In order to show that religion rules the world, we must identify what we mean by 'power'. Because if something rules the world, then it must be powerful, or to be more precise, it has to be able to exercise power. The exercise of power can be explained in two ways.

Firstly, power can be explained as a coercive force, that is, coming from the top down, in the hands of a small group of people, be they politicians, technocrats or the wealthy. Within this system, only those who are part of that group can exercise any power and influence decision-making at all. For someone to get power, they must remove, change or join the ruling power elite.

The second way of explaining power is as a bottom up process. In this case, power is a consensual force, only permitted by the agreement of the masses. Here, power is a mosaic because everyday interactions are understood as a form of power broking. Power is exercised through the particular way that the people of a society choose to live and work; these arrangements can even influence how politicians make decisions.

In order for the masses to exercise power, they have only to change the way they deal with each other. For instance, if people chose to barter rather than use money when exchanging goods, this would have an effect on their power relations. In this case, to have power is to be able to influence the nature of the power relations that are in operation on a daily basis.

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