Supernatural monitoring by any religion can extend trust beyond one’s own community

Evidence

No doubt, believers would be expected to be most trusting of those who worship the same deities as them. However, the logic of religiously motivated prosociality predicts that trust can be extended beyond the immediate religious community as long as these outsiders adhere to some kind of supernatural sanctioning that constrains their behavior. Thus, Muslims might be able to trust Christians, who also believe in an all-powerful, morally involved God. Christians might trust Hindus, who believe in the law of karma, and an entire pantheon of supernatural monitors. Trust can be extended to potential cooperation partners if the latter adhere to some kind of supernatural monitoring that induces greater cooperativeness. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 223

Categorization

• XREF: This is precisely the Baumard-style partner-choice mechanism the reader is mapping onto Silence: the perceived presence of any supernatural monitor, not belief in the specific god, sustains cooperative signaling. Explains why forcing trampling (destroying the monitor’s perceivability) is the effective lever.