Religion has become associated with having a focus on morality. But that wasn’t always the case, researchers say. Academics have long suspected that the modern world’s major religions were born of major spiritual movements which emerged in Eurasia about 2,500 years ago due to a population boom, and a subsequent need to create a moral order out of what could have been chaos in increasingly large communities. However, a recent study challenges that theory, proposing that ancient affluence and rising standards of living spurred the rise of morality religions. Is this a case of ‘more money, more morals’? Lead author of the study published in science journal Current Biology, Nicolas Baumard, research scientist at École Normale Supérieure in Paris believes
