Game of thrones fans please explain the power of religious circles in Kings Landing

[Tocharian]

I did not read the books. I am just a casual viewer of the show. But every-time I watch a scene involving imprisonment and mistreatment of members of different noble houses (Margaery Tyrell, Cersei Lannister),  I literally cringe. These are by far the worst scenes. They are illogical to a point of absurdity.  My point being how is it possible for armyless, landless and supposedly "powerful" religious circles to undertake such actions as imprisonment of what is essentially the sons and daughters of feudal lords. How can they pull off such ventures without armies to back them up. Historically, when religious circles (ulama, papacy) had power, they always had armies and owned lands with all the perks (servants, taxes), otherwise they were state puppets or played insignificant roles. How does a bunch of landless and armyless religious 'fanatics' imprison and torture Cersei and Margery?    

[Miley the Monstrous]

It's really not that different in the books, to be quite honest.

In a nutshell and without spoiling much, Kevan Lannister (Cersei's uncle, and de facto leader of House Lannister) refuses to attack the Faith because he doesn't want to spill blood in the holy Sept of Baelor. So he prefers to wait and see how Cersei does on her trial. 

Mace Tyrell (Margaery's dad), on the other hand, was quite ready to order his forces to bust Margaery out of prison, but Kevan also persuaded him to wait until Margaery's trial, to see Margaery get cleared of all charges fair and square, so to speak.

So that's pretty much it. Kevan didn't want to be the known as the guy who attacked the holy people, basically. 

[Lord Lannister]

Mild book spoilers if you haven't read Feast or Dance.

In the novels there are two orders of the Faith Militant. The Warrior's Sons were knights and lords who renounced their titles and pledged their lives to the faith. They were still well armed and trained, though few in number. Lancel was among these fellows. The Poor Fellows are as their name implies, average men with poor weapons and worse training, but quite numerous. In the early days of the Targaryen dynasty the Faith Militant rebelled against the crown and was utterly destroyed and disbanded, the High Septon being appointed by the crown from then on. In the novels Cersei had the previous High Septon, who was a puppet of Tyrion's, murdered and appointed the High Sparrow who agreed to clear the crown's debts to the Chuch in exchange for re instituting the Faith Militant. This backfired on her when she tried accusing Margaery of adultery and was arrested herself.

But as mentioned, the primary reason Kevan never attacked the Sept was because even for him massacring the faithful in the Great Sept of Baelor was crossing a line. Randyll Tarly however threatened to and secured Margaery's release this way.

[Pies are coming]

Even in the show, they take Loras by surprise and Tommen refuses to order his men to retrieve it by force when they bring Olyvvar to question. Had Tommen shown spine (or Joffrey been alive), the monarchy would have rescued Loras and sent the High Sparrow to the Wall (ok, no, Joffrey would have order his execution).

So, we start with a weak king. Once that line is crossed, the Faith has a valuable hostage - the heir of Highgarden. So, not only it's taboo to spill blood, let alone the blood of supposedly pious men and women, in the Sept of Baelon (think of St. Peter's cathedral), even if the Lannisters try, the Faith could kill Loras before the rescuers can release him.

Even worse, there is the lack of political support for liberation. Cersei specifically wants Margery to die, so she won't try to override Tommen or convince him to take a more forceful approach. Mace Tyrell, in the meantime, is away and unaware of the situation. Then Cersei is seized, while Jaime is also away. What makes us think Pycelle and Kevan Lannister oppose Cersei's imprisonment?

 

And now that Jaime and, from the trailers, Mace are back, things are likely to change, and the monarchy may very well spill the blood of the pious in the Sept of Baelor to rescue their own. But... the Faith may still kill their hostages.

[DireDoodle]

Great question and answers.  The same had been bugging me.  Thanks.

[dsug]

The War of the Five Kings brought famine, poverty, neglect, and death to the common people. They hated the nobility for starting the war, then using them as soldiers in a fight they don't even care about. War led to shortages of food and that made people angry (see the riot after Myrcella left for Dorne). 

As is common in history and today, when confronted with hard times, people turned to religion. The Faith of the Seven was already the dominant religion in Westeros, and preached humility, purity, and honesty. Seeing the nobles like Cersei lying, scheming, and fucking their days away made them want to do something about it. Enter the Sparrows. 

A bunch of lowly, selfless, devout men and women band together, and slowly but surely start making an impact. They want to help everybody and make everyone equal, so long as they follow the Faith. They start punishing the corrupt, destroying false idols, whoring Septon's, and mind-polluting alcohol. Wishing to make to humble the already despised nobility, they arrest Ser Loras and Queen Margaery. Less concerned with bothersome things like "evidence" and "proof," they are essentially on a witch hunt to scourge the wicked from the earth and make Westeros honest again. 

[dsug]

Oh, and they haven't really been challenged because at the beginning, they were under acting under Cersei's influence. Then, Tommen is a passive guy, and would rather leave than spill blood. Then, even if he was a little more ruthless, he doesn't have the manpower to take out an entire religious faction and the commoners supporting them. Then, they can't risk another peasant uprising, as attacking the faith would surely upset the poor people the faith is helping. 

[shk12344]

In the book, HIgh Sparrow is portrayed more as a skillful political player than he is on the show.  Book Sparrow is able to exploit Cersei's incompetence to gather more political/military power until he is strong enough to confront Cersei.

TV Sparrow just appears one day and takes over King's Landing.