Religion isn’t about believing false things. Religion is about building bonds between humans, by means including (but not limited to) costly signalling. It happens that a ubiquitous form of costly signalling used by many prominent modern religions is belief taxes (insisting that the ingroup professes a particular, easily disproven belief as a reliable signal of loyalty), but this is not neccesary for a religion to successfully build trust and loyalty between members. In particular, costly signalling must be negative-value for an individual (before the second-order benefits from the group dynamic), but need not be negative-value for the group, or for humanity. Indeed, the best costly sacrifices can be positive-value for the group or humanity, while negative-value for the performing individual. (There are some who may argue that positive-value sacrifices have less signalling value than negative value sacrifices, but I find their logic dubious, and my own observations of religion seem to suggest positive-value sacrifice is abundant in organized religion, albeit intermixed with neutral- and negative-value sacrifice)
The rationalist community is averse to religion because it so often goes hand in hand with belief taxes, which are counter to the rationalist ethos, and would threaten to destroy much that rationalists value. But religion is not about belief taxes. While I believe sacrifices are an important part of the functioning of religion, a religion should avoid asking its members to make sacrifices that destroy what the collective values, and instead encourage costly sacrifices that help contribute to the things we collectively value.
In particular, costly signalling must be negative-value for an individual
That’s one way to do things, but I don’t think it’s necessary. A group which requires (for continued membership) members to exercise, for instance, imposes a cost, but arguably one that should not be (necessarily*) negative-value for the individuals.
If it’s not negative value, it’s not costly signalling. Groups may very well expect members to do positive-value things, and they do—Mormons are expected to follow strict health guidelines, to the extent that Mormons can recognize other Mormons based on the health of their skin; Jews partake in the Sabbath, which has personal mental benefits. But even though these may seem to be costly sacrifices at first glance, they cannot be considered to be costly signals, since they provide positive value
If a group has standard which provide value, then while it isn’t a ‘costly signal’ it sorts out people who aren’t willing to invest effort.*
Just because your organization wants to be strong and get things done, doesn’t mean it has to spread like cancer*/cocaine**.
And something that provides ‘positive value’ is still a cost. Living under a flat 40% income tax by one government has the same effect as living under 40 governments which each have a flat 1% income tax. You don’t have to go straight to ‘members of this group must smoke’. (In a different time and place, ‘members of this group must not smoke’ might have been regarded as an enormous cost, and worked as such!)
*bigger isn’t necessarily better if you’re sacrificing quality for quantity
**This might mean that strong and healthy people avoid your group.
Religion isn’t about believing false things. Religion is about building bonds between humans, by means including (but not limited to) costly signalling. It happens that a ubiquitous form of costly signalling used by many prominent modern religions is belief taxes (insisting that the ingroup professes a particular, easily disproven belief as a reliable signal of loyalty), but this is not neccesary for a religion to successfully build trust and loyalty between members. In particular, costly signalling must be negative-value for an individual (before the second-order benefits from the group dynamic), but need not be negative-value for the group, or for humanity. Indeed, the best costly sacrifices can be positive-value for the group or humanity, while negative-value for the performing individual. (There are some who may argue that positive-value sacrifices have less signalling value than negative value sacrifices, but I find their logic dubious, and my own observations of religion seem to suggest positive-value sacrifice is abundant in organized religion, albeit intermixed with neutral- and negative-value sacrifice)
The rationalist community is averse to religion because it so often goes hand in hand with belief taxes, which are counter to the rationalist ethos, and would threaten to destroy much that rationalists value. But religion is not about belief taxes. While I believe sacrifices are an important part of the functioning of religion, a religion should avoid asking its members to make sacrifices that destroy what the collective values, and instead encourage costly sacrifices that help contribute to the things we collectively value.
That’s one way to do things, but I don’t think it’s necessary. A group which requires (for continued membership) members to exercise, for instance, imposes a cost, but arguably one that should not be (necessarily*) negative-value for the individuals.
*Exercise isn’t supposed to destroy your body.
If it’s not negative value, it’s not costly signalling. Groups may very well expect members to do positive-value things, and they do—Mormons are expected to follow strict health guidelines, to the extent that Mormons can recognize other Mormons based on the health of their skin; Jews partake in the Sabbath, which has personal mental benefits. But even though these may seem to be costly sacrifices at first glance, they cannot be considered to be costly signals, since they provide positive value
If a group has standard which provide value, then while it isn’t a ‘costly signal’ it sorts out people who aren’t willing to invest effort.*
Just because your organization wants to be strong and get things done, doesn’t mean it has to spread like cancer*/cocaine**.
And something that provides ‘positive value’ is still a cost. Living under a flat 40% income tax by one government has the same effect as living under 40 governments which each have a flat 1% income tax. You don’t have to go straight to ‘members of this group must smoke’. (In a different time and place, ‘members of this group must not smoke’ might have been regarded as an enormous cost, and worked as such!)
*bigger isn’t necessarily better if you’re sacrificing quality for quantity
**This might mean that strong and healthy people avoid your group.