{"id":836769,"date":"2024-09-25T05:00:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=836769"},"modified":"2024-09-24T13:44:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T18:44:12","slug":"marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Marx Was Wrong: How America&#8217;s Elites Are Embracing Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-preview\"><p>Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet <i>The Communist Manifesto<\/i>, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people&#8217;s lives.<\/p> <p>What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-login login-toggle\">Already a member? <a href=\"#\">Log in<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-content\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2>Unlock premium content!<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Get access to all Church Answers premium content from our expert contributors plus many other membership benefits.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<h3>$9.97 per month<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Unlimited access<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/join\/\" class=\"button\">Join Now<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-preview\"><p>Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet <i>The Communist Manifesto<\/i>, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people&#8217;s lives.<\/p> <p>What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-login login-toggle\">Already a member? <a href=\"#\">Log in<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-content\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2>Unlock premium content!<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Get access to all Church Answers premium content from our expert contributors plus many other membership benefits.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<h3>$9.97 per month<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Unlimited access<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/join\/\" class=\"button\">Join Now<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"author":17635,"featured_media":836772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,184,175,186,14796,180,194,18058,176,185],"tags":[19551,19547,19090,19550,19548,19549],"class_list":["post-836769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-discipleship","category-grow","category-health-and-metrics","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-preaching","category-premium","category-revitalize","category-worship","tag-atheist","tag-karl-marx","tag-nones","tag-religious-services","tag-the-communist-manifesto","tag-view-of-religion","membership-content","access-restricted"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Marx Was Wrong: How America&#039;s Elites Are Embracing Religion | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people&#039;s lives. What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep the factory workers happy in their poverty and willing to continue to work long hours to line the pockets of those at the top of the economic pyramid at the expense of those at the bottom. This thought in the Communist Manifesto is Marx\u2019s most memorable: \u201cReligion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.\u201d This view of religion as a tool of manipulation used by the elites to oppress the working class is still pervasive among a lot of critics of religion in the United States. Often, atheists will make an argument that Marx\u2019s view continues in 21st-century America, claiming that it is just a way for poor, uneducated people to muddle through their joyless lives with just a little bit of hope. Here\u2019s the thing. These claims are simply not true.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marx Was Wrong: How America&#039;s Elites Are Embracing Religion | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people&#039;s lives. What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep the factory workers happy in their poverty and willing to continue to work long hours to line the pockets of those at the top of the economic pyramid at the expense of those at the bottom. This thought in the Communist Manifesto is Marx\u2019s most memorable: \u201cReligion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.\u201d This view of religion as a tool of manipulation used by the elites to oppress the working class is still pervasive among a lot of critics of religion in the United States. Often, atheists will make an argument that Marx\u2019s view continues in 21st-century America, claiming that it is just a way for poor, uneducated people to muddle through their joyless lives with just a little bit of hope. Here\u2019s the thing. These claims are simply not true.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-25T10:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Burge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Burge\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ryan Burge\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a\"},\"headline\":\"Marx Was Wrong: How America&#8217;s Elites Are Embracing Religion\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-25T10:00:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/\"},\"wordCount\":1491,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Atheist\",\"Karl Marx\",\"Nones\",\"Religious Services\",\"The Communist Manifesto\",\"View of Religion\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Discipleship\",\"Grow\",\"Health &amp; Metrics\",\"Monday\/Wednesday Featured\",\"Outreach &amp; Evangelism\",\"Preaching\",\"Premium\",\"Revitalize\",\"Worship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/\",\"name\":\"Marx Was Wrong: How America's Elites Are Embracing Religion | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-25T10:00:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a\"},\"description\":\"Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people's lives. What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep the factory workers happy in their poverty and willing to continue to work long hours to line the pockets of those at the top of the economic pyramid at the expense of those at the bottom. This thought in the Communist Manifesto is Marx\u2019s most memorable: \u201cReligion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.\u201d This view of religion as a tool of manipulation used by the elites to oppress the working class is still pervasive among a lot of critics of religion in the United States. Often, atheists will make an argument that Marx\u2019s view continues in 21st-century America, claiming that it is just a way for poor, uneducated people to muddle through their joyless lives with just a little bit of hope. Here\u2019s the thing. 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Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Before that he was an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, and was also the graduate coordinator. He has authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters alongside six books (including The Vanishing Church, The Nones, and The Great Dechurching) about religion and politics in the United States. He served as a pastor in the American Baptist Church for over twenty years, leading First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, IL for 17.5 years until its closure in July 2024.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/ryanburge\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Marx Was Wrong: How America's Elites Are Embracing Religion | Church Answers","description":"Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people's lives. What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep the factory workers happy in their poverty and willing to continue to work long hours to line the pockets of those at the top of the economic pyramid at the expense of those at the bottom. This thought in the Communist Manifesto is Marx\u2019s most memorable: \u201cReligion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.\u201d This view of religion as a tool of manipulation used by the elites to oppress the working class is still pervasive among a lot of critics of religion in the United States. Often, atheists will make an argument that Marx\u2019s view continues in 21st-century America, claiming that it is just a way for poor, uneducated people to muddle through their joyless lives with just a little bit of hope. Here\u2019s the thing. These claims are simply not true.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Marx Was Wrong: How America's Elites Are Embracing Religion | Church Answers","og_description":"Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people's lives. What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep the factory workers happy in their poverty and willing to continue to work long hours to line the pockets of those at the top of the economic pyramid at the expense of those at the bottom. This thought in the Communist Manifesto is Marx\u2019s most memorable: \u201cReligion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.\u201d This view of religion as a tool of manipulation used by the elites to oppress the working class is still pervasive among a lot of critics of religion in the United States. Often, atheists will make an argument that Marx\u2019s view continues in 21st-century America, claiming that it is just a way for poor, uneducated people to muddle through their joyless lives with just a little bit of hope. Here\u2019s the thing. These claims are simply not true.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2024-09-25T10:00:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ryan Burge","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Burge","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/"},"author":{"name":"Ryan Burge","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a"},"headline":"Marx Was Wrong: How America&#8217;s Elites Are Embracing Religion","datePublished":"2024-09-25T10:00:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/"},"wordCount":1491,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png","keywords":["Atheist","Karl Marx","Nones","Religious Services","The Communist Manifesto","View of Religion"],"articleSection":["Church Answers","Discipleship","Grow","Health &amp; Metrics","Monday\/Wednesday Featured","Outreach &amp; Evangelism","Preaching","Premium","Revitalize","Worship"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/","name":"Marx Was Wrong: How America's Elites Are Embracing Religion | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png","datePublished":"2024-09-25T10:00:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a"},"description":"Karl Marx is an infamous and polarizing sociologist who still evokes emotions years after his death. Marx was a German author who lived from 1818 to 1883, and he is, of course, most famous for his short pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. The English version of this work runs less than 15,000 words but may be one of the most notorious pieces ever written. It emerged from Marx\u2019s observations about how rapidly the world was changing around him due to the advent of mechanization and the Industrial Revolution. Marx noted how the move from rural subsistence farms to urban factories would have a tremendous impact on many people's lives. What stands out most in Marx\u2019s work is his view of religion. He was not a fan of what he saw happening in Germany in the mid-1800s. The factory owners would use the Bible as a way to keep the factory workers happy in their poverty and willing to continue to work long hours to line the pockets of those at the top of the economic pyramid at the expense of those at the bottom. This thought in the Communist Manifesto is Marx\u2019s most memorable: \u201cReligion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.\u201d This view of religion as a tool of manipulation used by the elites to oppress the working class is still pervasive among a lot of critics of religion in the United States. Often, atheists will make an argument that Marx\u2019s view continues in 21st-century America, claiming that it is just a way for poor, uneducated people to muddle through their joyless lives with just a little bit of hope. Here\u2019s the thing. These claims are simply not true.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Karl-Marx-monument-having-conversation-with-Friedrich-Engles-in-the-park.png","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Karl Marx monument having conversation with Friedrich Engles in the park"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/marx-was-wrong-how-americas-elites-are-embracing-religion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Marx Was Wrong: How America&#8217;s Elites Are Embracing Religion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a","name":"Ryan Burge","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56879a20cb590828ec05138ab0896cecf173024f2bf472bb1fb8dd0ad8f13fe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56879a20cb590828ec05138ab0896cecf173024f2bf472bb1fb8dd0ad8f13fe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ryan Burge"},"description":"Dr. Ryan Burge is professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Before that he was an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, and was also the graduate coordinator. He has authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters alongside six books (including The Vanishing Church, The Nones, and The Great Dechurching) about religion and politics in the United States. He served as a pastor in the American Baptist Church for over twenty years, leading First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, IL for 17.5 years until its closure in July 2024.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/ryanburge\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836769"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836777,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836769\/revisions\/836777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}