The Evaluation of Religions, Legitimacy Criteria

This article examines three approaches regarding the legitimacy of religions. The first approach considers it meaningless to discuss religions legitimacy, maintaining no positive function for religion; while the second one does it only through two intra religious criteria including individual transfiguration or incarnation of God and revelatory origin of the teachings of a specific religion, criticized in the article as well. The third approach takes the most part of this paper, s discussion, criticizing interreligious criteria. At first, theories considering the founders of religions as the criterion of their legitimacy are mentioned and then it is discussed that what aspect of the founders, characters could be regarded as a criterion of religions legitimacy. The next criterion evaluated is that of religions, teachings to examine whether they are of positive function, rational, coherent, approvable, comprehensive and compatible with the reality. Finally we conclude that if someone does not believe in the divine source of religions, considering them totally humane issues, as a matter of fact, utilizes functionalist criteria to discuss the characters of religions, founders, while someone who believes in their divinity, naturally emphasizes on revelatory criteria and religious experience of the founders. However it should be noted that these criteria are not mutually exclusive to one another, in the other words any religion, being evaluated, that could response to more criteria is of more legitimacy