Will most atheists eventually go back to God when they're older?

Question

Someone else on here said that most atheist will wise up and return to God when they get older. They will let Jesus into their hearts. After all, there are very FEW atheists in nursing homes.

Interesting point.

Do you agree?

I have done volunteer work for nursing homes before and during all the months I worked there, about 99% of the senior citizens there were Christian. There was only like one or two people that I talked to that weren't sure what they believed in.

Do you think this supports the fact that most atheists will go back to God eventually?

Answer 1

I think it is like this because these are the old generations which were not having the knowledge we have nowadays, so I don't find it amazing that most are religious. There is other point here, where is this nursing home? and how much tolerant is the society they live in for Atheists? maybe they are only afraid to declare it.

Answer 2

Hmm ... your question supposes that atheists were *with* God at some time. I don't think this is the case. The atheists I know have never believed, and so why they would start to do so when they get older, I'm not sure.

You base your premise on something that you have observed. The fact that you have met few atheists in the nursing homes you've visited does not mean that atheists turn to God when they are old.

Firstly, you don't say where you are living. I expect that if you looked at nursing homes in the US the results might be very different from those in, say, the UK.

Secondly, you need to consider that (at least in the UK), people currently in their 80s and on, grew up in a society where some basic Christian belief was automatically assumed. When we reach the generation born in the late 60's/ early 70's (who won't retire until the 2030s) I imagine the picture may be very different. At that stage I expect you will also get more Rastafarians, Muslims, Bahá'í and Hindus too, for the same reasons.

In conclusion I don't think that most atheists will 'go back' to God. It's just that you aren't likely to see great numbers of atheists in nursing homes until more of my generation grow old.
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Answer 3

Ray Comfort? Old Banana Man? Do me a favour! I have no idea what he's on about in the first paragraph, but he's making a lot of assumptions. First off, we know the universe is not infinite - it began (in the form we currently understand it) with the Big Bang, and it's still visibly expanding. All stars WILL eventually burn out (ours in about 5bn years), and no doubt comets will melt - although they are NOT all made of ice! I think what he's trying to do is prove the universe is not infinite - which we already know it's not. Quite how this proves his sky daddy is beyond me. Second paragraph- who says "the universe has an intelligence all itself"? Not me, and not any other atheist I know. And no scientist has ever suggested the universe came from nothing - it came from an expanding singularity. Where that singularity came from (if anywhere) is not known to science yet - but there's no reason whatsoever to believe a big old lovely sky daddy made it. I'm an atheist - and I don't believe "nothing made everything". I don't think anything "made" anything. We are talking about events outside of space and time, to try and imply someone had to be around to make everything happen is childish and unsupported by anything in the way of evidence. Ray Comfort is the biggest idiot going.

Answer 4

No. I cant speak for most Atheist but when there is no God to go back to I doubt very much Atheist will go back to God. Some will of course, Atheist are just like anyone. I really don't know how many atheist are in nursing homes. I don't believe you have a valid point there. If a person lives as an Atheist all their life what difference does it make what he does when he is ready to die.

Answer 5

No, this atheist will not be going back to God. That is ridiculous. There is no God to go back to. If you understood atheism better you'd already know that. Furthermore, since when does the population in the nursing homes you've worked in represent the entire elderly population?

Answer 6

All nonsense, of course.
I am 66 in January and have been a 'strong atheist since I was 15, starting the process when I was 12.
When you speak to the older generation and particularly in the very backward US, you are inevitably going to find that most of them are religious. Try speaking to a slightly younger generation and you will see that atheism begins to emerge - if they will admit it and a lot don't admit it. Scared to.

My father and my mother were both atheists, albeit closet atheists, and they never 'turned' as they approached death.
It's all religious propaganda.

Wise up? That's a laugh! I have already and that's why I am what I am.

Answer 7

There's a verse in the Bible that says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." It may mean that some atheists go back to their childhood beliefs. However, I don't believe that atheists (or anyone else) is inherently evil. A person who seeks to do good in the best way he/she knows how is what matters.

Answer 8

No, it's merely anecdotal evidence.

Your sample is not statistically valid, you supply no description of the affiliation of the nursing homes and you cherry-pick your data to support your conclusions.

Notice your last question: "Do you think this supports the fact...". You have already concluded that your contention is a fact and not a hypothesis.

Answer 9

No that does not support that theory. People in nursing homes right now are a different generation. And has anyone asked them if they were once atheists? And if they were, would they tell you? I think that most elderly grew up and were brainwashed into blind faith, god FEARING families. They were also taught to have blind faith in the government as well, and we all know what a crock that is.

Answer 10

No it doesn't, the people in the nursing homes may not have been atheists at all. And maybe all the atheists died young.