Many institutions in modern societies (including in particular churches and political parties) seek to influence their members through providing attractive narratives linking members costly actions to future outcomes. This lecture will describe how such institutions compete to offer narratives that appeal to human beings' evolved psychology, and what impact such competition has on social and economic outcomes. Central to this process is the idea that such institutions may have a comparative advantage in inducing trust in a complex modern society over other, secular institutions that depend for their appeal on more complex messages without a narrative frame.