Ryan Burge

I think a lot of Americans are actually searching for a church that's relatively apolitical in the pulpit and the pews.

So here's what I tell

people.

I go, if you are fine with your church having a rainbow flag out front, but you're not happy with another pastor having a MAGA hat in the pulpit, there's a problem here, right?

I think this is the hard thing is how do you be aggressively apolitical?

I think there's ways to do it.

And I think actually the Catholic Church is a great example of how they could lean more into the consistent ethic of life.

I tell my students about this, by the way.

For those listening, it's the idea that life should be protected at beginning, middle, and end.

So from natural conception to natural death.

Catholic Church is opposed to abortion, opposed to birth control, but also opposed to the death penalty.

It's also opposed to unjust wars and physician-assisted suicide.

I explain that to my students.

They go, yeah, I don't really know if I agree with it, but I respect that position.

It helps me think about these issues of life and death in a way that I've not thought about them before.

Helping people sort of think holistically about these things, but not being super like directed like, well, this is where the Trump administration violates the consistent ethic of life is a better way to go about it.

Let them make the connections, not you make the connection.

I mean, you know, like I understand, like I'm a demographer.

I talk about the growth and decline of these religious groups.

But at the end of the day, like, isn't part of what we're supposed to do help people think about the major problems that the world is facing, society's facing, they're personally facing?