By Michael Talibard,
DOES religion drive a rift between generations? Not quite, but the fact that the elderly are generally more religious than younger adults can feel uncomfortable for both and is difficult to explain.
In the distant past, in my days as a devout Catholic, I would sometimes, during an Italian holiday, attend a weekday morning mass. Aside from the priest (obviously) everybody else in that little church was an old woman: all six or seven of them. No surprise there, really. It turns out that religion is generally age-related.
Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Centre in more than 100 countries over the past decade show that everywhere in the world (Christian, Muslim, whatever) younger adults are less likely than older ones to identify with a religion, believe in God or engage in any religious practice. This is a small difference in some places, a much larger one in others, but its slant is always the same, with the oldies more religious than the young.
One exception to this pattern, found mainly in America, is the cult. Cults tend to find their recruits more easily in the 18 to 25 age group. Not all cults are as harmful as Heaven’s Gate, Peoples Temple or the Manson Family. Some of them sound rather more benign (as was the Gurdjieff group I joined at that age). But still, to my mind, a cult is a trap best avoided, and I really fear for the children born into them.
Setting cults aside, the general picture is that greater age tends to bring more religion. Why does this happen? Let’s first rule something out. It is not because of the across-the-board decline in religion. There is that decline, but it does not explain what we’re looking at here. Among believers, be they few or many, the ratio of young to old is stable. This can only mean that quite a few older people are bucking the general trend by becoming more religious as they age. Why does that happen? And how do I feel about it now that I’m a Humanist?
Many of these old folk who become religious are returning to what they knew in an earlier phase of their life. I tried that once (in middle age) but it didn’t work for me. I found they had jettisoned the beautiful Latin I had always loved and could still hear in the fine music of Josquin, Haydn and others. They had replaced it with some ugly, stilted, unidiomatic English. And they had replaced the hymns with nasty guitar music. Unbelievable!
Does religion perhaps appeal to the elderly via hopes of an afterlife? We know from solid research that older people do not fear death as much as their juniors. Does this freedom from fear arise from the prospect of an afterlife? I’m not sure, but it looks unlikely. The Policy Institute of King’s College London conducted a study in 2023 which showed that in the UK, despite being more religious generally, the old are actually a bit less likely than the young to believe in life after death. Strange!
One can think of two opposite reasons for a person not to fear death. 1: Because it is like a dreamless sleep: nothing happens. (But most people don’t see it like that, do they?). Or 2: Because you are going to a better place. Or a worse? Well, since far more people believe in Heaven than believe in Hell, the “better place” idea wins out. And lots of people like to imagine their deceased loved ones still taking an interest in their lives – either looking down with approval or turning in their graves.
Many old people go to church without any distinct belief, but for social reasons. While still in work, they knew lots of people. Some they knew well, others were just nodding acquaintances, but they all helped fulfil the need for human contact. Now in their retirement, a church congregation can meet that need – and far more: it can be really supportive. I envy them, the oldies who are able to benefit like this, but I can’t join in, because I can’t bring myself to pretend to be even nominally religious. Nor should I.
We do not choose our beliefs. Yes, I know there is the common phrase, “I choose to believe… ” but actually we don’t choose.
To test this out, pick something you don’t believe in: fairies at the bottom of your garden… the abominable snowman… take your pick, but choose something you regard as highly unlikely. Now try to make yourself believe it. You just can’t. You can imagine it, but not believe. You don’t have that choice.
So the older generation are not choosing to become more religious: they just find that they are so. However, it hasn’t happened to me yet!
Michael Talibard, who is now in his 80s, is a retired teacher and former head of English at Victoria College. He founded the Jersey branch of U3A and was its chairman for 20 years.
