A column of current statistics selected especially for Christian communicators
Percentage of people who said a painful event (death, illness, breakup, divorce, etc.) caused them to find a more positive meaning in life: 87
Of all money given to charitable causes, the percentage that goes to religious organizations: 64.5
Percentage of American 3-year-olds who are enrolled in school: 29
Percentage of American Christians who own a VCR: 76
Percentage who in the last year bought a videotape with Christian content: 1
Number of “unreached people groups” in 1974: 17,000
Number remaining today: 12,000
Approximate percentage of youth, ages 11 through 16, who would like to grow up with qualities like those of their mother and father: 72
Percentage of Americans who celebrate their pet’s birthday: 24
Who leave the TV on for their pet to watch: 30
Number of languages into which at least one portion of the Bible had been translated, in 1900: 371
Number today: 1,946
Percentage of college freshmen who said they considered it an important goal to “become wealthy”: 74
Who said it was important to “develop a philosophy of life”: 43
Percentage of American households headed by a single parent, in 1970: 10.6
In 1989: 14.8
Percentage of U.S. teenagers who agree that “I often feel that I would rather die than go on living”: 19
Percentage who have tried to commit suicide: 6
Abortion Angst
After what “may be the largest . . . and most demographically comprehensive” survey ever taken on American attitudes toward abortion, the Gallup Organization concluded that in most cases, Americans overwhelmingly oppose abortion.
Over 2,000 respondents answered over 200 questions. Among the findings:
75 percent believe abortion involves the taking of human life
77 percent disapprove of abortion when “the pregnancy is unplanned and would interrupt a professional woman’s career”
88 percent disapprove of abortion “as a repeated means of birth control.”
– Reported in Good News, Mar/Apr 1991
The Message on Mediums
Many American adults believe in psychic phenomena, but few have ever consulted an astrologer, medium, tarot card reader, or a psychic. That is the conclusion from a CBS poll of 984 adults. The study found:
64 percent believe in psychic phenomena
25 percent say they have personally experienced such a phenomenon
10 percent have ever consulted a medium or the like
1 percent consult a medium, etc., regularly.
– Reported in Princeton Religion Research Center’s Emerging Trends, Feb. 1990
Missionaries’ Pressures
What problems do missionaries face? For what things do they need prayer?
Cedric Johnson and David Penner surveyed 55 North American Protestant mission agencies with more than 100 staff members overseas. The missionaries listed the following problems, in rank order:
1. Relationships with other missionaries
2. Cultural adjustments
3. Managing general stress
4. Raising children
5. Marriage difficulties
6. Financial pressures
7. Loneliness.
– Reported in World Prayer and Share Letter, Sept. 1990
SOURCES – Painful events: Peter Ebersole and Joan Flores, Brain/Mind Bulletin, reported in Bottom Line Personal, 1/30/91. Charitable giving: USA Today, 11/16/90. 3-year-old students: 100% American by Daniel Weiss (Poseidon Press, 1988). Christians and VCRs: The Church Today: Insightful Statistics and Commentary, Barna Research Group, 1990. Unreached people groups: National & International Religion Report, 1/28/91. Admiration of parents: Kathleen Harris, reported in USA Today, 8/27/90. Pet lovers: Gallup Poll, reported in U.S. News & World Report, 12/24/90. Bible translation: The Role of the Bible in American Society, Princeton Religion Research Center; American Bible Society news release, 2/15/91. Freshmen goals: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA, reported in U.S. News & World Report, 3/4/91. Single-parent households: U.S. Census Bureau, reported in Single Adult Ministries Journal, 1/90. Teenage death wishes: Psychology Today, 10/88; Gallup Poll, reported on “The Osgood File,” WBBM Radio, 4/2/91.
Leadership Summer 1991 p. 71
Copyright © 1991 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
