in fact, a byproduct of how the human brain works; it gives cognitive tendencies to seek order of concepts that cannot be explained (Azar, 2010). Androids operate based on science and intelligence, if a concept cannot be explained or defined using science then it must not be real or true thus explaining their lack of spiritual faith understanding.

Rick fusing with Mercer at the end of novel, symbolizes his values for this believed religion. Ultimately, Mercer’s teachings were to preserve the remaining humanity on Earth. Mercer tells Rick that Mercerism was created and exists to show its followers that they are not alone. Religion is one of the ways human societies connect with one another, inducing unrelated individuals to be nice to each other (Azar, 2010). This is why Mercer says “they are not alone,” having that faith in Mercerism connects the human society in the novel together in a way that androids will never understand due to their lack of emotions.