Yahoo Lifestyle Here Are 17 Stories From Older Adults Whose Views On Religion Have DRASTICALLY Changed Since Their Younger Years
We all know that religion has a major impact on many people's lives. For some, religion brings a sense of purpose and peace, but for others, religion may bring about feelings of inadequacy and shame. However, most individuals' journeys with religion aren't linear but rather an ever-changing relationship with how they view the world around them...
So, recently, when Redditor u/sssmsmss asked the r/AskOldPeople community, "Have your views about God changed over time?" I knew I had to share some of their most insightful stories. Here are 17 stories from older adults who got brutally honest about their religious opinions:
1."I grew up a churchgoer in the '70s, but even then we had a group of people who wanted to take things to another level. Soon enough, half the congregation was 'speaking in tongues' and other nonsense."
"Later in life, I now see that the growth of rich pastors mirrors our current political climate. If you want to do good things, don't become a priest or a politician — it will corrupt you.
On my belief in God specifically, I believe there is a greater power that people call by different names. There's no way that 'God' wanted to heal the earth and picked an obscure place in the Middle East to send his 'son,' rather than Rome or China, and then didn't tell anyone else.
I also think the Bible is best read as a metaphor. A perfect example is the sermon on the Mount. He didn't create food; He sat down with other people and shared his food. This led readers to think, 'Hey, if this guy can share with his neighbor, maybe I can, too.'"
2."I was raised in a 'you choose if/what you want to believe in' household. There were Bibles in the house, crosses and crucifixes in the form of jewelry in drawers, and occasional talks about the mysteries of the universe."
"My father was a non-practicing Catholic, and my mother was from a Protestant household; neither held to any strict belief. I looked at many of the aspects of Christianity as ridiculous and unbelievable, and I will still agree with anyone who is against it — it was something I dismissed, too.
In the meantime, I studied Buddhism, Islam, and Eastern religions and found valuable things in all of them. I say that I have my own hybrid version of Catholicism and Buddhist/Hindu belief now, with an absolute certainty that God exists. Maybe some people are content with only what can be seen and demonstrably proven, but I’ve had to rely on faith and miracles to get me through hopeless and overwhelming times. God definitely exists for me."
3."My mother forced us to attend church growing up. I was 'meh' about the whole thing. (My dad and I would have rather spent Sunday mornings fishing). In college, I took a comparative religions class and learned that nearly all religions agree on the big stuff: don’t kill, lie, cheat, etc. And they all fight wars over dumb stuff. How moronic."
"So I decided to follow the guidance they all agreed on and ignore the rest. I believe in no specific religion. Is there a God? No one knows, including me, so it’s not something I spend a single second thinking about (same for Bigfoot and alien abductions, not worth thinking about). It doesn’t matter, and I don’t care.
However, both of my sons are now religious. They attended a private Christian school for academics, but my wife and I worked to undermine the conservative Christian viewpoints the school espoused. One is Catholic (converted to match his wife), and the other became a Mormon. Oh well, to each their own."
4."When I married my wife, I became a Presbyterian because of the teachings of a very thoughtful and intelligent pastor. I believed that way for 34 years and referred to myself as a Buddhist-Presbyterian."
"Then, in 2023, my wife took me to Chicago to the Parliament of World Religions. While there, I sat down and let a Sikh volunteer tie a turban on my head for fun. As he was tying the turban, we began chatting, and I had what can only be described as a revelation.
I started researching Sikhi, and the more I learned, the more I was drawn to it. I will admit that cultural differences make this path more difficult, but the core values, in my opinion, are correct."
5."I was born and raised Catholic, and religion is still a big part of my family members' lives. My mom ran our home parish's outreach office for over 25 years, and my dad was an ordained deacon."
"My wife is a devout Catholic and has been active in the church in many ways over the years; she's currently involved in a Bible study group. My daughter and her husband are the same, as is my granddaughter. My daughter works for her parish, and my son-in-law teaches at that parish's Catholic school (which he also attended as a child).
As for me? After some periods of involvement and separation, I practically gave up on religion many years ago. I don't regret it, and I still live my life the same way. My family, while not in agreement with my choice, still loves and supports me.
I still support them, as well. I would take a bullet for any family member who was being threatened or harassed because of their beliefs. I never criticize, mock, or challenge anyone on what they believe regarding both everyday life and religion."
6."I was raised Lutheran and went to Lutheran school until high school. My family and I went to Sunday school and church every Sunday, chapel on Wednesdays, and devotions and religion class every day. But over the years, I have questioned every basic tenet of the religion I was brought up in."
"I no longer believe that the resurrection happened; more likely — assuming Jesus was a real person — he was unconscious or comatose. Same thing for the Virgin Birth.
I am also disillusioned with churches. They are often toxic dens of gossip and self-interested politics. I find God on hiking trails these days, though I do read the Bible sometimes."
7."I was raised Lutheran because my stepfather was one. I believed, but I was more of a nominal Christian than one who really knew the faith. I knew the basics, but that's it."
"In college, all my friends were atheists, so I was regularly mocked and asked the questions atheists think are piercing but come off as snotty. I decided to take a Survey of Religions class because one of their better jabs was: 'How do you know YOUR God is the correct one?' So, I studied all of the religions and read their primary texts — it was a very good series of classes.
After college, I was in the deepest poverty of my life and finally read the whole Bible for myself. Given my knowledge, I concluded that Judaism and Christianity are unique in the world and do, in fact, contain the revelation of our creator, God.
So I am a Christian because Christ did exist, He did what He said He did, and I am saved through belief in Him."
8."My views have certainly changed. My parents were devout Christian Scientists who never drank or smoked. They typically went to church twice a week and relied on prayer in every situation."
"Around age 50, I left my marriage and realized I had spent half of my life with someone who wasn’t a good fit. Whenever I was confronted with problems throughout our marriage, I would just pray, but at my breaking point, I thought, 'WTF!'
So, I don’t pray anymore because I don’t think it does anything. I don’t talk to God as I used to, though I’ll occasionally look for signs of magic in my daily life. I’d love to believe in God and an afterlife, but I wouldn’t put money on it.
My father had absolutely no doubt that God was real. Perhaps there’s magic in that kind of faith, but it doesn’t seem to have worked for many people."
9."One day, as a child, I looked at the family dog and realized he had no idea what the world was like outside our house. It led me to think that if there were a god, we'd have no idea of its existence; we could only perceive it with our limited senses and experiences. For all we know, we could be the 'dog.'"
"That led me to the possibility that we could be even further removed from that deity's awareness — we could be the insects outside, the germs on its skin, the atoms in its cells. For me, the existence of God is much like the possibilities of extraterrestrial life.
The universe is vast, and so much is unknown, so there could be a 'God' out there in a form that I cannot understand as I am. But I'm fairly certain he doesn't exist in the way I was taught in Sunday school."
10."I was first taken to church when I was eight days old. I went to Bible college and became a fourth-generation pastor when I grew up; however, my faith became weaker during my time as a senior pastor. I had a great team of people my age that I had known for about 20 years, and we were working towards the goal of doing Christianity right, with integrity and empathy."
"When I laid out a biblically faithful way to support the LGBTQ+ community, we lost people. The local leader of our parent organization gossiped that I was performing gay marriages in our church and got the state leader involved. We had a meeting about it that was so unclear I didn't even realize what happened until I later received the email summary.
We were an integrated church and had separated from the denomination as much as possible. When the toxic parent organization with all-white leadership said they were standing with our segregated sister organization with all-black leadership to celebrate Black Lives Matter Sunday, my staff and I were all on board with supporting what we saw as a positive change — we lost more families and support than we had over the LGBTQ+ debate.
A few years later, my wife and I decided to foster and adopt children, and a group of congregants — whose kids had previously been put in the system — spread vicious lies and gossip about us. We lost even more families
After that happened, we could no longer pay our bills. We had to close our doors and surrender the property to our lender. My team was so accustomed to me being able to find a path forward that they felt blindsided and betrayed after I let them know I wasn't able to pull the rabbit out of my hat one last time."
"After we closed, I was not adjusting well and sought out therapy. The first therapist was a Christian counselor who was recommended to me because he was allegedly EMDR-certified. When he attempted to fix my relationship with God, I had the epiphany that I was done. I kept trying to explain or expound on what I meant by that, but every explanation came out as a more resolute 'I'm done.'"
"Upon reflection, I realized that even I, a man with modest means and a very small position of authority, did more for the kids that came through my home than a god of alleged infinite wealth, power, and love. If such a god exists, he is worse than useless.
When Jesus told Peter that he was a rock and progressed, l promised to build his church; I looked at the church he built over the last 2000 years and decided he was either powerless to build a better church or the church that continually chases political power and financial success was the one he wanted to build. Regardless of which one it is, I'm just not interested.
After almost 50 years of trying to do the 'right' thing, all I've got to show for it is C-PTSD."
11."I was raised a Christian Scientist. At 16, my mom told me to go to other churches with my friends. She wanted me to make my own faith decision. I never joined an organized religion after that, but the simple basics my mom taught me have stayed with me."
"My opinion is all religions have good and bad aspects, but they all believe in a power greater than themselves, no matter what they call it.
My best friend is an atheist. We both respect each other’s choices. Believing in God has gotten me through some pretty terrible times and has been with me through the beautiful ones. Knowing I am not alone has kept me going when everything and everyone is falling apart around me.
My mom is a wise woman."
12."I grew up going to a more liberal Episcopal church — we had female priests who were allowed to marry. As a kid, I loved singing in the church choir and learning lessons like 'The Golden Rule.' I even went through confirmation at 11 or 12, in order to participate in communion."
"Now, I believe that if there is a god, he wouldn’t allow all of the atrocities committed in his name. Most religions have similar morals, but unfortunately, even those are not what is focused on.
I am very spiritual, have a strong sense of morality, and enjoy rituals like praying to focus my mind. There are beautiful things in this universe we do not fully understand, but I am positive most of the Abrahamic religions are not helpful in understanding them."
13."All through childhood and young adulthood, I was pushed into church. I hit all the age-appropriate milestones and followed all the rules, but I always doubted in my mind."
"At five years old, I got into a 'chicken and egg' debate with another kid. I took the egg position with a five-year-old’s understanding of evolution.
As a teen, I was confused when all of my so-called 'believer' friends from church started bringing porn to school and doing drugs while I was trying to follow the rules.
In my 20s, I was true and upfront about my beliefs to potential romantic partners and rejected them if I found them religiously undesirable.
When I had cancer, I prayed out loud to a god that I knew wasn’t there, but it still felt good to pray. I never asked for a miracle and wouldn’t say I got one. But I don’t have cancer anymore, so it might have happened? On the other hand, chemotherapy can do some pretty awesome things.
As a parent, I struggled with whether to teach religion to my kids. I like the values I learned, but one of those values is honesty. I can’t teach my kids lies, and it turns out that you can be a good person without God or his threats.
Through it all, I really WANTED to believe, but it never worked for me. I think the real miracle in life is that the universe is full of beauty, and our tiny little speck in it is even more densely full of beauty. I believe we are fortunate to be conscious of that beauty and able to appreciate it."
14."In my youth, I was indoctrinated into multiple religions. I studied scripture and history and realized none of it made sense. I am now an atheist/freethinker."
"I have to say, having grown up trying to be controlled by religious fearmongering, I feel like a tremendous weight has been lifted by no longer believing. My joy is offset by the sadness I feel when I hear people talk about 'god' as if it's real — so many people waste energy on something that doesn't exist.
Now, if your belief in 'god' keeps you from stabbing everybody you don't like — by all means, keep believing. But it saddens me that so many good people pretend some mythological entity is responsible for what they think is good in the world. In a general sense, the more religious a person is, the scarier I find them to be. They are usually more intolerant towards others, especially those who believe, look, or act differently than they do. It's ironic that most religions are promoted as a tool of tolerance but more often used in precisely the opposite manner. I cannot ignore that irony.
15."I'm getting close to finishing this life. By this point, I have been beside many deathbeds, and I can tell you that there is usually a great difference in the peace that true believers have at the end."
"I haven’t lost anything by believing, but entering eternity without God and all that’s good is not something I want to leave to chance. There are no do-overs."
16."Yes! I have gone from being sort of religious to very religious to not religious at all. I'm a complete skeptic about all of it now."
"There are too many things that don't line up and too many similarities between all religions that really seem to be about preserving the 'tribe.'
On the other hand, I look at a tree and can't help but be amazed at how many things a tree can be, do, and provide, and it starts from a seed. That's is beyond amazing to me."
17."My views on religion have changed a lot. I was raised Catholic and more-or-less bought it until my late teens..."
"Having never been exposed to anything other than Catholicism, I didn’t have much of a critical idea about religion. When I joined the army, I was exposed to a lot of different notions and pretty rapidly lost interest in Catholicism — no real 'crisis of faith,' I simply lost interest.
When I got out of the army in 1967, I went through a brief period of researching other religions and philosophies and pretty much decided that they all shared a great deal of dogmatism and little evidence. Always interested in the sciences, I began to realize that many of my favorite scientists were atheists, and I began to more thoroughly look into a critical examination of religion. I was thoroughly atheist by my early 20s, and now, at 78, I'm still the same way."
Did you find any of these stories surprising? Have your views on religion changed as you've gotten older? Let us know in the comments! (Or if you would prefer to remain anonymous, you can answer using this Google Form).
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
If you or someone you know has experienced anti-LGBTQ violence or harassment, you can contact the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs hotline at 1-212-714-1141.
