Ryan Burge

@ryanburge.bsky.social

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Teach at EIU | Research Director: For Faith Counts | Books: The Nones & 20 Myths | Pastor: ABCUSA | Graphs about Religion

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When survey respondents from 2020 were recontacted in 2022, 86% of them gave the same answer to the question about religious affiliation. But, retention varied dramatically by tradition. LDS were the highest - 94% Agnostics were the lowest - 64% www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/religion-i...

Religion in 2022 Compared to 2020www.graphsaboutreligion.com Sometimes the data doesn't match expectations.

How does spirituality and religion manifest itself in men versus women? I take a bunch of different angles on this to come to a pretty clear conclusion: Men are just less spiritual and less religious compared to women. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/are-women-...

Are Women More Spiritual and Men More Religious?www.graphsaboutreligion.com A survey on spirituality paints a bleak picture about the gender gap

In which I trace Biden's approval rating with 15 different religious groups from 2021-2023. In short - he's down bad. He's gained ground with none of them. He's losing support among many: Non-white evangelicals Black Protestants Muslims www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/bidens-app...

Biden's Approval Rating Among Religious Groups in 2023www.graphsaboutreligion.com Things are looking bleak for a Biden second term

People are moving around the American religious landscape more than ever. Are women more likely to leave their childhood faith compared to men? The data says no. Men are much more likely to leave the religion of their youth behind. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/are-women-...

Are Women More Loyal to Their Childhood Religion Than Men?www.graphsaboutreligion.com And when they leave, where do they go?

Dobbs was the biggest shift in abortion policy in the United States in fifty years. But did it have any appreciable impact on abortion opinion in the general public? It may have made some Republicans less likely to support a full ban. But that's it. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/did-dobbs-...

Did Dobbs Have A Noticeable Impact on Abortion Opinion?www.graphsaboutreligion.com Does a major change in abortion policy shift the public's view?

Very few Americans think that online worship is preferable to in person gathering. Just 5% of Americans could be considered virtual church members. It’s not a very large audience. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/who-is-att...

Who is Attending Online Church?www.graphsaboutreligion.com Are there only online members? Or is it a supplement to in-person attendance?

In 2008, 41% of Southern Baptists were Democrats. 41% were Republicans. In 2022, 21% of Southern Baptists were Democrats. 75% were Republicans. That’s how fast things have moved in the world of white evangelical politics. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/southern-b...

Southern Baptists are More Conservative Than Everwww.graphsaboutreligion.com In terms of partisanship, ideology, and theology - the SBC is as far to the right as it has been in the last four decades.

There's a positive relationship between education and religious attendance. But that's much more so the case with men than with women. HS or Less, Weekly Attend: Men: 21% Women: 23% College Degree: Men: 32% (+11) Women: 27% (+4) www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/highly-edu...

Highly Educated Men Are More Likely to be in Church Than Highly Educated Womenwww.graphsaboutreligion.com Is it partisanship? Does this filter into religious composition, too?

Some surprising findings here related to religion and smoking/drinking among high school seniors. Religious teens engage in these behaviors less, but the gap between religious/non-religious teens isn't that big. And it's shrinking. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/does-going...

Does Going to Church Keep High Schools from Drinking and Smoking?www.graphsaboutreligion.com A comparison of trends in 1976 vs today.

It looks like the country has largely moved on from the same-sex marriage debate. But there's a new wave of the Culture War brewing on issues like to gender identity and transition. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-cultur...

The Culture Wars, 2023 Editionwww.graphsaboutreligion.com Gender Transition Surgery and 'Don't Say Gay'

A little bit of a mini-lecture today about the various ways to measure religion. You can be very religious on one metric, like belief. But be almost completely non-religious on another, like belonging. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/what-does-...

What Does it Mean to be 'Religious'?www.graphsaboutreligion.com Behavior, Belief, Belonging and the Problem of Religiosity

I collected data on the 455 fastest growing churches in America. What do these churches have it common? I identified 4 factors: Population Growth Mobility Education Density Here are 47 counties that would facilitate the fastest growth. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/heres-the-...

Here's the Demographic Formula For Growing Churcheswww.graphsaboutreligion.com An in-depth analysis of fast growing churches

I have looked at three different surveys on the last several years of data. The rise of the nones has slowed considerably now. It may have even reversed. The CES shows no increase in nones between 2020 and 2023 in Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-nones-...

The Nones Have Hit a Ceilingwww.graphsaboutreligion.com After Decades of Non-Stop Increases, Non-Religious Americans Have Plateaued

Who among us hasn't wondered about the contours of clergy in the Colonial era, right? Well, wonder no more! I analyzed a database of more than 4,000 clergy from all 13 colonies that includes info about denomination, tenure, and education. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/american-c...

American Clergy in Colonial Americawww.graphsaboutreligion.com A peek into American religious history from 1763-1783

I try to come out with a clear conclusion about the trajectory of religious groups in my analysis. But I really struggled here. The data was pointing clearly toward decline. Until the last graph. Now I don't know what to think about Catholicism. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/catholicis...

Catholicism by Generationwww.graphsaboutreligion.com A rapid collapse or steady as she goes?

You know what really grinds my gears? When people say, "Well (x) is not a REAL Catholic/Evangelical/etc." I did the math, almost no Catholic agrees with the church on death penalty + abortion + euthanasia. 99% of Catholics are cafeteria Catholics. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/cafeteria-...

Cafeteria Catholicism?www.graphsaboutreligion.com How Many Catholics Agree with the Church's Position on Hot Topics?

I'm fascinated by people who say: Religion is very important I attend religious services less than once a year What factors lead people to fit this criteria? Being older. Being politically conservative. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/religions-...

"Religion's Important, But I Don't Attend"www.graphsaboutreligion.com An analysis of cultural religiosity.

There are an increasing number of Americans who: describe their religion as "nothing in particular" partisanship as independent/other ideology as not sure and have a low level of educational attainment. They are just done - with everything. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/dropping-o...

Dropping Out Of Everythingwww.graphsaboutreligion.com An increasing number of Americans are just done.

The prosperity gospel teaches that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy. But who is more likely to embrace this theology? Those at the bottom end of the income spectrum. 50% of those making <$40K/yr. Less than a quarter of those making $75K+. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/who-believ...

Who Believes in the Prosperity Gospel?www.graphsaboutreligion.com This post has been unlocked through a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment for the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA). The graphs you see here use data that is publicly available for down...

Are there cracks forming in the long standing alliance between Black church goers and the Democratic party? Maybe. In 2008, 60% said they were Strong Democrats. It's down to 49% now. In 2008, 8% were Independents. Now, it's 17%. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/have-the-d...

Have the Democrats Lost the Black Church?www.graphsaboutreligion.com Are there cracks forming in this long standing alliance?

I wrote a script to scrape the text of every resolution passed by the Southern Baptist Convention between 1845 and 2023. 1,232 in all. Here, I analyze when they talked about issues like alcohol, homosexuality and race. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/what-do-so...

What Do Southern Baptists Care About?www.graphsaboutreligion.com An Analysis of 178 Years of SBC Resolutions

There's been an emerging narrative - clergy are really struggling. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, relationally. But I looked at some surveys from the ARDA and found just the opposite. Pastors express a lot of life satisfaction. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/are-member...

Are Members of the Clergy Miserable?www.graphsaboutreligion.com And what factors lead to their life satisfaction?

I spent quite a bit of time trying to understand what's going on with evangelicalism among Hispanics. It's pretty clear that Catholicism is fading among Hispanics, while Protestantism and No Religion is gaining ground. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/hispanic-e...

Hispanic Evangelicals - A Growing Force?www.graphsaboutreligion.com A fascinating story of race, religion, and immigration

How much has religion shifted among high school seniors? I compiled data from 1976-2022 to answer that question. Here's the biggest revelation - high school GPA is incredibly predictive of religiosity. Higher GPA = More Religious. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-religi...

The Religiosity of High School Seniors, 1976-2022www.graphsaboutreligion.com And what does GPA have to do with religiosity?

I combined several datasets to get a sample size of ~785K respondents to generate state level estimates of atheists. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/how-many-a...

How Many Atheists Are There in Your State?www.graphsaboutreligion.com And, what factors predict higher rates of atheism?

A new post today about the volatility of the American religious landscape. When people are asked about their present religion 18 months apart, how many give different answers? In this sample from the ARDA, it was 21%. A deep dive below: www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/how-many-p...

How Many People Change Religions in 18 Months?www.graphsaboutreligion.com The Promises and Pitfalls of Using Panel Data

What is the least religious city in the United States? It's a close competition between San Francisco and Seattle. In both cities, 70% of residents attend religious services less than once a year. The most religious is Dallas or Riverside, CA. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/which-citi...

Which Cities are the Least Religious?www.graphsaboutreligion.com And, what factors drive down religious attendance in those areas?

A post in which I look at the fastest growing churches in the US and try to explain their increased membership. Is it because they preach the "whole gospel"? Maybe. Or it may be the fact that most are situated in fast growing parts of the country. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/what-predi...

What Predicts Church Growth or Decline?www.graphsaboutreligion.com How a social scientist thinks about religious change

There's a constant drumbeat in the media about the political activity of conservative Christians. But the data says that liberal Christians are actually significantly more politically engaged and that's been true for every election since 2012. www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/are-libera...

Are Liberal Christians More Politically Engaged than Conservative One?www.graphsaboutreligion.com And what role does race play in political activity among Christians?

Let's compare high school seniors in 1995 to 2022 based on religious attendance. Never: 15% to 29% (+14) Rarely: 36% to 34% (-2) Monthly: 16% to 15% (-1) Weekly: 32% to 22% (-10) www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/how-has-re...

How Has Religion Changed Among High School Seniors?www.graphsaboutreligion.com Tracking data from 1995 through 2022 paints a bleak picture