Long Lifespan Linked to Poor Church Attendance
Most people put off things like filing taxes and house cleaning, but what about joining a church? New research suggests that procrastination may extend to religion as well.
In the study, published in the International Journal of Social Economics, researchers examined how life expectancy affected people’s religiosity, or the range of dedication and expression of one’s religion.
The authors conclude that increased life expectancy results in a “postponement of religious involvement,” especially for religions that don’t tie eternal rewards to time and favor ideas such as personal salvation over predestination.
This may account for an increasing number of churches, synagogues, mosques and temples seeing “greying” religious congregations, researchers say.
Although other factors influence religious participation, age alters how people perceive the costs and benefits of religiosity through time. People may consider the time and effort taken to worship as a cost, while weighing the benefits of gaining a sense of community, greater spirituality and personal confidence in the afterlife.
In places with low life expectancies, the risk of dying is more of a reality, which may account for higher religiosity, the researchers say. The same can be said of older generations.
The trend is evident in the United States, as religious involvement jumps 18 percent when comparing people in their 20s to those 65 years and older, according to a 2010 Gallup Poll.
In addition to doing a better job of highlighting the worldly benefits of churchgoing, religious communities should keep the study’s results in mind when trying to maintain members.
“To increase overall attendance, religious establishments should aim to reduce any discomfort of entry to religious newcomers, both old and young,” said Elissaios Papyrakis, a University of East Anglia researcher who led the study, in a press release. “This may involve making information about the organization easily accessible to them and helping new-comers to follow religious activities without feeling lost or uncomfortable.”
The data for the research were taken from the World Bank and the World Value Survey Dataset.
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