All ideas originate from an individual. The best of them, those which provide the most utility, are adopted by others.

If you don’t adopt my ideas (money and religion are ideas), that doesn’t negate the legitimacy I ascribe to them but if you do adopt them, it can affirm.

If I worship Charles Manson as my god, and you don’t, you haven’t delegitimised my worship.

If you join me in worshipping him, you have affirmed my beliefs to me but not necessarily anyone else.

They’re both individual expressions. I can’t worship a god on your behalf for example.

It’s why both money and religion have been so useful in controlling populations - they’re individually expressed ideas which form a collective conscience of sorts, but if you control the inputs (ie mint the coins or print the holy books) you can control the outputs.