Faithful Politics Podcast
@faithfulpolitics·6.2K subscribers·1.9K videos
Ryan Burge on The Vanishing Church: How Polarization Is Hollowing Out American Faith
Posted
January 3, 2026
Views
203
Likes
3
Comments
17
January 3, 2026
203
3
17
9.85%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Episode Timeline
Every episode in order around the one you’re watching — click any card and the page flips straight to it.
1:02:08Now PlayingHave a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email usWill@faithfulpoliticspodcast.com ()
In this conversation, we’re joined by Ryan Burge, professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics and author of The Vanishing Church. Burge walks us through what the data actually shows about religion in America—especially the quiet collapse of mainline Protestantism and the growing alignment between political identity and religious affiliation. We talk about why religious change is usually slow, why the 1990s marked a real inflection point, and how churches that once brought politically diverse Americans together are disappearing. The result, Burge argues, is not just a weaker church, but a weaker democracy—more isolated, more polarized, and less capable of holding disagreement without rupture.
Book Mentioned
The Vanishing ChurchHow the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us
Guest Bio
Ryan Burge is a sociologist of religion and political scientist who studies religious change, polarization, and the rise of the religiously unaffiliated. He serves as Professor of Practice at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Before entering academia full-time, Burge spent nearly two decades as a local church pastor. He is the author of The Nones, The Great Dechurching, and The Vanishing Church, and writes regularly at his Substack, Graphs About Religion.
Support Sarah Stankorb’s work and preorder Damned If She DoesWhy Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion, Releases September 15, 2026. Bookshop.org
Support the show ()
Keep the conversation going.
Want to learn more about Faithful Politics, suggest a future guest, or connect with us directly?
Visit our website:
faithfulpoliticspodcast.com
Browse our bookstore, featuring books from many of our guests:
faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/bookstore
Support the show and help us keep these conversations going:
patreon.com/cw/FaithfulPolitics
Subscribe for behind-the-scenes content, reflections, and updates:
faithfulpolitics.substack.com
Contact the hosts:
Josh Burtram, Faithful Host: Josh@faithfulpolitics.com
Will Wright, Political Host: Will@faithfulpolitics.com
Follow Faithful Politics:
Instagram: faithful_politics
Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
