Public displays of devotion sustain belief in a god while their absence erodes it

Evidence

In other words, gods lack power if potential converts see little evidence of social proof—passionate devotion to them by zealous followers. Our answer can be found, once again, in the cultural learning biases that direct people to selectively commit to certain supernatural agents but not others. If religious actions speak louder than words (the fifth principle of Big Gods), then it follows that witnessing actions that convey genuine commitment to a particular deity—painful or costly rituals, restrictions on behaviors, and sacrifice of time, effort, and wealth—will in turn lead to greater belief in and commitment to this god. Conversely, the absence of such public displays erodes commitment without necessarily disturbing the intuitive building blocks that allow people to conceive of a particular god. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 371

Categorization

• XREF: Central mechanism for the reader’s aim: the Japanese forcing priests to trample the fumi-e is exactly the engineered absence/destruction of public displays that erodes commitment. Direct tie to the book’s analytical purpose with Norenzayan, Baumard, and Silence. — connects to: Awe at vast landscape produces a religious attitude rather than mere pleasure — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 187
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that removing public devotion erodes commitment ‘without disturbing the intuitive building blocks’ is the crux — belief is socially regulated at the level of commitment, not conception.