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What Ryan Burge thinks about America

@ryan-burge · 13 positions · 0 changes of mind

Professor of practice at the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University, and for two decades the pastor of a small American Baptist church. He writes Graphs About Religion, working through large survey datasets on what Americans believe, whether they belong to anything, and whether they turn up.

Ryan Burge did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

10 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Ryan Burge has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingAmerican family size has barely changed across three generations of parents; what has grown is the share who stop at one child.

    Their wordsAmong the Silent Generation (born 1925–1945), only 15% of parents had a single child. It was 22% of Boomers and 27% of Generation X.

    ↗Do Religious Families Actually Have More Kids?graphsaboutreligion.com 1st of 5 in this piece

    Interesting

  3. Our readingAmerican conservatives are not out-reproducing liberals to any degree that would change the country.

    Their wordsSo, yeah, there’s a substantive difference there, but it’s not like Republicans are just outbreeding Democrats on a massive scale.

    ↗Do Religious Families Actually Have More Kids?graphsaboutreligion.com 2nd of 5 in this piece

    Interesting

  5. Our readingReligion barely explains how many children an American family has.

    Their wordsYes, religion does seem to have an impact on the decision about the number of kids a family will have, but it’s a very minor difference.

    ↗Do Religious Families Actually Have More Kids?graphsaboutreligion.com 4th of 5 in this piece

    religion

    Interesting

  7. Our readingThe widest religious gap in American family size is about half a child.

    Their wordsComparing evangelicals to atheists and agnostics – the widest religious contrast the data offers – and controlling for age, race, education, and sex, the gap is about 0.6 children.

    ↗Do Religious Families Actually Have More Kids?graphsaboutreligion.com 5th of 5 in this piece

    religioneducation

    Interesting
  8. 4 days earlier

  9. Our readingConfident non-belief is rare in America: for every person sure God does not exist, about six are sure one does.

    Their wordsSaid another way, for every person who is pretty sure that God doesn’t exist, there are six who are fairly certain of the existence of a Higher Power. Non-believers are statistically rare.

    ↗Belief Isn't Dying, It's Just Getting Less Certaingraphsaboutreligion.com 1st of 5 in this piece

    Interesting

  11. Our readingYounger Americans have not swapped belief in God for atheism; they have moved from certain belief to uncertain belief.

    Their wordsWhich means that they aren’t sliding all the way to the other side of the spectrum. Instead, they are just moving one level down.

    ↗Belief Isn't Dying, It's Just Getting Less Certaingraphsaboutreligion.com 2nd of 5 in this piece

    Interesting

  13. Our readingIt is not true that young American liberals are atheists.

    Their wordsSo, it’s just not empirically true that younger liberals are atheists — the data clearly says that’s not true for 70% of them.

    ↗Belief Isn't Dying, It's Just Getting Less Certaingraphsaboutreligion.com 4th of 5 in this piece

    Interesting

  15. Our readingAmericans have largely stopped belonging to religions and attending services without becoming non-believers.

    Their wordsThe United States may no longer be a country of people widely engaging in religious behavior or religious belonging. But it certainly has a whole bunch of religious believers.

    ↗Belief Isn't Dying, It's Just Getting Less Certaingraphsaboutreligion.com 5th of 5 in this piece

    religion

    Interesting
  16. 5 months earlier

  17. Our readingMost Americans who report no religious affiliation are not atheists or agnostics.

    Their wordsThe first thing that I always point out with this graph is that most nones are not atheists or agnostics.

    ↗America Got a Little More Religious. No, Really.graphsaboutreligion.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

    religion

    Interesting

  19. Our readingThe growth of the religiously unaffiliated in America has stopped and gone into reverse.

    Their wordsThere’s clearly been a numerical decline in the nones. That seems pretty hard to ignore now, and it’s showing up in multiple data sources.

    ↗America Got a Little More Religious. No, Really.graphsaboutreligion.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

    Interesting