51% of Old People Doubt There is a God


An author who just wrote a book where he passionately made the case "God is real" was appalled to learn in his own polling over a majority of senior citizens have doubts about the existence of the sovereign God of the Bible. He expected this from the majority of young people, not the old. 

His Christian Post article promoting his book went on to say, "The spiritual needs of older Americans is not being met." He added his opinion, stated as if it were fact, that this generation of older Americans have been subjected to more uncertainty and stress than previous ones and that is why they are declining to believe the tenets of Christianity. This is nonsense.

My parents and grandparents lived through WWII and the great depression. I'm in my 80's and the historical events of my generation have been easy-peasy compared to theirs. Older Americans do not doubt the existence of a god because "their spiritual needs have been unmet" or because they have lived lives of extraordinary stress. They are skeptical because the entire enterprise sounds suspicious.

Perhaps some will think I am engaging in hyperbole here, but I think people, old and young, find parts of Christianity similar to what in secular life we call scams. In Christianity, the message of the cross is that you have to pay homage to invisible beings. If you don't, those invisible beings will condemn you to an invisible place, hell, that is terrible. Give you money and allegiance to the invisible beings and you will spend eternity in a wonderful, but also invisible, place.

Compare that message to the millions of phone calls, TV ads and texts everyday warning old people about harm to their health, utility bill, money or grandchild. Nearly all old people are wise to these scams. When they hear something eerily similar in church, is it a surprise they are skeptical? 

Old people have been affected by cultural change. Not as much, I'm sure as young people, but the 51% of them who doubt there is a god represents a change from the past. Those who claim today's skeptical 30-50 year olds will turn out to be tithers when they reach retirement are engaged in wishful thinking. Lest we forget the data discussed here recently, giving to churches of the 30-50 year old demographic has fallen from previous generations.

That the majority of old people doubt the existence of God is simply part of our on-going cultural change.

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