I think it stems from a simple concept. People would rather outsource their own thinking about complex human issues like morality, our place in the universe, meaning in our individual lives, and anything afterlife related to someone we/they perceive as more intelligent than them or has "done the research". By and large humanity as a species is lazy, and this extends to our trains of thought as well.
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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Watch documentaries on chimpanzees, watch what they do individually and as tribes and then you'll understand. We are not far removed from those great apes, and it shows.
I have the opposite perception - that people become in fact more conservative and buying into conspiracy theories more readily as they age.
A lot of churches are cults. The Jehovah's Witnesses put their religion before their own kids and shun them. They'll pass on a blood transfusion for their religion. So yeah, mind control is a real thing.
Another related question: Why are people seemingly more inclined to become more religious as they age?
I know people actually become slightly less conservative as they age, on average, but society in most Western places has moved socially left over time, so they seem conservative now. I'm guessing some of that is also true of religiousness.
Having to stare down your mortality and insignificance might be part of it. Young people tend to just avoid big picture questions because it's easy to pretend they can. Now, of course there's atheist answers to those big picture questions, but as far as I know committed atheists are always outnumbered by agnostics.
fear of death?
You may be doing a little generalization there. Evangelicals are not representative of religious people.
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