O manifesto em si não está escrito em detalhes. Ele é discutido por vários personagens (veja abaixo) e podemos ver as bordas dele, mas no fundo, o poder do documento aparece vindo de seu valor de celebridade ; que foi escrito por um descendente do Tyrant, indiscutivelmente o indivíduo mais poderoso da história da galáxia.
Seus efeitos parecem ser transformadores, muito além das próprias palavras. Odrade usou seus talentos como Atreides para criar o equivalente literário de um earworm .
Mirlat will have to be dealt with, Waff thought. He lifted the manifesto from his lap and read the first line aloud: “In the beginning was the word and the word was God.”
Waff descreve isso como questionar religiões (exceto as próprias), presumivelmente porque a religião deles é a única importante para anunciar Leto II como um mensageiro do verdadeiro Deus:
“Every powindah religion is called into question by this manifesto,” Waff said. “Every faith except ours is left hanging in limbo.”
Teg leu. É bem denso:
“Just as the universe is created by the participation of consciousness, the prescient human carries that creative faculty to its ultimate extreme. This was the profoundly misunderstood power of the Atreides bastard, the power that he transmitted to his son, the Tyrant.”
Evidentemente, discute o poder da profecia:
In a deep and portentous tone, Odrade said: “The Manifesto raises questions that all must address, believers and non-believers alike.”
“What has all this to do with the Holy Child?” Tuek demanded. “You told me we must meet on matters concerning—”
Before Tuek could find words, Waff locked eyes with Odrade and responded in a way he knew she would interpret correctly. Odrade could do no less, being who she was.
“The error of prescience,” Waff said. “Isn’t that what this document calls it? Isn’t that where it says the mind of the believer stagnates?”
É decididamente herético:
She had to keep Tuek’s attention on the document that disturbed him so much. She paraphrased from the Manifesto: “Your will and your faith—your belief system—dominate your universe.”
Tuek recognized the words. He had read the terrible document. This Manifesto said God and all of His works were no more than human creations. He wondered how he should respond. No High Priest could let such a thing go unchallenged.