I came for the same time period as you ,but never clicked with church at all . It was an insipid experience for me and I stopped going pretty early on. I read a lot and was always inspired by the books on offer at the library - free. I rather think it might have something to do with what part of the planet you live at because, England, London, where I grew up was pretty much a 'do as you please' in religion, at that time.

Happy to have you among equals. Feel at home and be yourself.

Hi Poetdi56,I am in in my 70's too,and of my 3 adult children my oldest daughter is a confirmed Athiest and the other two still believe in either spirits or a supernatural diety.I think or hope that worldwide people are waking up and losing their religion in favour of reality.

I was born in the early 60s. Thankfully my father was of the opinion that we could follow whichever religion we chose. I was more involved with Christianity and was a "practising Christian" for a while. Science and proof of God was always niggling me. We lived in a society where there were significant numbers of people of other religions and generally, we celebrated each others' major festivals by visiting them during their festivities. So I had a fairly broad upbringing.

I like the way you put that in line one. I feel a certain freedom here to talk about almost everything. Yes agreed, friendship and your network of people around you is a solid glue that makes it harder to pull away even though you know the premise of the network is false (or unproven).

For many people it simply isn't worth breaking those bonds for a wee thing like you don't believe in the religion. Staying quiet and respectful is the best overall option. Everyone's situation is different I guess.,

I admittedly drank the Kool-Aid. Not so much on the church or religious end, but certainly the societal end. You need to work, so I worked. You need to go to college, so I have enough degrees and certificates to wallpaper a small house. Now my son is in private Christian school, and working allbeit lightly at 14. I don't want to have the apple fall too far from the tree, so I try to learn and be aware if I am handing what I was taught, right off to him. I already ruined his taste in music!

Older millennial, here.

Catholic school, mass twice weekly, and NO prayer or even mention of religion at home--taught me, sotto voce, that all you have to do is call yourself something and go through the motions and you're "doing religion" correctly.

When I got a bit older and discovered the desire and agency to make meaning for myself, I found this hollow posturing didn't cut it for me--and I went off in search of something I could really sink my teeth into. I never found it--and ended up radically redesigning my paradigm there--but the journey was fun and instructional.

I held onto a "higher power" until my late twenties. Then life gave me a jolt, and once I started looking at things from a new perspective I found it agreed with me far more than anything else ever had.

Despite the "Catholic" (in name, mostly) schooling and Masses of my youth, religion was not pushed hard on me and it was never modelled or so much as discussed outside of church. It was a small, separate part of life that I found easy to exchange, and later abandon.

This was recent to me. My dad is in his 70`s and a retired scientist ( r & d chemistry). His wife is Catholic and my grandparents were Catholic. I never really talked to my dad about religion before. He recent turned me on to Ted talks. Have not asked him right out, I do not ever recall him saying anything religious in the past.

Everyone has their view of the world. For some, it includes the belief in one or more gods and, often, a religion to go with it. For others, it does not include these things. The primary objective of a parent is to prepare one's children for life as an adult, and by necessity this means attempting to teach the child about the world. Naturally, the lessons one provides for the child will be shaped by the parent's own view of the world.

So I do not think that it is at all unexpected that "baked-in" belief systems are still passed on. In fact, I think it would be surprising if such was not the case. What astounds me is how seemingly few people, as young adults, critically examine what their parents taught them but, instead, take it as gospel (pun intended) for the remainder of their lives.

I think this is true for all generations and all religions. Everyone's religious beliefs are a result simply of geography, parental/societal indoctrination, fear, ignorance, authoritarianism.

I raised my one of my two daughters as an atheist. She's 22 and a non-believer.