Belief In God Grows As Mortality Nears, Survey Says

CHICAGO, April 18 (Reuters) - Belief in God is highest among older people and increases with age, perhaps due to the growing realization that death is coming closer, University of Chicago researchers said on Wednesday.

Summarizing data from surveys performed in 1991, 1998 and 2008 in 30 countries from Chile to Japan, the university's National Opinion Research Center found that, on average, 43 percent of those aged 68 and older were certain that God exists.

By comparison, an average of 23 percent of people aged 27 and younger were firm believers in God, according to the report, which gathered data from the International Social Survey Program, a consortium of the world's leading opinion survey organizations.

"Looking at differences among age groups, the largest increases in belief in God most often occur among those 58 years of age and older. This suggests that belief in God is especially likely to increase among the oldest groups, perhaps in response to the increasing anticipation of mortality," researcher Tom Smith said in a statement.

Over the past two decades, belief in God has decreased in most countries, but the declines were modest, Smith said.

Israel, Slovenia and Russia were three exceptions where belief in God had grown. For instance in Russia, non-believers who became believers outnumbered by 16 percent those who had lost their belief in God.

Belief was highest in strongly Catholic countries such as the Philippines, at 94 percent, and lowest in Western Europe, with only 13 percent of former East Germans believers.

In the United States, 81 percent of people surveyed said they had always believed in God, and 68 percent support the concept that God is concerned with people in a personal way.

People were asked about their range of beliefs, from atheism to strong belief in God; their changing beliefs over their lifetimes; and their attitudes toward the notion that God is concerned with individuals.

The countries surveyed were Australia, Austria, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

(Reporting By Andrew Stern; Editing by Greg McCune)

Comments

[Ed Pearlstein]

08:45 PM on 04/24/2012

The interpretation implied, that people go to God as they age, is not justified. Perhaps they do, but also perhaps the older people always believed in God more than the younger people.

[CabinAgue]

11:19 PM on 04/24/2012

Hey, I wrote something similar (but, alas, with many more words, why? :) below!

[Yorksgal]

03:47 PM on 04/24/2012

Belief in God, is not the same as believing in a religion. We have too many "religions" that are far removed from any loving God, instead choosing to promote fear especially as one's time on earth draws near.

Each to their own - if people can find comfort in believing in a God, then let them be - but do not preach there is only one way to God and dismiss everyone else's beliefs.

[Laughert9]

11:29 AM on 04/24/2012

For me, I believe because I have experienced the evidence in my own life. Everyone else is free to believe, or not, as they choose. :)

[TYRANNASAURUS]

11:06 AM on 04/24/2012

Belief In God Grows As Mortality Nears...

Those are the pathetic terrorize borderline losers that can't deal with reality at the end of their miserable existence....and want to keep on suffering...........when they could have been enjoying their life here on earth all the time.

[frenchyfoof]

04:08 PM on 04/26/2012

Mankind will eventually live forever on the earth with no fear of dying, old age, sickness or death, which was God's purpose for man since Adam and Eve, and God has not changed his mind or purpose. (Revelation 21:1-4)

[Hillbilly49]

10:09 AM on 04/24/2012

It is therefore the height of folly not to "bet" on God, even if you have no certainty, no proof, no guarantee that your bet will win.     ~Pascal's Wager

[CabinAgue]

10:50 AM on 04/24/2012

I'm going to start using the opposite on the religious who use their belief as a crutch against necessary action in the here and now.

[MorallySuperiorAtheist]

09:09 AM on 04/24/2012

Curiously, the incidence of senile dementia also increases as we approach death. How odd.

[CabinAgue]

09:31 AM on 04/24/2012

I _loved_ that Hitch made sure to say that if he had a deathbed conversion it would be due to having lost his mind (or some words to that effect -- surely more eloquent, his use of language was stunning to me).

I'll have to make a point of saying something similar (not that I'll be famous :) when I am nearing death.

[tcpcat]

06:36 AM on 04/24/2012

really people

[squat6971]

08:38 PM on 04/23/2012

"Belief In God Grows As Mortality Nears, Survey Says "
Well, duh!

[David N Taiwan]

11:04 AM on 04/24/2012

Duh?

My best friend was dying several years ago but the closer he got to death the more he disbelieved. He was raised a born-again Pentecostal and was a believer until he got sick. After he got sick, he saw no evidence of a loving god and lost all faith.

The sword cuts both ways.

[CabinAgue]

11:40 AM on 04/24/2012

Also, the whole thing is written poorly.  I should probably look deeper into the study, but haven't the patience or sufficient interest.

(And an aside -- the article talks about aging, not really about younger people dying.  I wonder if that would show a whole different set of conclusions as well.)

But saying that more older people believe than younger people says nothing about the mortality connection itself.  To reach such a conclusion you would need to follow a group for a long period, and see how many people who do not believe for years and years then _change_ to believing when nearing death.

Currently there are more older people who think a lot of things that younger people do not.  It doesn't mean the older people changed their minds.

(And an aside -- the article talks about aging (over 68), not really about younger people dying, which is what it sounds like your story is about?  I wonder if that would show a whole different set of conclusions as well.)

Anyway, the people who do decide to believe before they die (and surely some do, how many is the more interesting question), following only Pascal's Wager, only make me shrug my shoulders.  That the religious think it proves something is silly.  THAT is what they would brag about?  That people believe out of fear of non-existence?  Um, yeah, most of us who don't believe think that's a lousy reason and they should be embarrassed, not gloating.

[22Keys]

05:45 PM on 04/23/2012

False and destructive are two very different things. If you consider the notion of an afterlife unlikely there is nothing wrong with that. There is a subtle, yet significant difference between being non-religious, and being anti-religious (The latter being an exercise in zealotry).

[Cade Frost]

12:53 PM on 04/23/2012

You mean the fear of death promotes religion ? Do tell.

[frenchyfoof]

01:07 AM on 04/24/2012

False religion promotes fear.

[Citats]

10:51 AM on 04/24/2012

False religion is the only flavor religion comes in.

[CabinAgue]

02:38 PM on 04/24/2012

Is there "true religion"?

[Michael Doane]

12:48 PM on 04/23/2012

...and in other astounding discoveries:

water flows downhill
the sun rises in the east

[NYC123]

12:04 PM on 04/23/2012

HuffSubscriber'sComment
I believe Christianity has an impending problem much in the same way Muslim faith does with their extremists. The Christians version is not as bad but nonetheless you have a large portion wearing Christianity on their sleeve yet nothing in their political positions of cutting services for the poor, minorities, and women has any resemblance to the teachings of Jesus. In fact they directly oppose his works. And much like we ask the Muslims, and get upset that they do not, it is incumbent upon the Christians that DO follow Jesus to speak out against them, before public sentiment towards the faith continues to erode further. Peace.

My reply!
You have a point!
Please note -- many label themselves followers of the Christ - but in their actions they show themselves to be "wolves in sheep's' clothing. Scripture prophesied of these types controlling doctrines and teachings -- taking hold of the church and misguiding many.

Our Christ stated clearly in scripture: "what one does to the least of my brethren -- you do to me!

Your point is well taken; and I hope you appreciate the words of mankind's Savior... And I would add, at Judgement (scripture states) many will come knocking saying: "I did this and that to your (The Christ) glory!" Jesus, who is mankind's only judge will reply -- "Get away from me you worker of lawlessness -- for I do not know you!"

[cowloverjoshua]

08:15 AM on 04/24/2012

Very true many people think they are Christians but really are they 24/7 Most likely not.

[NYC123]

10:02 AM on 04/24/2012

God doesn' t expect us to be perfect. But our Father in Heaven reads our hearts -- so he knows exactly what our motives are.

[misterdonutbags]

01:07 PM on 04/24/2012

Putting a prophecy out there that could be interpreted in many different ways doesn't mean a thing. "Some people are going to say they follow Christ but really don't". All prophecy in the bible is junk like that. If a prediction is going to have any merit then it needs to be specific and not self-fulfilling. If I said that some natural disaster is going to cause many people grief, is that prophecy? What I'd really like to know is why anyone would follow the bible. Oh that's right, because it tells you to.

[NYC123]

01:48 AM on 04/25/2012

Well to us that know the Bible is God's Word -- it mean "life itself!"

[Hillbilly49]

10:47 AM on 04/23/2012

I find that as I and my friends are getting older we prefer not to cling to myths, fables and fantasies about an Invisible Guy in the Sky.   When were where children we embraced childish ways but now that we are adults we prefer the wonders of nature and all of the amazing knowledge and progress mankind has made, not because of an Invisible Guy in the Sky, because man is basically good and can accomplish great things.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.   1 Corinthians 13:11

[Mischievous Puck]

02:51 PM on 04/23/2012

Hillbilly49, to think like a child is to question and learn. To put that aside is to stop being a full human being. Christianity is much less a myth and a superstition than our economic theories, our myth that technology will propel us off this planet out of our solar system and on to immortality amongst the stars and our Aztec-like belief that the universe was made when some thing made its self out of nothing.

[frenchyfoof]

09:18 PM on 04/23/2012

The major things that are myths, fantasies and fables are what the politicians say as well as what false religion promotes.

[Hillbilly49]

09:52 PM on 04/23/2012

All religions are false and promote fear and hate.

[bermudababy]

10:46 AM on 04/23/2012

Where are the dead?...Gen. 3:19: “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Eccl. 9:10: “All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [“the grave,” KJ], the place to which you are going.”

What is the condition of the dead?....Eccl. 9:5: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.”

Ps. 146:4: “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.”

John 11:11-14: “‘Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am journeying there to awaken him from sleep.’ . . . Jesus said to them outspokenly: ‘Lazarus has died.’” (Also Psalm 13:3)

Not all Christians or for that matter, all Faiths, hold the same beliefs as to the condition of the dead.
The real question should be...What hope is there for the dead? And will death ever cease?

[cowloverjoshua]

08:18 AM on 04/24/2012

See as one of JW we believe that the dead are sleeping only for a short while then the resurrection and everyone will serve god in peace. If you would like to more favorite or write back

[bermudababy]

09:36 AM on 04/24/2012

I assume you are my 'Brother'? There are a few JWs on HP. Be careful, and remember who you are. Some on here only seek to cause trouble. F & F, Your Sister in the Faith!

[cowloverjoshua]

10:25 AM on 04/24/2012

Wonderful scriptures to see where the dead are!

[charlesdarwin1]

03:59 AM on 04/23/2012

Great article.Fear of death promotes religion with all the potential disasters.So let's educate people from childhood that death is natural and accept it rather fear it.

[BPSPaul]

10:23 AM on 04/23/2012

That is exactly what Christians do.

[Michael Doane]

12:49 PM on 04/23/2012

I thought the whole point of the resurrection was to live forever. Victory over death and all. Might have to read it all over again. Pretty sure you are dead wrong (pun intended).

[Citats]

04:42 PM on 04/24/2012

"The confirmation from the Spirit of God is as real to me as anything I see or feel."
- So are/were other people''s "connections" to their gods. People who feel just as strongly that their god, contradictory to yours, is equally as real. These "connections" are psychological. Your are foolish, and your "connections" are evidence of your delusions, not of your deity.

"Just because you have closed youself off to those communications does not mean they are not there and certainly does not make those who do feel them "stupid and weak."
- 1) You can't prove that those communcations exist. 2) Yeah, it kind of does. Did you not read the article above? Religiosity has been linked to low-effort-thinking and low I.Q. and appears more in uneducated populations. There' have been hundreds of studies to confirm this over the past century.

"You, however probably have no problem believing in intuition or a mothers instinct."
- Because these things exist. They're documented. They're detectable. They're evolutionary. They're chemical, biological, nuerological, hormonal.

So how are the answers to your questions "Where do we come from? Why are we here? What happens after death?" coming? I have one more for just you, Why does it matter?
- Makes you sound nihilistic. If that's the case, why bother responding at all?

[bermudababy]

10:24 AM on 04/23/2012

Death is NOT natural. It was never part of the purpose that God has. It is ingrained in us, our very fibers to seek a way to 'go on'. God put 'eternity' into our conscousness. Unlike animals that live for the here and now.

[Cade Frost]

12:57 PM on 04/23/2012

"Death is not natural" but having an infinite amount of children is? If that were true, than why wasn't the Earth made larger to house such a behavior?

[CabinAgue]

06:57 PM on 04/23/2012

In this and your subsequent posts, you speak with such authority about what God thinks, did, does, will do.

I always find that amusing.  Of course, it would be much funnier if it didn't have real consequences to other people and our future on this planet, the only one we have.