Religious rituals are practised all around the world – and experts may now know why they’re so popular.
Researchers have discovered that taking part in ceremonies like baptisms and bat mitzvahs appears to trigger the release of opioids in the brain.
These chemicals have been linked to feelings of pain relief, reward and pleasure.
They are also released when people take drugs like heroin, morphine and prescription painkillers, producing the ‘high’ that many associate with the experience.
The researchers said their findings support the theory that religious rituals evolved as a way for large groups of people to bond.
It replaces the need for a one–to–one contact that may have been traditionally required to form strong connections.
These ceremonies tend to include communal singing and collective movement, which also boost feelings of togetherness.
‘These findings are consistent with the idea that routine religious services actively engage opioid and bonding–inducing processes that help sustain cohesion within large congregations,’ the team wrote in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The researchers found that religious rituals boosted pain threshold and social bonding, triggered by the release of opioids in the brain
The researchers said their findings support the theory that religious rituals evolved as a way for large groups of people to bond. Pictured: Pope Leo XIV celebrates mass before thousands of worshippers in the Canary Islands
For their research, the team studied 265 adults attending 24 religious groups in the UK and Brazil.
The UK participants were all Christian but from varying denominations including Roman Catholic, Methodist, Church of England, Baptist and those that described themselves as ‘Evangelical’.
While the exact nature of the content of the rituals differed, all of the UK church rituals included time spent praying, communal singing while both seated and standing, periods of time where a leader (e.g. priest or minister) spoke from a lectern, pedestal or pulpit, a moment of silence, and a period of time where congregants were encouraged to communicate with one another.
Participants were assessed both before and after a service or ritual and were asked how connected they felt to other members of the congregation, as well as their mood.
Their pain threshold – commonly used as an indirect signal of the activity of the body’s natural opioid system – was also measured.
Analysis revealed that after attending a religious service, people reported feeling more trust, closeness and connection with other members of their community.
They also experienced more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions.
And, on average, participants tolerated more pain after the ritual than before it. This suggests increased activity in the system that releases opioids in the brain, the researchers said.
These graphs show how reported levels of social bonding, as well as pain threshold, increased after taking part in a ritual
‘Participants’ experienced feelings of bonding were driven by positive affect, a feeling of connection to God, and, importantly, an increase in pain threshold – a proxy for mu–opioid activation, a brain chemical involved in pain relief, reward, and pleasure,’ the researchers said.
‘The findings support the theory that ritual evolved as a social bonding mechanism, allowing large groups to forge the kinds of bonds that once required one–to–one contact.’
The scientists argue their study gives weight to the Brain Opioid Theory of Social Attachment, which suggests interacting with loved ones triggers a mild, natural opioid high that induces feelings of warmth, safety and deep emotional connection.
While their study does not directly compare religious rituals to drug use, taking recreational substances also trigger the release of opioids and related feel–good chemicals in the brain.
Drugs like heroin, morphine and prescription painkillers directly bind to the brain’s natural opioid receptors, producing feelings of euphoria.
Meanwhile other addictive substances such as alcohol, nicotine and cannabis stimulate the brain to release its own natural opioids, creating a powerful reward response.
WHEN DID CHRISTIANITY COME TO BRITAIN?
In the first century after Christ, Britain had its own gods: Pagan gods of the Earth, and Roman gods of the sky. But soon after, Christianity came to the British Isles.
While people tend to associate the arrival of Christianity in Britain with the mission of St Augustine, who was dispatched to England by the Pope to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxon kings, in 597AD, Christianity arrived long before then in the 1st century AD.
It started when Roman artisans and traders who arrived in Britain began spreading the story of Jesus along with stories of their Pagan gods.
Marble head representing Emperor Constantine the Great, at the Capitoline Museums
At the time, Christianity was one cult among many, but unlike roman cults, Christianity required exclusive fidelity from its followers.
This led to Roman authorities persecuting Christian, who were then forced to meet and worship in secret.
But Roman Emperor Constantine saw appeal in a single religion with a single God, and he saw that Christianity could be used to unite his Empire.
From 313 AD onwards, Christian worship was permitted within the Roman Empire.
During the 4th Century, British Christianity became more visible but it had not yet become widespread. Pagan beliefs were still common and Christianity was a minority faith.
It looked as if Paganism might pervade over Christianity when, after the departure of the Romans, new invaders arrived: Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
Yet Christianity survived on the Western edges of Britain. Missionary activity continued in Wales and Ireland, and in Western Scotland Saint Columba helped to bring a distinctly Irish brand of Christianity to mainland Britain.
It can also be argued that it was St Augustine’s famous mission in 597 AD from the Pope in Rome to King Aethelbert of Kent that definitively set up the future of Christianity in Britain, creating an alliance between Christianity and royals.
