Projecting WEIRD features on ancient religions.

Area of Science:

• Anthropology
• Sociology
• Religious Studies

Background:

• Historical and prehistorical cultures lacked the focus on prosocial morality and public declarations of belief seen in modern religions.
• The concept of prosocial morality is a more recent development, appearing in wealthier, post-Axial societies.
• Public displays of religious belief became advantageous with the rise of religious diversity and coalitional recruitment in large-scale societies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine the anachronistic projection of current religious narratives onto past cultures.
• To identify the historical emergence of prosocial morality and public religious expression.
• To understand the societal conditions that foster public religious displays.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of historical and prehistorical societal structures.
• Sociological examination of religious diversity and coalitional recruitment.
• Anthropological review of belief systems across different cultural contexts.

Main Results:

• The study refutes the narrative that ancient cultures were concerned with prosocial morality or public belief statements.
• Prosocial morality is linked to the development of wealthier, post-Axial environments.
• Public religious expression is a feature of large-scale societies with religious diversity and complex social dynamics, characteristic of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies.

Conclusions:

• Modern religious narratives should not be anachronistically applied to prehistorical or historical societies.
• Prosocial morality and public religious displays are products of specific socio-economic and demographic conditions that arose later in human history.
• Understanding the evolution of religion requires differentiating between ancient societal concerns and modern religious expressions.