Frequent prayer reduces scapegoating once dogmatic exclusivity is controlled

Evidence

Hansen and I found that, after matching people on age, gender, occupational status, and other factors, exclusivity increased the odds of scapegoating. No surprise there—more dogmatic people are more scapegoating of other religions. But what was more interesting, holding constant exclusivity, was that prayer frequency reduced the odds of scapegoating. This means that people who pray a lot, but do not think that they have a monopoly on the truth, are in fact less scapegoating than those who are less devoted and are equally nondogmatic. We found this in the overall sample, and we found the same patterns within each religious group we considered, even among Buddhists. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 521

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s Big God analytical frame: devotion (prayer to a moralizing god) versus exclusivity (rigid boundary-setting) are separable effects—relevant to distinguishing prosocial religiosity from tribal aggression. — connects to: Chronic, communal, in-group religious practice drives the prosociality effect — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 183; Daily communal prayer predicts greater cooperation in public goods games; Crisis-time scapegoating of religious out-groups masks political and economic causes
• QUESTION: Does the prayer-scapegoating link hold because prayer tracks Big God belief specifically, or just any devout practice? The ten-nation sample’s internal variation is worth chasing.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 521

Broader Connections

• Chronic, communal, in-group religious practice drives the prosociality effect #expands (0.78) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 183
• Daily communal prayer predicts greater cooperation in public goods games #corroborates (0.75)
• Crisis-time scapegoating of religious out-groups masks political and economic causes #complicates (0.72)