Long time listener, first time caller. This /r/atheism community was the subreddit that eventually got me to create a reddit account, so thanks everyone.

I have been seeing graphs and data for a few years that show a current US (global?) trend of religious affiliation declining for all age groups, with younger generations less religious than older generations. But one thing this data does not appear to address, is whether or not people become more religious with age. For example, will Gen Xers and Millennials answer this poll differently decades from now, essentially falling into the percentage brackets their parents generation are in now? Is there a trend for people to become more religious with age, as they grow older, marry, have kids, etc? I have anecdotal experience with this, but that is by no means real evidence.

Perhaps another way to state my question is, are people less religious because of when they were born, or because of how young they are now? If it is the former, then I would expect religion to fall faster, but I also suspect there is some influence from the latter, with a constant stream of people becoming more religious with age.

I realize some people escape religion as they age, and some gravitate towards it. But I would prefer to find some poll that addresses both of those, and see which force is stronger. Any places for this data?

source: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/03/07/millennials-in-adulthood/sdt-next-america-03-07-2014-0-01/