Religious practices assembled by cultural evolution, not genetic adaptations

Evidence

It is not surprising, therefore, that prosocial religions have drawn upon the social bonding powers of rhythmic song and movement. Of course, as the preceding experiment illustrates, synchrony can have its effects without being in religious contexts—synchronous rituals, although endemic to prosocial religions, are not unique to them—they can also be found in armies, university fraternities, and sports teams, to name a few examples. In addition, not all religious rituals necessarily involve synchrony, as there are other reasons why rituals are important for religious and cultural life. This is exactly what would be expected if these practices were cobbled together by cultural evolution over historical time, rather than the product of genetic adaptations unique to religion. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 381

Categorization

• XREF: Connected to the reader’s framing of the fumi-e as a cultural counter-technology; supports treating ritual practices across religion/non-religion contexts (armies, fraternities, sports) as interchangeable cultural tools.
• ADDENDUM: Connects to ‘Grafting & Growth’ line of thought: cultural evolution assembling technologies/practices piecemeal over time rather than as deliberate unitary designs.