The Scandinavian example demonstrates that religiosity is largely environmentally determined: Scandinavian countries were highly religiously observant in the mid-19th century, but as socialist social safety net models developed, religiosity declined to the lowest rates in Europe within a century—a timeframe too short for genetic change, showing social context determines religiosity more than genes.

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Speaker

Robert Sapolsky

Evidence Quote

You don't breed out your genes for religiosity over the course of a century or so. Tells you a lot about the social context for where religiosity is coming from.

Source

31. Religious Belief by Robert SapolskyStanford School of Humanities and Sciences
Created: 8/12/2026, 5:59:56 PM

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