A thoughtful and well researched book from a political scientist or sociologist standpoint. Although Ryan Burge is a pastor, there isn’t as much of a pastoral tone. There are lots and lots of data points, telling the reader the difference in how many people surveyed respond to data points such as “are you religious” “how often do you attend services” “Do you identify as evangelical” Over time those pages had a tendency to be a bit dry for me, but they are necessary to make the author’s points. From a hope perspective, I learned that while church attendance for moderates is rapidly declining, more people have more moderate beliefs than we think. I think the typical reader would be a mainline protestant wondering why their church is losing members. This book will show that it may not be your church or denomination, that the religious right has increased in popularity, that more far left people identify as atheists.
Another point he makes over and over again is that “it wasn’t always this way”- that in the 1980’s the evangelical church was 50/50 democrat vs republican. That unfortunately churches have become a place that is “far right coded” and the more mainline churches are losing members. Social media highlights mostly fringe beliefs, even though more americans have more moderate views. For example, the southern baptist convention published a stance against IVF, but only 8% of members of the SBC were against IVF.
Thank you to NetGalley and Brazos Press for the ARC. Book to be published January 13, 2026
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