Problem of Religious Diversity

I also am going to write on the salvation of Emeth because I feel as though his redemption, although we cannot fully understand it, is warranted. It is true that Aslan says that he and Tash are opposites and I find no problem with this as long as we consider what Emeth actually believed and did while he thought he was worshipping Tash. I also agree with Laura that if we worship a false god or serve an evil god we would remain unfulfilled, for this is where Emeth stands. He is unfulfilled in his relationship with Tash, for he senses that something is not quite right.

Somehow (and this is the part I do not completely understand) Emeth does good in the name of Tash. He says of the man that is standing just inside the Stable waiting to kill the Narnians who enter that he “was a liar and a mocker and no true servant of Tash” (756). The description of this man would make more sense to us if you replaced “Tash” with “Aslan,” for to be opposite Aslan you would become a liar and mocker. Emeth also says that “the name of Aslan was hateful to me” (755), but could someone really hate Aslan if they knew the truth of his goodness? Could someone really serve Tash if they thought of him as evil? I think that Emeth is doing good and is following Aslan by thinking Tash has the characteristics Aslan actually does. As for the other Calormenes, maybe they worship Tash in fear rather than in reverence. Maybe they see Tash as a transcendent god who does not care for them—and their role as followers of Tash is to curb his anger towards them. Or maybe the Calormenes are actually atheists, for Rishda Tarkaan does not seem to believe in either Tash or Aslan.

The reason I say Emeth is unfulfilled is that he really desires to see Tash’s face and this is the reason he enters the Stable. Emeth became confused when he was told Tash and Aslan are one for, as I mentioned earlier, Aslan was hateful to Emeth. How, then, could the god Emeth spent his life seeking be the same that he spent his life hating? This is what causes Emeth to seek the face of Tash, although he is truly seeking the face of Aslan. Emeth is unfulfilled because he was seeking a false god, a god of evil when in reality Aslan was the one seeking him and Emeth just did not know it yet. After all, can we ever be truly fulfilled or ever end our search for God until we die?