Omniscient-god beliefs only change behavior when the deity is actively on the believer’s mind.

Evidence

The key to this puzzle can be found in the everyday workings (and failings) of the human mind. Even though God is omniscient and watches people 24/7, people aren’t thinking of Him 24/7. Believers have to think of God and His omniscience at any given moment if that belief is to have an impact on their actions. From a psychological perspective, there is little reason to expect a wholesale, unconditional association between religion and prosociality. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 151

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s core question: the Big God mechanism only binds when salient — a constraint on the Norenzayan claim being tested against Father Rodrigues.
• QUESTION: What are the situational triggers or cognitive primes that make God’s watch salient at the moment of temptation?