Religious behavior depends on situational context, observable action, and intergroup competition

Evidence

The entire argument in this book can be summarized in eight interrelated principles. … 2. Religion is more in the situation than in the person. … 5. Religious actions speak louder than words. … 8. Religious groups cooperate in order to compete. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 19

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 19
• XREF: connects to: Costly rites mobilize male solidarity and spread culturally through intergroup competition.; Costly religious requirements directly explain group longevity in communes; Religious survival advantage resists explanation by individual or genetic selection (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Chronic, communal, in-group religious practice drives the prosociality effect #corroborates (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 183
• Attributing every social characteristic to religious texts erases contextual factors #corroborates (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 123
• Self-reported religiosity predicts prosociality only outside secular Western societies #qualifies (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 186
• Religious conviction subordinates empirical evidence for committed punitive practitioners #complicates (0.72) — , The Rod and the Child, 10938