Believers are broadly trusted more than disbelievers in religious-majority societies

Evidence

There is ample survey data showing that in societies with religious majorities—that is, in most of the world—believers are trusted more (and conversely, disbelievers are distrusted; more on distrust of atheists in the next chapter). In the words of conservative religious commentator and media guru Laura Schlessinger, “it’s impossible for people to be moral without a belief in God. The fear of God is what keeps people on the straight and narrow.” This is not just the opinion of the religious fringe or fundamentalist preachers and televangelists. In the United States, survey after survey finds that Schlessinger’s intuition is widely shared. Most people express more trust toward religious people, and endorse the belief that religion is necessary for morality. In a 1998 US national survey, for example, only 15 percent of American respondents agreed that the United States “would be a better country if religion had less influence.” The Pew Research Center found that among Americans, “being a Christian” ranked second on the list of traits that they found most appealing in a presidential candidate, out of a list of 23. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 212

Categorization

• XREF: This survey evidence grounds the reader’s ‘Big God’ framework — the social-trust premium on believers is what religion’s omniscient-god mechanism buys. Connects to the planned analytical essay linking Norenzayan’s mechanism to Silence’s Rodrigues.
• SEED: The fact that only 15% of Americans would prefer less religious influence, and ‘being a Christian’ outranks 21 other candidate traits, is a strong data-point anchor for a piece on how religion functions as a trust credential even in a secularizing state.