Firstly, the search for the meaning of life often influence the elderlies to engage more in religious practices. As people grow older, they started to be less energetic in daily activities, and start to search for activities that can fill up their free time and do not require much energy. Also, generally, as people get older they became more mature and are able to understand the intricacies and reasoning behind every teachings in a religion. Due to this, older people are most likely to engage in religious practices. We shall look at General Social Survey (GSS), a survey collected every two or three years from 1972 to 2008. One of the questions asked was if respondents identified with a formal religion, and if so, which one. About 76% of the respondents in their twenties professed Christianity, and this increased steadily until almost 90% of those in their seventies and eighties professed Christianity. This illustrates an age effect – adherence to Christianity increases with age. This show how an age group, in this argument being the elders, are most likely to engage in religious practices.

Next, ethnic minorities are more likely to participate in religious practices, mainly because religion is one of the key ways that an ethnic group can understand who he is, among other reasons. Most surveys of religious self-identification show members of ethnic minority groups are more likely to relate to a religion than those of the ethnic majority. This is because religion is one of the major elements that binds people of the ethnic minorities. When some members loosen their religious affiliation, then a central aspect of what defines that group as an ethnic minority is also loosened. Thus, they are more likely to engage in religious activities than the ethnic majority. Modood and Berthoud study of religious affliction by ethnic group shows how religion are associated with