Big Gods historically bound anonymous strangers together where courts and police were absent

Evidence

We know that supernatural monitoring is far from the only source of prosociality in the world. Secular authorities have joined (and perhaps supplanted) watchful gods as guarantors of cooperation in some places, with interesting psychological consequences that I discuss in more detail in chapter 10. There is extensive evidence for this claim from the field, and preliminary evidence from the lab. In the field, economists and sociologists consistently find that people living in societies with strong secular institutions, compared to those living in societies with weak institutions, are far more trusting of other citizens, more prosocial, and more likely to punish freeriders. In the laboratory, we have seen in chapter 3 that reminders of secular concepts (for example, civic, jury, police) are as effective as reminders of a watchful God in promoting generous behavior among Canadians. This suggests an intriguing dynamic, that when it comes to enforcing cooperation and trust, gods and governments may be interchangeable. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 302 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Group size predicts Big Gods independent of stratification and missionary contact — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 418; Supernatural watchers and rituals jointly forged large-scale moral communities; Big Gods and costly rituals coevolved to enhance cooperation and outcompete rivals (+3 more)

Related

• Gods functioned as witnesses enforcing commercial oaths in ancient markets (similarity 0.90)
• Gods and governments may be interchangeable enforcers of cooperation (similarity 0.88)
• Secular institutions and watchful gods are interchangeable in enforcing cooperation and trust (similarity 0.86)
• Gods and governments serve interchangeable functions of surveillance, comfort, and control (similarity 0.85)
• Religious belief withers when governments provide the cooperation religion once supplied. (similarity 0.85)
• Divine and secular authority are inseparable in explaining belief (similarity 0.85)
• Big God prosocial religions contributed to, not merely resulted from, large-scale societies (similarity 0.85)
• Big Gods and large-scale cooperation mutually reinforced each other’s expansion (similarity 0.85)
• Big Gods substituted for courts and police in binding strangers into cooperation (similarity 0.84)
• Supernatural monitoring evolves to solve cooperation problems in large anonymous groups (similarity 0.84)
• Moralizing supernatural agents help sustain cooperation at scales beyond natural limits (similarity 0.84)
• Omniscient watchful gods enabled cooperation among anonymous strangers (similarity 0.84)
• Secular institutions substitute for supernatural monitoring by enabling trust in strangers. (similarity 0.82)
• Large anonymous groups need supernatural monitoring to avoid splintering (similarity 0.82)
• Social monitoring breaks down as group size grows, enabling religion’s rise. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Supernatural watchers and rituals jointly forged large-scale moral communities #corroborates (0.85)
• Gods functioned as witnesses enforcing commercial oaths in ancient markets #exemplifies (0.85)
• Big Gods and costly rituals coevolved to enhance cooperation and outcompete rivals #expands (0.80)
• Large anonymous groups need supernatural monitoring to avoid splintering #qualifies (0.80)
• Gods and governments may be interchangeable enforcers of cooperation #expands (0.80) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 302
• Group size predicts Big Gods independent of stratification and missionary contact #corroborates (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 418