Ryan Burge: 5 Religion Graphs w/ a side of Hot Takes

Back by popular request is Dr. Ryan Burge! When he was last here, we discussed some myths about Religion and Politics. Today he returns to the podcast and brings 5 graphs of religion data and we proceed to explore them and generate hot takes about them.

To see the graphs themselves, you can watch the video below or go check them out on his super graph heavy twitter.

Here’s how wild public opinion is —

Among people who want a total ban on abortion (which is about 20% of the population):

67% of them would support a proposal to make college debt free!

77% favor paid maternity leave! pic.twitter.com/zGJe1iGCgy

— Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) August 26, 2022

How much does religion impact fertility? A lot.

About 75% of 40-year-old Mormons have kids.

It’s 40% of atheists or agnostics.

A majority of atheist/agnostics never have children. pic.twitter.com/imliUawHx5

— Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) August 24, 2022

Politically liberal Christians engage in less religious activity than politically conservative ones.

This is percent praying weekly. Among just Protestants and Catholics.

~82% of Conservatives pray weekly or more.

It’s ~70% of Liberals. pic.twitter.com/wrkmRLIiUd

— Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) August 22, 2022

Here’s how I know.

In 2021, the GSS asked people to self ID as atheist or agnostic.

Guess what? 35% who say that they don’t believe in God don’t ID as atheist.

And for those who express an agnostic belief only 37% identify as agnostic!

Belief ? belonging! pic.twitter.com/hyFsW7gIOa

— Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) August 8, 2022

Young women are more likely to be nones than young men in 2021.

That wasn’t the case in 2008.

In 2008, men born in 1980 were just as likely to be nones as those born in 1990.

Now, men born in 2000 are a bit *less* likely to be nones than those born in 1990. https://t.co/3NOMqZH4cx pic.twitter.com/rMMOvqH0ZU

— Ryan Burge ? (@ryanburge) July 22, 2022

Ryan P. Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University. Author of
numerous journal articles, he is the co-founder of and a frequent contributor to Religion in Public, a forum for scholars of religion and politics to make their work accessible to a general audience. Burge is a pastor in the American Baptist Church.