Dr. Lanman's research addresses two areas in the scientific study of religion.

1) Atheism & Secularisation: His work on atheism and secularization aims to provide an account of why some individuals become theists and others become non-theists, why some nations have much higher proportions of non-theists than others, and why some non-theists engage in anti-religious social action.

2) Religious Identity, Ritual, and Self-Sacrifice: His work on religion and self-sacrifice aims to provide an account of the relative contributions of belief, ritual, values, and identity in explaining individual willingness to die for a religious group.

For further detail of Dr. Lanman's research, see: https://youtu.be/4XnCnK7kdf8