{"id":840059,"date":"2024-11-20T05:00:19","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=840059"},"modified":"2024-11-18T14:25:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T20:25:50","slug":"we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-preview\"><p>When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. The reason for that was simple\u2014I cared deeply about both subjects and knew that if I could combine my passions with academic training and earn an educational credential, I would be in good shape to build a career. But here\u2019s what else I knew: the United States was undergoing an incredibly significant religious transition. The rise of non-religious Americans was happening at a pace that was hard to grasp fully. I believed it would have profound implications for every aspect of society, including politics. I wanted to make it my career goal to describe these shifts and what they could mean for the average person.\u00a0<\/p> <p>What I didn\u2019t fully understand back in the late 2010s as I was moving my way through my doctoral program was that<\/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>When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. The reason for that was simple\u2014I cared deeply about both subjects and knew that if I could combine my passions with academic training and earn an educational credential, I would be in good shape to build a career. But here\u2019s what else I knew: the United States was undergoing an incredibly significant religious transition. The rise of non-religious Americans was happening at a pace that was hard to grasp fully. I believed it would have profound implications for every aspect of society, including politics. I wanted to make it my career goal to describe these shifts and what they could mean for the average person.\u00a0<\/p> <p>What I didn\u2019t fully understand back in the late 2010s as I was moving my way through my doctoral program was that<\/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":840062,"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":[1,183,184,179,175,186,177,178,14796,180,194,18058,176],"tags":[19775,19521,110,19776,19774],"class_list":["post-840059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-communications","category-discipleship","category-first-impressions","category-grow","category-health-and-metrics","category-lead","category-membership-and-assimilation","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-preaching","category-premium","category-revitalize","tag-american-religious-history","tag-church-growth","tag-evangelism","tag-generational-difference-in-religiosity","tag-new-era-of-american-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>We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. The reason for that was simple\u2014I cared deeply about both subjects and knew that if I could combine my passions with academic training and earn an educational credential, I would be in good shape to build a career. But here\u2019s what else I knew: the United States was undergoing an incredibly significant religious transition. The rise of non-religious Americans was happening at a pace that was hard to grasp fully. I believed it would have profound implications for every aspect of society, including politics. I wanted to make it my career goal to describe these shifts and what they could mean for the average person. What I didn\u2019t fully understand back in the late 2010s as I was moving my way through my doctoral program was that it\u2019s hard to make sense of trend lines when they are still moving so quickly. They only really come into clear focus when you have the benefit of a decade or two of hindsight. I remember sitting through graduate seminars and conference meetings where the common theme was the same\u2013the share of Americans with no religious affiliation is going to just keep going up. When someone said that, everyone would nod in agreement. It was just something we \u2018knew\u2019 in social science. All the indicators pointed in that direction, and we had no reason to believe otherwise. Well, hindsight is 20\/20. What I know now is that the United States went through a period of tremendous religious change that lasted for just about three decades. That period is over, and something new is on the horizon. Let me show you what I mean by visualizing the share of people who claimed no religious affiliation in the General Social Survey between 1972 and 2022.\" \/>\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\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. The reason for that was simple\u2014I cared deeply about both subjects and knew that if I could combine my passions with academic training and earn an educational credential, I would be in good shape to build a career. But here\u2019s what else I knew: the United States was undergoing an incredibly significant religious transition. The rise of non-religious Americans was happening at a pace that was hard to grasp fully. I believed it would have profound implications for every aspect of society, including politics. I wanted to make it my career goal to describe these shifts and what they could mean for the average person. What I didn\u2019t fully understand back in the late 2010s as I was moving my way through my doctoral program was that it\u2019s hard to make sense of trend lines when they are still moving so quickly. They only really come into clear focus when you have the benefit of a decade or two of hindsight. I remember sitting through graduate seminars and conference meetings where the common theme was the same\u2013the share of Americans with no religious affiliation is going to just keep going up. When someone said that, everyone would nod in agreement. It was just something we \u2018knew\u2019 in social science. All the indicators pointed in that direction, and we had no reason to believe otherwise. Well, hindsight is 20\/20. What I know now is that the United States went through a period of tremendous religious change that lasted for just about three decades. That period is over, and something new is on the horizon. Let me show you what I mean by visualizing the share of people who claimed no religious affiliation in the General Social Survey between 1972 and 2022.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-20T11:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.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\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ryan Burge\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a\"},\"headline\":\"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-20T11:00:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/\"},\"wordCount\":1489,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png\",\"keywords\":[\"American Religious History\",\"Church Growth\",\"Evangelism\",\"Generational Difference in Religiosity\",\"New Era of American Religion\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Communications\",\"Discipleship\",\"First Impressions\",\"Grow\",\"Health &amp; Metrics\",\"Lead\",\"Membership &amp; Assimilation\",\"Monday\/Wednesday Featured\",\"Outreach &amp; Evangelism\",\"Preaching\",\"Premium\",\"Revitalize\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/\",\"name\":\"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-20T11:00:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a\"},\"description\":\"When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. 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Let me show you what I mean by visualizing the share of people who claimed no religious affiliation in the General Social Survey between 1972 and 2022.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"Orthodox church with cross steeple in the light\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"We Are Entering a New Era of American 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\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion | Church Answers","description":"When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. The reason for that was simple\u2014I cared deeply about both subjects and knew that if I could combine my passions with academic training and earn an educational credential, I would be in good shape to build a career. But here\u2019s what else I knew: the United States was undergoing an incredibly significant religious transition. The rise of non-religious Americans was happening at a pace that was hard to grasp fully. I believed it would have profound implications for every aspect of society, including politics. I wanted to make it my career goal to describe these shifts and what they could mean for the average person. What I didn\u2019t fully understand back in the late 2010s as I was moving my way through my doctoral program was that it\u2019s hard to make sense of trend lines when they are still moving so quickly. They only really come into clear focus when you have the benefit of a decade or two of hindsight. I remember sitting through graduate seminars and conference meetings where the common theme was the same\u2013the share of Americans with no religious affiliation is going to just keep going up. When someone said that, everyone would nod in agreement. It was just something we \u2018knew\u2019 in social science. All the indicators pointed in that direction, and we had no reason to believe otherwise. Well, hindsight is 20\/20. What I know now is that the United States went through a period of tremendous religious change that lasted for just about three decades. That period is over, and something new is on the horizon. Let me show you what I mean by visualizing the share of people who claimed no religious affiliation in the General Social Survey between 1972 and 2022.","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\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion | Church Answers","og_description":"When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. The reason for that was simple\u2014I cared deeply about both subjects and knew that if I could combine my passions with academic training and earn an educational credential, I would be in good shape to build a career. But here\u2019s what else I knew: the United States was undergoing an incredibly significant religious transition. The rise of non-religious Americans was happening at a pace that was hard to grasp fully. I believed it would have profound implications for every aspect of society, including politics. I wanted to make it my career goal to describe these shifts and what they could mean for the average person. What I didn\u2019t fully understand back in the late 2010s as I was moving my way through my doctoral program was that it\u2019s hard to make sense of trend lines when they are still moving so quickly. They only really come into clear focus when you have the benefit of a decade or two of hindsight. I remember sitting through graduate seminars and conference meetings where the common theme was the same\u2013the share of Americans with no religious affiliation is going to just keep going up. When someone said that, everyone would nod in agreement. It was just something we \u2018knew\u2019 in social science. All the indicators pointed in that direction, and we had no reason to believe otherwise. Well, hindsight is 20\/20. What I know now is that the United States went through a period of tremendous religious change that lasted for just about three decades. That period is over, and something new is on the horizon. Let me show you what I mean by visualizing the share of people who claimed no religious affiliation in the General Social Survey between 1972 and 2022.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2024-11-20T11:00:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.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\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/"},"author":{"name":"Ryan Burge","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a"},"headline":"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion","datePublished":"2024-11-20T11:00:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/"},"wordCount":1489,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png","keywords":["American Religious History","Church Growth","Evangelism","Generational Difference in Religiosity","New Era of American Religion"],"articleSection":["Church Answers","Communications","Discipleship","First Impressions","Grow","Health &amp; Metrics","Lead","Membership &amp; Assimilation","Monday\/Wednesday Featured","Outreach &amp; Evangelism","Preaching","Premium","Revitalize"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/","name":"We Are Entering a New Era of American Religion | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png","datePublished":"2024-11-20T11:00:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a"},"description":"When I entered graduate school in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted to study religion and politics in the United States. The reason for that was simple\u2014I cared deeply about both subjects and knew that if I could combine my passions with academic training and earn an educational credential, I would be in good shape to build a career. But here\u2019s what else I knew: the United States was undergoing an incredibly significant religious transition. The rise of non-religious Americans was happening at a pace that was hard to grasp fully. I believed it would have profound implications for every aspect of society, including politics. I wanted to make it my career goal to describe these shifts and what they could mean for the average person. What I didn\u2019t fully understand back in the late 2010s as I was moving my way through my doctoral program was that it\u2019s hard to make sense of trend lines when they are still moving so quickly. They only really come into clear focus when you have the benefit of a decade or two of hindsight. I remember sitting through graduate seminars and conference meetings where the common theme was the same\u2013the share of Americans with no religious affiliation is going to just keep going up. When someone said that, everyone would nod in agreement. It was just something we \u2018knew\u2019 in social science. All the indicators pointed in that direction, and we had no reason to believe otherwise. Well, hindsight is 20\/20. What I know now is that the United States went through a period of tremendous religious change that lasted for just about three decades. That period is over, and something new is on the horizon. Let me show you what I mean by visualizing the share of people who claimed no religious affiliation in the General Social Survey between 1972 and 2022.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Orthodox-church-with-cross-steeple-in-the-light.png","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Orthodox church with cross steeple in the light"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/we-are-entering-a-new-era-of-american-religion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"We Are Entering a New Era of American 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\/840059","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=840059"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840067,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840059\/revisions\/840067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}