These studies do bolster the idea that ancestral belief in supernatural entities enhanced group cooperation, enabling believers to out-compete other groups. As Shariff and Norenzayan observe, “If the cultural spread of supernatural moralizing agents expanded the circle of cooperation to unrelated strangers, it may well have allowed small groups to grow into large-scale societies, from the early towns of Jericho and Ur to the metropolises of today.”
I would suggest that the notion of supernatural moralizing agents represents the co-opting of religion by society's agents of authority -- kings and priests and scribes. Authentic religion has more to do with encountering a loving creator, not a celestial overseer. But I cannot deny that the celestial-overseer viewpoint has played -- and continues to play -- a large role in the way many people think about religion.
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