A sweeping new psychological survey has come to the conclusion that North Americans tell others they have spiritual beliefs to appear more attractive, especially to prospective mates.
People subconsciously paint flattering pictures of themselves by revealing they have inner spiritual beliefs, according to Constantine Sedikides, a social psychologist at Southampton University in Britain.
The strong link between spiritual convictions and social attractiveness is based on Sedikides' overview of 57 different international studies, which recently appeared in the prestigious Personality and Social Psychology Review.The British scholar's analysis of psychological experiments (which included a total of 15,000 subjects) explains to me why so many people -even those who attend conservative religious institutions -are now so prone to say they're "spiritual, but not religious."
The phenomenon is widespread in the United States and Canada, the two countries where Sedikides found it is most beneficial for people to let others know, as he technically puts it, they're "intrinsically religious."
However, desirability goes down, Sedikides says, if people portray themselves as "extrinsically religious."
In other words, Sedikides is using academic jargon to say that North Americans on the dating scene who say they're intrinsically religious, i.e. naturally "spiritual," have a better chance of success than if they act as if they're only externally "religious."
Why is this? Sedikides wonders if people believe the self-worth of a person rises if they believe themselves, or others, are valued in the eyes of a divine reality.
Other evolutionary psychologists have speculated self-enhancement expands when people assume, rightly or wrongly, "spiritual" people may be more trustworthy, believe in something beyond their own self-interest or are inclined to monogamy.

Here you can find out if romantic rivals spur religiosity.

Here you can find out if sports can be considered a religion.

Here are some curious economic effects of religion.

For further reading on the subject of religion, I recommend Jack Miles' excellent book, "God: A Biography" which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996.

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