Religion Works: Legitimation

How Religion Works: Legitimation According to scholars legitimation is justification for conformity to a some sort of practice with an appeal to what the higher powers say. Similarly, it is often referred to as mechanical consent, humans don't always follow the orders and rules, this theory been justified both in past and present. But one can convince us the we must do it, or else there will be supernatural consequences later. For example, phrase “because Bible say so” or “God says so” is an obvious legitimation that refers to higher authority in order to convince the naive. Its clear that religious people intentionally manipulate others with talk about divine authorities. On the other hand, appealing to gods is normal to people who are raised in some sort of religious communities. I will agree with Bruce Lincoln’s statement that “those who persuade others are themselves persuaded of all”, people don’t always pay …show more content…
Social roles, moral norms and behavioral codes- are rules of behavior that are acceptable in the community. For instance, in Torah social boundaries, hierarchies, and behaviors are reinforced or supernaturally legitimated. Moses, on of the characters who is speaking throughout the book, ends saying that those who follow this social blueprint will be blessed, and their god will help them conquer their enemies and they will be successful farmers. In contrast Israel does not follow this social blueprint, and they were cursed. Legitimations merely maintain or manufacture consent to social order. The tools of a culture toolbox do not have a permanent use, they are often recycled and new forms take place by individuals effort. Also there is a selection of which tools can be utilized. For example tradition has a wide range of collections all of which cannot be used at once. People selection of the tools varies depending on how they want their communities to look like. Thus the selective uses of tradition reflects on what humans want for their