Beliefs
Percentage of Americans who believe:
—that Elvis Presley is still alive: 10
—in reincarnation: 30
—in ghosts: 39
—that aliens have visited earth in the past 100 years: 53
—that the U.S. government is currently involved in cover-ups and conspiracies: 74
Luntz Research, cited in George (12/96)
Debt
Percentage of monthly income used to pay consumer debts (credit cards, home equity loans, second mortgage and car loan payments)
in 1982: 16
In 1996: 29.5
Number of families filing for non-business bankruptcies
in 1982: 320,000
In 1996: 1,100,000
First Chicago NDB; University of Wisconsin, Madison; American Bankruptcy Institute; and cdb Infotek; cited in Chicago Tribune (10/10/96)
Giving
Average household contributions to charity in 1995: $1,017
Percentage of households that did not give to any charity in 1995: 31
Percentage of income given to charity by people with household incomes under $10,000: 4.3
Percentage of income given to charity by people with household incomes of $40-50,000: 1.3
Percentage of income given to charity by people with household incomes over $100,000: 3.4
Gallup Organization for Independent Sector, cited in Chicago Tribune and Omaha World-Herald (10/10/96)
Healing
A recent survey at a meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians revealed the following
percentage of family doctors who:
are convinced that religious belief can heal: 99
believe the prayers of others can help a patient’s recovery: 75
believe faith-healers can make people well: 38
Yankelovich Partners, cited in Parade (12/1/96)
Hunger
Number of children who don’t get enough food to fully develop mentally and physically: 500,000,000
Number of hunger-related deaths every day: 40,000
World Bank
Amount of money Americans spend annually on pet food: $3,000,000,000
The Loose Change Newsletter (Nov.-Dec./95)
Marriage
Number of adults 18 and over who have never married: 44,200,000
1994 statistics from Bureau of the Census
Percentage of men who will have an extramarital affair in their lifetime: 21.2
Percentage of women who will have an extramarital affair in their lifetime: 11.3
National Opinion Research Center 1994 survey, cited in Newsweek (9/30/96)
Youth
Percentage of high school students participating in these risky activities:
Rode with a driver who had been drinking during the past month: 38.8
Had sexual intercourse in the past three months: 37.9
Smoked cigarettes in the past month: 34.8
Had five or more drinks at least once during past month: 32.6
Used marijuana in the past month: 25.3
Center for Disease Control, cited in U.S. News & World Report (10/7/96)
1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
