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Why does Brazil have 159 religions while Canada has 15? Our answer is that the genesis of religions has occurred at different rates across the world because religion manifests from evolved behavioral strategies for the avoidance and management of infectious disease.

And infectious disease stress varies across the globe. We support this idea by showing that i) hunter-gatherer societies use smaller ranges in areas with greater infectious disease stress and ii) contemporary religions are more diverse in areas of the world with greater infectious disease stress.

We account for many other explanations and find that our explanation is on solid ground.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Article End