Ryan Burge
Ryan Burge is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Ryan Burge

Who are the Southern Baptists and why is their 2021 annual meeting so divided?
By Ryan Burge — June 15, 2021
(RNS) — Skirmishes over race and gender pit conservatives against ultraconservatives.

As a pastor I pray my flock comes back. As a religion demographer I’m more realistic.
By Ryan Burge — March 9, 2021
(RNS) — Secularization is like globalization. Before we were aware of either, they had become impossible to stop.

Faith in numbers: Behind the gender difference of nonreligious Americans
By Ryan Burge — February 17, 2021
(The Conversation) — Men are in general more likely than women to describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular.

Think US evangelicals are dying out? Well, define evangelicalism …
By Ryan Burge — January 26, 2021
(RNS) — The term “evangelical” may be in disfavor, there's no sign that people are less willing to take on the label.

What Americans believe about violence against the government
By Ryan Burge — January 14, 2021
(RNS) — The relationship between partisanship and support for violence against government is clear. Church attendance does not appear to fuel the fire — nor tamp it down.

America elected a female vice president. Now will it put women in the pulpit?
By Ryan Burge — December 9, 2020
(RNS) — While women are changing the world of electoral politics, their progress in the world of religion is downright glacial.

The GOP’s Catholic voter problem
By Ryan Burge — November 6, 2020
(RNS) — It’s no coincidence that three Rust Belt states with large populations of Catholics helped put the Democrats back in the White House in January of 2021.

The 2020 election’s most crucial faith group is one you’ve never heard of
By Ryan Burge — October 15, 2020
(RNS) — The ‘nothing in particulars,’ a subset of the famous nones, have grown to become 20% of the U.S. over the past decade, even as their political allegiances have shifted dramatically.

Are Democrats ‘spiritual’ and Republicans ‘religious’? It’s not that simple.
By Ryan Burge — October 6, 2020
(RNS) — A new survey suggests that the 'God gap' may actually be better defined as a spirituality gap. But there is plenty of room on both sides for peace, inspiration and love.

On LGBT and women’s equality, stark statistical reality is coming for white evangelicals
By Ryan Burge — August 7, 2020
(RNS) — As a social scientist who is also a pastor, I’m sympathetic to the view that God can change young people's hearts on these hot-button issues. But I see no evidence of divine intervention in the data.

Surveys suggest protests, not pandemic, have lost Trump white evangelical support
By Ryan Burge — June 24, 2020
(RNS) — Since the protests against the killing of George Floyd began a month ago, a survey shows a 10 percentage point swing among white evangelicals to Joe Biden.

Racial resentment varies widely among religious groups
By Ryan Burge — June 9, 2020
(RNS) — More than 60% of white evangelical Christians scored a 3 or 4 on the scale, as did half of white Catholics.

Survey shows faith can prosper in online services
By Ryan Burge — May 13, 2020
(RNS) — A recent Pew survey also allayed fears that there are large demographic disparities when it comes to accessing streaming services.

Why this Baptist pastor signed up his church for a Paycheck Protection Program loan
By Ryan Burge — April 21, 2020
(RNS) — The Paycheck Protection Program could be a godsend for a small Baptist church, despite concerns about separation of church and state.

Why mainline Protestants might fear COVID-19 the most
By Ryan Burge — March 11, 2020
(RNS) — If COVID-19 becomes a true global pandemic, it would deeply affect mainline Protestant churches, seven of which rank in the 10 religious traditions in the United States with the oldest, and therefore most vulnerable, members.