EA #2. The Rise and Fall of Rituals - Dr. Martin Lang

Dr. Martin Lang is assistant professor at Masaryk University, Czech Republic. And is the Director of the Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion (LEVYNA). He joins us to talk us through how rituals form and the roles they have played in fostering cooperation. We discuss the benefits of rituals in reducing anxiety and his current work on why we are seeing a decline in certain rituals along with the rise of non-theism, particularly in nations with greater existential security.

Chapters

• 0:00 Guest Introduction
• 10:20 Evolution of Rituals and Religions
• 21:20 Imitation, synchronized behavior and cooperation
• 39:02 Atheism, decline in ritual use and anxiety
• 52:34 Research Techniques used by Dr. Martin Lang
• 56:06 What factors impact reduction in ritual beliefs?
• 1:05:57 Wrap up