In his quest to gain support, Vladimir put up statues to six traditional Rus deities, including Perun, the god of lightning. Yet Vladimir realized that, because his subjects had no belief system in common, they lacked a shared identity, which weakened his hold over them. A political rival could easily challenge Vladimir’s rule by rallying his supporters around a competing deity. Vladimir began to look for a major religion that could command the loyalty of all his subjects. Once he selected the right religion and required his subjects to convert to it, he could ban the worship of other deities
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