Secular institutions, atheist prevalence, and religiosity decline reinforce each other in a self-amplifying loop

Evidence

It is interesting to note that these three factors are likely to operate in tandem and could be mutually reinforcing. As societies increasingly rely on secular institutions to enforce cooperation, religiosity declines, and so does distrust of atheists. With more secularization and greater acceptance of atheists, atheism spreads, and as atheists become more prevalent and visible, distrust of atheists declines further, which in turn contributes to more secularization. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 315

In summary, we know of three factors that can reliably reduce believers’ prejudice of atheists: (1) exposure to or reminders of strong institutions that create prosocial norms; (2) exposure to or reminders of atheists’ prevalence, and (3) of course, the decline of religiosity in a given society. It is interesting to note that these three factors are likely to operate in tandem and could be mutually reinforcing. As societies increasingly rely on secular institutions to enforce cooperation, religiosity declines, and so does distrust of atheists. With more secularization and greater acceptance of atheists, atheism spreads, and as atheists become more prevalent and visible, distrust of atheists declines further, which in turn contributes to more secularization. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 315

Categorization

• XREF: A positive feedback loop that complements the reader’s causal map: in Big Gods, the omniscient-gaze mechanism and here a secular-institutions loop—mirrors and inverts the religious solidarity machinery. — connects to: Religious belief correlates with higher fertility, shrinking secular populations; Strong secular institutions substitute for and undermine belief in God; Religious groups offset secularization losses through higher birth rates — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 630 (+6 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: if religiosity, distrust, and prevalence co-oscillate, what breaks a society into the virtuous Scandinavian loop vs staying locked in the high-distrust equilibrium?
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 315

Broader Connections

• Strong secular institutions reduce believers’ need to distrust atheists #complicates (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 307
• American atheist distrust stems from anomalous high religiosity #expands (0.72) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 306