ABSTRACT
The relationship between secular and religious authority was reciprocal because secular authority also gained legitimacy by invoking a religious mandate. This symbiosis occurred in medieval Western Europe, East Asia, and the Near East. Most contemporary religious spaces are not preoccupied with acquired secular legitimacy, so they do not necessarily site themselves next to governmental seats. Christian churches, as well as Islamic mosques, Buddhist and Jewish temples, and convents and monasteries of all religions were often situated in the middle of towns near government buildings. Siting religious projects near buildings of secular authority such as in historical times is unnecessary because seeking secular legitimacy for a religious institution is no longer a predominant concern. One recent exception was the religious center project to be sited near the World Trade Center. The irony was that those who objected to it, on the basis of racism failed to understand that the goal of the project was ecumenism and reconciliation.
