Page - 132 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

tegic production of expedient schemes that structure an environment in such a way that the environment appears to be the source of the schemes and their values.12 In other words, the environment structured through subjective symbol systems ap- pears to be the origin of these values, which consequently naturalizes them. Fur- thermore, ritualization is always connected to power, since it endows social actors with the authority to reinterpret reality.13 Thus, Smith and Bell together provide us with an interpretation of how “holy space” is related to ritual and what constitutes “holy space”: by means of ritual, actors and their concepts are intertwined with a space and thereby legitimized and endowed with power. Sacralization, then, can be understood as a specific process of power attribution. Where does this interpretation place “religion” and what is religion’s role within this theoretical framework? Religion is perceived as socially generated, and refer- ences to specific religious traditions and specific religious concepts have a purpose within the ceremony. As religious concepts can be understood as empowered by the process of sacralization, a space loaded with religious concepts reaps the re- wards of those concepts’ privileged relationship to power. Sacralized concepts are sacralized again and thereby become even more powerful. Religion is produced through ritual, but it is also reiterated in ritual, which produces in turn new forms of religion. In this circular process of sacralization and resacralization, religion is gen- erated and regenerated and power accumulated and bound to space. Consisting of religious concepts, religious traditions are thus powerful sources of legitimization. Kim Knott suggests that religious traditions have a privileged relationship to power because historically they were both institutionally and ideologically dom- inant. I propose we reverse that dynamic: religious traditions’ dominance was a product of their privileged relationship to power, which stemmed from their gen- eration through sacralization. Even though, as Knott notes, this dominance is cur- rently questioned in many societies, religion still plays a key role in many conflicts about space, often in a supporting role.14 Furthermore, for many groups, religious conceptions of space are more important than secular ones, which can lead to ten- sions or (violent) conflicts. Religion can be used to legitimize claims to space, which can be especially significant in the case of territorial conflicts. Permeated by religion, sacred spaces share the power of religion – and whoever has the ability to perform a ritual also has the power to define, and thus claim, space. However, no appro- 12 Bell 1992, 140. 13 Bell 1992, 141. 14 Knott 2005, 27–28. Jerusalem between Political Interests and Religious Promise | 131www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 127–151