A column of current statistics selected especially for Christian communicators
Percentage of Americans who are churched: 62
In 1776: 17
Rank of violence among causes of injury to U.S. women, ages 15 to 44: 1
Ratio of animal shelters in the U.S. to shelters for battered women: 3:1
In the U.S., number of new magazines introduced in 1992: 679
Number devoted to lifestyle and service: 60
Number devoted to sports: 40
Number devoted to crafts-games-hobbies: 35
Number devoted to celebrities: 33
Number devoted to sex: 97
Since 1973, percentage of all U.S. pregnancies terminated by abortion: 29
Among teenagers: 41
Among 40-year-olds and over: 44
Among unmarried women: 56
Number of deceased people frozen in hopes of someday being brought back to life: 50
Price for these services, including storage: $120,000
Price for freezing and storing only the head of client: $41,000
On a given day, violent scenes per hour on HBO: 14
On MTV: 11
On CBS: 10
On ABC: 3
On NBC: 2
U.S. 1991 state and federal prison population: 823,414
Percentage increase since 1980: 150
Percentage of pastors who report a major clash with a church member at least once a month: 40
Who feel ill-suited to face the rigors of the pastorate: 50
Who have a lower self-image than when they began ministry: 70
Who say the ministry has influenced their family negatively: 80
Who feel inadequately trained for ministry: 90
Prevailing Sins
A recent survey of Discipleship Journal readers ranked areas of greatest spiritual challenge to them:
1. Materialism.
2. Pride.
3. Self-centeredness.
4. Laziness.
5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness.
5. (Tie) Sexual lust.
7. Envy.
8. Gluttony.
9. Lying.
Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God (81 percent) and when they were physically tired (57 percent). Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer (84 percent), avoiding compromising situations (76 percent), Bible study (66 percent), and being accountable to someone (52 percent).
– Discipleship Journal, 11-12/92
Crime Shows
Television may be responsible for doubling our crime rate in the United States, suggests Brandon Centerwall, psychiatrist at the University of Washington, in a recent study reported in the June 1992 Journal of the American Medical Association.
Centerwall analyzed crime statistics both before and after TV was introduced in several communities. Those comparisons cause him to conclude that prolonged exposure to violence on TV has increased the number of murders in the U.S. by 10,000 each year. He sees TV as a “causal factor” in about 70,000 rapes and 700,000 injurious assaults annually.
– Hollywood vs. America by Michael Medved, (Harper Collins/Zondervan, 1992)
SOURCES – Churched Americans: The Churching of America, 1776-1990 by Roger Finke and Rodney Stark (Rutgers University Press, 1992). Violence on women: Chicago Tribune, 1/19/93. Shelters: Chicago Tribune, 1/19/93. Magazines: Chicago Tribune, 3/11/93. Abortions: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, reported in Pentecostal Evangel, 3/14/93. Frozen bodies: Health, 1-2/93. Television Violence: Center for Media and Public Affairs, reported in TV Guide, 8/22/92. Prisoners: USA Today, 5/29-31/92. Pastors: Fuller Institute of Church Growth, reported in Focus on the Family, 1/93.
76 SUMMER/93
Copyright © 1993 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
