Religious attendance predicts martyrdom support across six major religions worldwide

Evidence

Going further, we found that these patterns are not at all unique to Palestinians and Jews. In an international survey of six major religions in six nations, regular attendance at religious services encouraged a combination of willing martyrdom and outgroup hostility. But regular prayer did not. Religious participation cements social ties and builds group solidarity. But when groups are in conflict, this solidarity translates into the willingness to sacrifice to defend the group against perceived enemies. This is why, as Jonathan Haidt puts it, “religion is therefore often an accessory to atrocity, rather than the driving force of the atrocity.” — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 536

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the reader’s analytical frame: if solidarity-building (not belief) is what religion contributes to violence, then the fumi-e ritual aimed at destroying public solidarity is the precise counter-instrument, corroborating the Baumard partner-choice mechanism.
• SHARE: The cross-national finding that prayer does NOT predict martyrdom support but attendance does, with the Haidt ‘accessory to atrocity’ line, is a sharp debunking of the common ‘religion causes terrorism’ intuition—worth sending to a secular friend who makes that equation.