Chapter 6244 Political Power is Power

Chapter 6244 Political Power is Power

Though Ves felt reluctant to proceed with Gavin's daring proposal, he eventually decided to proceed with engaging with the religions that had long taken root within red humanity.

He initially thought that he would soon get overwhelmed by the need to negotiate with hundreds if not thousands of individual churches, denominations, cults, associations, brotherhoods, sisterhoods and other forms of gatherings.

However, Gavin quickly reassured him that it was not necessary to approach each and every individual religious group on an individual basis.

"There is no need for us to bother with the small fry at this stage." The personal assistant said. "We only need to summon a couple of dozen representatives of the largest organized religions in the new frontier. That should allow us to effectively open up a dialogue with groups that enjoy the backing of at least 50 percent if not more of every faithful believer in the Red Ocean."

"50 percent? Shouldn't it be more? As far as I know, the reach of those old-time churches should be much greater. New cults spring up like mushrooms every year, but their congregations rarely expand beyond a single village, province or planet."

"It depends on the definitions and criteria you use to determine whether a person is faithful and whether he abides by a specific denomination. It is very complicated. What makes it even worse is that churches regularly try to pad their membership numbers. They claim that they have 1 trillion followers at their beck and call, when in reality over 70 percent of them are categorized as such because they are too lazy to change their registration or are too lazy to show up for church services. There are many communities and subcommunities where converting to a faith is a mandatory social or cultural expectation. Just because those people participate in all of the obligatory rituals does not mean they have a god in their hearts."

This was clearly an extremely contentious subject that was better left to theologians and sociologists. There was no need for Ves to delve in the finer points of this issue.

"We don't need to engage these shallow believers, right?"

"Correct." Gavin nodded. "What we are truly after is to gain the active support of the churches as well as their more devoted and dedicated backing. There are enough people out there who are more than passive believers. These are the folks who donate more than the minimum contribution expected from them. They are the people who will gladly do volunteer work for their churches. They are the people who actively organize additional outings and start charities in the name of their faiths. These folk come from all walks of life. They can be found at the bottom as well as close to the top. You can find them among ordinary laborers, elite soldiers as well as wealthy industrialists. Faith touches every corner of our society because every human is susceptible to it. It is the one common element that binds them all together."

"It is not so easy to mobilize these faithful, though." Ves mentioned. "These folk may attend the same church services and so on, but other than that they are too diverse and different from each other. They already live their own lives. I think that their jobs and their families are more important to them than what gives them spiritual comfort. If a church suddenly demands that its flock must not only double their monetary contributions but also offer free labor in order to assist the Red Collective, I doubt that those people will be as pious as before." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I don't think it will be as bad as you say, boss. The ordinary folk can be mobilized easily enough so long as we offer them wages. As for money, the financially strong churches and their wealthiest supporters should be more than enough to fund most of these endeavors. The key is to persuade all of these religious organizations to support the Red Collective and act on its behalf. We will likely have to bring them in and make them a part of our hierarchy. Only by bestowing them with actual power and authority will they be willing to put their resources and manpower at the Collective's disposal."

That sounded extremely difficult and complex. Ves could already imagine the nightmare that would ensue when people of many different beliefs began to work in the same organization.

As long as they opened their mouths and talked about anything related to their faith, they were bound to make enemies who held contradicting beliefs!

The infighting was bound to be terrible!

All of this sounded complicated and unrealistic, but it was actually a lot more reasonable. Ves and his staff just needed to set up the dominoes in just the right way. As long as they formed a solid plan and executed it well enough, then they only needed to make a few strategic moves at the start to produce a massive chain reaction that would ultimately result in a massive societal shift!

There was enough existing demand for change. The supporters just needed a catalyst in order to engage in collective action.

"I think I get what you are trying to accomplish with this plan." Ves said. "You want to make a permanent change to how our society interacts with religious groups. I... am not entirely sure whether it is a wise idea, but it is bound to be effective. I like it... so long as all of these churches are willing to be led by a sensible leader. We absolutely cannot let these powerful religious organizations surrender their power to a megalomaniac or a selfish profiteer."

Gavin nodded with a smile. "That is why only you can do this. Wielding so much power is tempting, but you have repeatedly expressed your reluctance and unwillingness to lead big organizations and engage in politicking. You are the very definition of a reluctant leader, and that is exactly the reason why you should be able to command their respect."

"Maybe. I do not think it will be easy to wrangle all of these churches, let alone bind them all so tightly that they can truly turn into a united political power bloc."

"We will not be able to find out if we do not try. This is a time where we must prioritize action over discussion. Just say the word, boss, and I will begin to send invitations to every major religious organization."

"Do it." Ves commanded. "We might as well give this a try and observe the initial response. If the pushback and objections are too great, then we should dump this plan and explore other options."

At this point, Ves no longer cared about the negative consequences of empowering religions.

If he was being honest, then he was actually in favor of the existing policies towards religion.

There was no need to insert unnecessary superstition and make beliefs in the government, workplace and other areas. People should be free to believe in whatever they wished in private or among like-minded individuals, but that should be the extent of their religious expression.

However, now that Ves was lacking a broad base of support, he was willing to violate his own stance towards religion in order to further his own interests.

If he had to stand up and serve as a voice for all of these crazy and irrational believers, then he would reluctantly do so as long as he could effectively gain their allegiance!

He intended to give them enough concessions to ensure their cooperation, but no more. The whole point of this exercise was to give him enough backing to establish a strong foundation within the Red Collective. It would be a lot easier for him to shape the policies of the new superorganization if he did not have to beg for support from other groups all of the time.

"You have made the right decision, Ves." Gavin grinned. "I know it is difficult for you to engage with religion after your mixed experiences with different faiths, but it is truly worth it to engage with them. You have always complained about lacking power. This is your chance to rectify that. Political power is not as nice as hard power, but it can serve as an adequate substitute in the years to come. In a time where war will continue to erode public support, it becomes all the more important to gather a large base of support. The Red Two and the first-rate superstates won't be able to make decisions on your behalf as casually as they did in the past. They know that if they do anything that offends you, they will also offend all of the believers behind you. This is a very frightening prospect to all of those bigshots."

This was the power of the masses!