Empire of Wild

The novel repeatedly depicts manipulative religious indoctrination (including, but not limited to, Christianity) as a dangerous and damaging force that can result in exploitation at both the community and individual level. Religion is depicted as especially problematic in the context of colonizer-Indigenous relationships, reflecting the ways in which European Christian influences can undermine Indigenous culture, identity, and beliefs.

Heiser runs a traveling ministry and travels to Indigenous communities in the hope of converting people to evangelical Christianity. It is eventually revealed that the ministry is intended to leave people “too busy praying to protest. The missions are good at changing the way people see shit” (220). Heiser himself thinks smugly that Victor’s preaching “mak[es] the work of coming in behind to get project approvals so much easier” (176). Heiser himself has no real personal religious convictions; for him, it is merely a tool he can wield to more easily gain access to, and leverage with, Indigenous communities. In falling under Heiser’s influence, Victor both becomes a colonizer’s tool and risks losing his own Indigenous identity as a result.

The doctrine that Victor preaches to Indigenous audiences renders them more malleable and submissive to terms that are not in their best interest to accept.