Perhaps the best way for a group or person to exercise power in a manner that harms others is to convince people that one doesn't actually have any power to begin with. This is the tactic adopted by many conservative religious institutions in America: despite wielding tremendous direct power as well as indirect power through their influence, they have persistently argued that they are powerless due to American culture being secularized.

 

Read Article: Power & Powerlessness: Religious Institutions Mask Political, Cultural Power