Large atheist welfare states can replicate religion’s pro-social effects without gods

Evidence

In the popular imagination, religion is the antithesis of secularism, yet history and psychology reveal unexpected continuities. The final great surprise of the argument in this book is the religious origins of secular societies, which is the topic of chapter 10. How did Big Groups manage to emerge and thrive without Big Gods in the last few hundred years? Largely atheist social welfare states in Scandinavia give us striking clues as to the particular kinds of institutions, practices, and social conditions that can displace religion and build godless but cooperative societies. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 54

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: Directly connects to the reader’s analytical project: secular institutions as functional substitutes for Big God surveillance, a natural bridge to Durkheim’s social functions of religion.
• QUESTION: Which specific Scandinavian institutions and practices displace religion’s cooperative functions — this foreshadows chapter 10’s payoff.

Related

• Secular cooperative societies emerged through institutions that displaced religion (similarity 0.92)
• Secular institutions can replace religion’s community-building and cooperation functions (similarity 0.84)
• Strong secular welfare institutions make religion socially unnecessary. (similarity 0.84)
• Strong welfare states with stable institutions erode religious belief (similarity 0.82)
• Existential security and welfare states mutually reinforce religious decline in Scandinavia. (similarity 0.82)
• A highly cooperative society can shed religion within a century. (similarity 0.82)
• Religion declines most steeply in strong welfare states (similarity 0.81)
• Effective secular institutions drive religious decline by taking over its function. (similarity 0.81)
• Denmark maintained high social trust while rapidly losing religious belief (similarity 0.80)
• Secular governments and religious belief serve interchangeable functions, so strong states supplant gods. (similarity 0.80)
• Secular societies climbed the ladder of religion and then kicked it away (similarity 0.80)
• Strong secular institutions substitute for and undermine belief in God (similarity 0.79)
• Strong secular institutions can substitute for watchful gods in enforcing morality. (similarity 0.79)
• Secular societies reached large-scale cooperation through religion then discarded it (similarity 0.79)
• Strong state institutions and existential security replace religion’s functions (similarity 0.78)