Existential security, government stability, and subdued public religiosity mutually reinforce widespread disbelief

Evidence

These societies of apatheists and inCREDulous atheists enjoy high levels of existential security, strong and stable governments with social safety nets, and the absence of widespread passionate displays of religiosity in public life. Once again, these factors were likely mutually reinforcing: increases in existential security reduced motivations to attend religious services, in turn causing further declines of religious belief, leading to a retreat of religious displays from the public sphere. These developments were likely reinforced by widespread access to science education in these societies, which further encourages analytic thinking that fosters religious skepticism. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 627

Categorization

• XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s core question: Scandinavian ‘apatheism’ as a secular mirror of Rodrigues’s Japan—where public religiosity was also suppressed but by state coercion, not existential security.
• QUESTION: If absence of passionate public religious displays itself drives disbelief, does the fumi-e’s forced public trampling (a violent display of apostasy) push in the same direction?