David DeSteno

They don't have those things that reinforce group bonds.

And so the question for us really is, can we take some of these practices and not just kind of ethical or philosophical beliefs and create new rituals around them?

And I haven't seen that ever be tried.

But I think there's a chance that it could work.

The hardest part, again, though, is getting people to agree on what those will be, right?

Yeah.

the idea of kind of social consensus and sacrifice comes in, that it's not just your way or the highway, right?

That you have to find a community.

I mean, those of us who have been parts of religious communities recognize it's like, we don't always agree with everything, right?

But you have to find meaning in enough of it that you want to continue with it.

And I think that's the trick.

If you're not born into a faith or if you're not converting to a faith that's there but trying to create one,

How do you get that committee to agree on what it is?

It's interesting.

I was talking to a scholar who studies new religious movements, and she shocked me.

She said, you know, every year there is in the U.S.

and Canada, there's probably 50 to 100 new religious movements that start.

Now, you know, that could be someone who's saying,

I've heard the word of God and follow me, right?

And they're typically small.