Secular government functions as a continuation of religious authority by other means

Evidence

Secular sources of authority are a continuation of prosocial religions by other means. This raises the idea that they serve interchangeable functions. If true, this would help us understand how societies come to secularize: one way they do so is by outsourcing religion’s functions to new forms of government. Does religion thrive when government is weak? Does belief in God wither when societies invest in policing duties and in efficient governments? — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 564

Categorization

• QUESTION: The empirical questions posed at the end (religion thriving under weak government, withering under efficient policing) are worth testing against the Japan case in Silence, where the state’s efficiency is precisely what weaponizes apostasy.
• XREF: connects to: A state channels domestic religious zeal outward to protect its own rule. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1904; The religion-secular boundary is a construct serving Western state power — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 685; Religion functions as the enabling power behind a preferential legal system — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1014 (+3 more)