It doesnt and shouldn't. Love and willingness to work at it are what matter.

in high school, age is more than a number. even my boyfriend and i being only a year apart, it sometimes felt like we were a whole world apart when we started dating. as you get older and more mature, though, it starts to matter a lot less.

i've dated someone with religious beliefs different from mine, and i'm okay with it. i wouldn't be okay, however, with someone who was constantly criticizing me for them, just like i wouldn't criticize someone with different religious beliefs than mine. scripture says to only marry someone who is of your same faith, but i think god hands you who he hands you for a reason, and if that person isn't saved, it means you're the person to get them there.

Religion makes a big difference to most people because it is their core belief.  Personally I refuse to buy into any of current religious institutions and would avoid dating anyone above mildly religious. Mostly because they would annoy me. haha.  

i think these two topics are representative of why a lot of relationships don't work out- different maturity levels and different worldviews.  if one of you is really mature and wants to settle down and the other isn't/doesn't, it won't work.  this doesn't have to do with age, but they often go together.  and if you have different religions, you probably have different values and different ideas of what life is about, and what's important to you.  these are two realistic and formidable hurdles for any couple to overcome, and i think just to minimize the chances of these two issues being a problem, people would rather choose someone who is more similar to them.  imho it makes a lot of sense.

Well I think age matters if the two people involved are in totally different stages of life (one's got a stable career going while the other is starting college, that sort of thing). To an extent, age is nothing but a number, if the gap between the two numbers becomes too big...well there may be issues, depending on the two people involved.

Religion,,,I'm not religious myself, but for people who are deeply religious, it is a part of them. It may be their core values, or even a sense of who they are. It's human nature to want to be with people who are similar to ourselves...and for some people, this similarity extend to religious believes.

Age/Religion differences = my parents would not agree.
If he's 3 or 4 years older than me, my parents are okay with it, but he must have the same religion as me. My parents' opinions matter a lot to me and that is what keeps me in line most of the time. If they don't like the guy, then I'll stop seeing him. I've done it before.

we'll for me its a religion problem. i'm a christian and i'm thankful that God gave me a life. i almost died when i was a baby. and i can't believe he was able to keep me alive. God has done a lot for me. and i'm thankful
but my boyfriend is all like "church should come after me" and it doesn't, well for me it doesn't. i mean i've been with my boyfriend for a year and 5 months but i kept my religion for around 17 years. i think my religion is more important to me because its like i dedicated my life to my religion.

i'm actually having complications with my boyfriend right now about religion lol
but its all in what you think is right for you.

I can't speak much about relationships and age except that 26 year olds were hitting on me when I was 18, and a 23 year old was hitting on me when I was 19. I know the latter isn't as bad but there are two different lives going on. At 18/19, I was getting out of high school/getting used to college, first allowing me to get a taste as to what it is like to be independent. These guys were already with jobs and living on their own. I think you can be several years apart, but that's when you get into the full world of adulthood. If you're getting along well with the age difference, then that's fine; I just felt awkward with the difference.

Now with religion, My boyfriend's Christian and I'm Jewish. He's not that religious though, and I'm not going to be strict with the marrying in religion thing because we've decided that most religions have similar ideas (golden rule), just different stories. One issue we have is with family. Because we're different religions, both of our families decide that they will disown us if we convert to the other religion. Another issue is that we want to be serious but with a mixed marriage, we can't have the "proper" Catholic or Jewish wedding (we joked about just getting the papers but both ceremonies are nice). Another issue is the thought of one day having children and what their religion(s) will be, because the families want the kids properly baptized/brit mila'ed and because we both feel it is nice to be able to give future children something to believe in, a reason to celebrate these holidays we've grown up with.

I could simply not respect someone of another religion. I would interpret the premise upon which they live their lives as non existent, and foolish to an extreme. I also have close homosexual family members, and the vast majority of religion deny them equal rights and consider them an abomination. Even if some denomination were to consider them equals, I would interpret the denomination itself as a product not of faith but of business.

As far as age, I am passive.

it takes more than "having feelings" for someone to make a relationship work.  love is a commitment.  relationships based solely on feelings and chemistry last only as long as those feelings do.  many relationships fail or suffer from infidelity issues because one (or both) just don't feel "the spark" anymore or feel it more for someone else.

I doubt I could love someone with different theological beliefs. They would have to be an extremely liberal and open minded person of faith.

Age can be a huge issue.  Someone else said "life stages" and I suppose I like that better.  A 36 year old and an 18 year old might work well together, but wouldn't it bother you that when you were graduating high school, the other person was being born?  It works for some people, but it would definitely bother me.
Religion isn't important until you're old enough to be in a real relationship.  This can be at 15 or 25, etc.  I'm not saying young love doesn't count, it's the type of relationship.  If you're serious about each other, and consider marriage (or long term partnership), religion is going to matter.  Things as simple as where will you have your wedding to how you will raise your kids depend on religion.