Approximate number of churches in the United States: 375,000
Number with fewer than 50 in attendance: 100,000
With more than 2,000 in attendance: 300
Earth’s population: 5.6 billion
Projected population in 35 years: 8.5 billion
Percentage of American households with a Bible: 92
Percentage of Americans who read the Bible outside religious services: 37
Annually spent on lottery tickets in the 36 states operating lotteries: $24.4 billion
On movie tickets in all 50 states: $8 billion
Percentage of 1991 M.Div. students who graduated with no debts: 52
Average percentage change in a woman’s standard of living the year following a divorce: -73
Average percentage change in a man’s standard of living: +42
Annual number of deaths worldwide of children under 5: 13,000,000
Number resulting from malnourishment: 7,150,000
Percentage of church members in the 1950s who grew up in another denomination: 4
Percentage of today’s church members who did: 40
Percentage of software in the U.S. that was legally acquired: 67
Percentage of American children born out of wedlock in 1960: 5; In 1991: 30
Sources:
Attendance: Winning the Values War in a Changing Culture by Leith Anderson (Bethany House, 1994). Population: U.S. News & World Report, 8/29-9/5/94. Bibles: Virtual America (The Barna Report 1994-95). Lottery/movies: Christian Social Action, 7-8/94. Seminary debts: The Christian Century, 2/29/94. Living standards after divorce: The Great Divide by Daniel Evan Weiss (Poseidon Press, 1991). Child deaths: UNICEF’S 1994 The Progress of the Nations. Denomination switching: The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing, 9/22/94, citing Net Results, 2/93. Software piracy: PC Today, 9/94. Nonwedlock births: ABC News “Nightline,” 9/9/94.
Copyright (c) 1995 Christianity Today, Inc./LEADERSHIP Journal
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