Religious cues harness situational power where secular institutions are absent

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 (#expands, via linked claim)

Despite the American exception, as a rule, and with the usual caveat “all-else-being-equal,” strong secular institutions significantly dampen believers’ distrust of atheists. Nevertheless, cross-cultural studies such as this one, as insightful as they are, have one big weakness: they cannot tell us with certainty the causal direction of the effect. There is always the possibility that some other third variable that we did not think of causes societies to develop strong institutions and causes people who live in these societies to trust atheists. The gold standard for establishing causality is the experiment with random assignment and a control condition. In a series of such experiments led by Will Gervais, we wanted to know if mere reminders of secular authority would reduce distrust of atheists. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 307 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Faith in God and faith in government substitute for each other; Divine and secular authority are inseparable in explaining belief; Strong secular institutions substitute for and undermine belief in God (+9 more)

Related

• Strong secular institutions substitute for and undermine belief in God (similarity 0.92)
• Divine and secular authority are inseparable in explaining belief (similarity 0.86)
• Secular governments and religious belief serve interchangeable functions, so strong states supplant gods. (similarity 0.85)
• Nonbelievers show mild trust toward believers while believers trust only their own (similarity 0.84)
• Prosocial religious cohesion inherently requires excluding nonbelievers from trust (similarity 0.84)
• Secular institutions, atheist prevalence, and religiosity decline reinforce each other in a self-amplifying loop (similarity 0.84)
• Strong secular institutions reduce believers’ need to distrust atheists (similarity 0.84)
• Religious behavior depends on situational context, observable action, and intergroup competition (similarity 0.83)
• Religious belief withers when governments provide the cooperation religion once supplied. (similarity 0.83)
• Strong secular institutions raise trust and cooperation for believers and nonbelievers alike (similarity 0.83)
• Religious belief cannot be understood apart from secular authority structures (similarity 0.82)
• Strong secular rule of law sustains trust and cooperation without religion (similarity 0.82)
• Religious belief stems from both intuitive cognition and cultural transmission mechanisms. (similarity 0.81)
• Strong secular welfare institutions make religion socially unnecessary. (similarity 0.81)
• Religion evolved situational cues because chronic internal supernatural awareness is hard to sustain (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Religious behavior depends on situational context, observable action, and intergroup competition #expands (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 19
• Religious belief withers when governments provide the cooperation religion once supplied. #contradicts (0.82)
• Strong secular institutions reduce believers’ need to distrust atheists #contradicts (0.78) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 307