get religion

Idioms

Be converted; also, decide to behave in an upright, ethical way. For example, After the children were born, John got religion and joined the church, or After years of total selfishness, she suddenly got religion and is doing all kinds of volunteer work. [Second half of 1700s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Sometimes before they die or stop running for office they get "religion" and try to do some good with new found perspective.

From New York Times • Dec. 12, 2017

Several pundits made hay yesterday attacking Smith personally, arguing that he waited till he made his millions to get religion, or that he only quit because he was consistently passed up for promotions.

From Time • Mar. 16, 2012

This, writes Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, is causing the coaches to suddenly get religion on the agent issue.

From New York Times • Jul. 22, 2010

I saw them get religion all around me.

From Time Magazine Archive

"He who possesses science and art, has religion; he who possesses neither science nor art, let him get religion," said Goethe in one of his frequent accesses of paganism.

From Tragic Sense Of Life by Flitch, J. E. Crawford (John Ernest Crawford)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023