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He was a Baptist from Kentucky, and was well educated at Hanover College and Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, where he took a divinity degree in 1888.  In the 1890s he was pastor at the new Calvary Baptist Church in Chicago. The weekly meetings of the Chicago Baptist Ministers' Society often ended in angry exchanges, with Riley and other fundamentalists on one side and the liberal University of Chicago theologians on the other.  

He was a Baptist from Kentucky, and was well educated at Hanover College and Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, where he took a divinity degree in 1888.  In the 1890s he was pastor at the new Calvary Baptist Church in Chicago. The weekly meetings of the Chicago Baptist Ministers' Society often ended in angry exchanges, with Riley and other fundamentalists on one side and the liberal University of Chicago theologians on the other.  

In 1897 he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Minneapolis, which he made famous.  He was engaged in politics, opposing America's entry into the Spanish-American War in 1898. He denounced corrupt politics, and engaged in several crusades on behalf of prohibition.  In the 1930s he began to attack Communism with the same vehemence he had earlier reserved for theological liberalism. He also bitterly opposed the [[New Deal]] and President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].  

In 1897 he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Minneapolis, which he made famous.  He was engaged in politics, opposing America's entry into the Spanish–American War in 1898. He denounced corrupt politics, and engaged in several crusades on behalf of prohibition.  In the 1930s he began to attack Communism with the same vehemence he had earlier reserved for theological liberalism. He also bitterly opposed the [[New Deal]] and President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].  

He was a powerful preacher. Standing over six feet tall, with curly black hair that gradually turned white, Riley made an impressive figure on the podium. He was a persuasive public speaker, gifted with a ready wit and a flair for the dramatic. He castigated sin as he saw it, including divorce, dancing, and all the "isms" of the day—socialism, Unitarianism, Mormonism, spiritualism, Catholicism, and liberalism. The worst of these was Darwinism, and more than anyone he turned Fundamentalism into a crusade against evil scientists.   

He was a powerful preacher. Standing over six feet tall, with curly black hair that gradually turned white, Riley made an impressive figure on the podium. He was a persuasive public speaker, gifted with a ready wit and a flair for the dramatic. He castigated sin as he saw it, including divorce, dancing, and all the "isms" of the day—socialism, Unitarianism, Mormonism, spiritualism, Catholicism, and liberalism. The worst of these was Darwinism, and more than anyone he turned Fundamentalism into a crusade against evil scientists.