Well, that gets rather complicated. Think of it as the extent to which the religion appeals and encourages irrationality, and this causes its followers to be instrumentally irrational in verifiable ways. I’m not talking about self-identified moral or ethical systems here, but rather obviously crazy beliefs like “Our god will reward you with a heavenly garden and 42 virgins if you become a martyr” or “You need to purify yourself from the tiny spiritual beings which were brought to Earth by an all-powerful alien millions of years ago”. Stuff like that will appeal to human utility/reward functions in fairly obvious ways, assuming that it is truly, fervently believed.
Well, that gets rather complicated. Think of it as the extent to which the religion appeals and encourages irrationality, and this causes its followers to be instrumentally irrational in verifiable ways. I’m not talking about self-identified moral or ethical systems here, but rather obviously crazy beliefs like “Our god will reward you with a heavenly garden and 42 virgins if you become a martyr” or “You need to purify yourself from the tiny spiritual beings which were brought to Earth by an all-powerful alien millions of years ago”. Stuff like that will appeal to human utility/reward functions in fairly obvious ways, assuming that it is truly, fervently believed.