Paper: What predicts atheism?

In “The Origins of Religious Disbelief: A Dual Inheritance Approach,” researchers found that the likelihood of becoming an atheist was overwhelmingly driven by low exposure to credible cultural cues of religious commitment, with little effect of individual differences in cognitive style.

Perhaps the punchline is: If your religion is just one of your interests, like gardening or PTA membership, then your kids will understand it doesn‘t really matter to you. A religion that is not central to life – one that is not costly – will not be passed along to the next generation.

From the paper: abstract

Online here.