Religious commitment to rival gods still signals trustworthiness to believers and even nonbelievers

Evidence

The claim that members of one religious group will also trust members of other religious groups is admittedly speculative, and may sound counterintuitive to some. But there is anecdotal and other evidence to support it. In surveys done in the United States, Christian Americans express the most trust toward fellow Christians, but express a considerable degree of trust toward other faith groups as well, such as Jews and Hindus. Anthropologist Richard Sosis argues that, under some conditions, religious signals of trustworthiness can be coopted by members of other religious groups. When the choice is between two religious strangers with unknown credibility, the one who truly fears God is trusted more. Supporting this, the economist Robert Frank observes that many wealthy nonreligious New Yorkers place their ads for nannies in Salt Lake City newspapers, apparently believing that Mormons are particularly trustworthy nannies. Similarly, Sikhs are viewed by non-Sikhs as trustworthy economic partners. Although sincere belief in the same supernatural monitor is the best elicitor of trust, there is a sliding scale of religious trust that could extend to religious outgroups. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 224

Categorization

• XREF: Directly feeds the reading purpose: the fumi-e and apostasy mechanism in Silence rests on which rival-god commitments retain or lose trust-signaling value under coercion. The ‘trust extends to rival faiths but not to apostates/atheists’ logic is the exact lever the Japanese authorities exploit.
• SEED: The Robert Frank nanny-in-Salt-Lake-City detail is a compact, surprising data point: nonreligious elites outsourcing childcare to visibly religious strangers. Could anchor a short essay on how secular people still exploit religious trust signals.
• CANDY: Wealthy nonreligious New Yorkers advertising for nannies in Salt Lake City because Mormons are trusted as caregivers — a fun, self-contained anecdote.