Only prosocial religions function as moral systems across history

Evidence

As Haidt recognizes, not all moral systems are religious, and not all religions are moral systems, but some religious systems—those that have prosocial consequences—have been moral systems throughout time. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 467

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• XREF: Distinguishes prosocial from non-prosocial religions — relevant to comparing the Jesuit moral system against the Japanese authorities’ counter-ritual in the novel.

Related

• Demographic success of prosocial religions explains their global prevalence today (similarity 0.82)
• Prosocial religions outcompeted rival groups historically and scaled up human social organization (similarity 0.81)
• Moral judgments serve group cohesion, not abstract individual reasoning (similarity 0.80)
• Moralizing religion emerged recently as a rare cultural innovation (similarity 0.80)
• The religion-morality link emerged culturally and recently in history (similarity 0.79)
• Prosocial religions outcompeted rivals through group solidarity advantages in warfare (similarity 0.79)
• Prosocial religious cohesion inherently requires excluding nonbelievers from trust (similarity 0.79)
• Supernatural punishment explains religion’s prosocial effects better than ideomotor priming (similarity 0.79)
• Religion bundles opposing tendencies that both fuel and curb prejudice (similarity 0.79)
• The null effects of religiosity on prosocial behavior reflect biased sampling of university students (similarity 0.78)
• Supernatural monitoring, not moral emotions alone, scaled prosociality to mass societies (similarity 0.78)
• Religious belief only boosts prosociality where state institutions are weak (similarity 0.78)