Have you become more religious in your old age? (respect, raise, family)

[BellaDL]

I like statistics so I spent few minutes going through the replies and tallied up the responses and here is what I got

1. More religious in old age: 10
2. No change in belief or religious practice: 24
3. Less religious or more disillusioned with organized religion: 24

It's interesting that quite a few people (including myself) who reported becoming less religious also reported becoming more spiritual.

I did not break down the believers vs non-believers in the no change category but there appeared to be more non-believers.

I tried my best not to recount opinion from the same poster(s) but might have over counted few.

So the responses in this thread appear to confirm finding #10 in the report below.


http://www.oregon.gov/dhs/apd-dd-tra...of%20Aging.pdf

Myth ten: More religious
Members of the present older generation did not become more religious as
they aged, but grew up in a time when there was more formal religious training
given to children. Their lives were often started on a more religious path that
continued throughout their lives. It seems the difference is generational rather
than age-related.

[bobspez]

I am a bit more privately religious. Spend a couple of minutes most night saying my prayers when I go to bed. I am not and have not been a participant in church services more than a half dozen times in many decades, even though I attended Catholic school from the first through the 9th grades. I like to get communion on those rare occasions, but don't feel the need to do it very often. If you believe in God, I don't think you need to practice it in public. I don't think you need a group or a middleman to pray. When I was in hospital, I agreed to get the last rites and I took communion once. I figured that was good enough.

[matisse12]

I don't like it when CNN anchors/journalists say "we're praying for them" or "you are in our prayers."

Seems to me if a God were listening, he would not have let the tragedy befall all the people in the first place.

So I do not get all the references to prayers by journalists.

And plenty of people do not pray, but the CNN journalists saying the above act like it is universal for everyone to pray during every tragedy.

I know the journalists are just trying to be nice and show compassion, but I think it's weird that they make it sound like they are speaking for the majority. And they do not want to seem as if they are just using interviewees during tragedies for stories. But it's just not a necessary thing to say.

[jaminhealth]

I am way way way less religious in my oldER age...it took me into my 60's to get here and I finally got off the fence.

[Clemencia53]

I have started attending mass again. I enjoy the social aspect of it and also doing good deeds. I also attend a drum circle. Another way to gather and share.

[NewbieHere]

Short answer is no. But I'm Becoming more political as I'm getting older, does that count?

[trobesmom]

Originally Posted by jaminhealth

I am way way way less religious in my oldER age...it took me into my 60's to get here and I finally got off the fence.

It took me into my 50s before I became non-religious.

[Vision67]

As I've gotten older I've become more and more annoyed by the hypocrisy in organized religion.

Usually their focus is on maximizing revenues and manipulating weak people via fear. I've had church committee people show up at my front door begging me for a monthly fees commitment two weeks after visiting their church for the first time.

I've also observed so many events among "religious" people who act very differently from whatever they preach. My sister worked in a Catholic church rectory kitchen where she was told to "shoo away the beggars who come to the kitchen door" or "they'll just keep coming back".

Organized religion offers nothing for me.

[jrkliny]

As I get older, I try to avoid "getting set in my ways". I try often unsuccessfully to be more tolerant of others. I try to tolerate, if not support, such lifestyle choices as gay marriage and trans gender choices. When it comes to religion my attempts to be tolerant have not gone very well. ISIS is a good example. It is clear that ISIS is not just some fringe movement, but it supported by tens of millions of people. I know that what ISIS does is no worse than the outcomes of our western religions. We still have our evangelists and missionaries who want to change the rest of the world to match their beliefs. They would like to ban abortions, promote creationism beliefs, control education to match religious beliefs, and in short make everyone else follow their beliefs. Some Americans even applaud politicians, including Presidents, who claim to make decisions based on religious beliefs. Like ISIS we have had our periods of extreme persecution and terrorism including crusades, warring Popes, witch hunts, Inquisitions, nationalistic wars fueled by religious rivalries, and more.


Try as I might, I have to admit over time I have not only become less religious, I have become less tolerant of those who are religious and want others to conform to their beliefs. This leaves me in a strange position. I want to be more tolerant but I cannot be more tolerant of those who do not reciprocate and want others to follow their beliefs. I cannot but help believe the world went awry. Centuries ago the ancient Greeks started to develop "philosophies" where we questioned our beliefs and instead tried to use thinking and analysis and logic to view our world. That only lasted a brief period and western civilization sunk into the Dark Ages. We still seem to have one foot back in the Dark Ages and just cannot seem to move forward.

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by jrkliny

.... Centuries ago the ancient Greeks started to develop "philosophies" where we questioned our beliefs and instead tried to use thinking and analysis and logic to view our world. That only lasted a brief period and western civilization sunk into the Dark Ages. We still seem to have one foot back in the Dark Ages and just cannot seem to move forward.

I see us as Brer Rabbit punching the daylights out of the Tar Baby, and wondering why he can't get unstuck.