Hard-to-fake religious displays enabled trust and credit among converts

Evidence

In her study of the spread of Islam into Africa, Ensminger argues that Islamic beliefs, supported by powerful displays of faith such as abstaining from alcohol, avoiding preand extramarital sex, not consuming pork, and ritual fasting—permitted greater trust, shared rules of exchange, and the use of credit institutions among converted Muslims. The spread of Islam in turn facilitated more trade and greater economic success. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 489

Categorization

• XREF: Links directly to the reader’s core analytical frame: costly, hard-to-fake signals of commitment resemble the ‘credibility-enhancing displays’ and partner-choice mechanisms from Baumard et al. that the reader is invoking for the fumi-e trampling scenario.
• DEFINE: Supplies concrete behaviors (abstinence from alcohol, pork, sex, fasting) as operationalized costly signals of religious commitment usable in the reader’s cross-source argument.