School Stats

Here are just a few helpful statistics I have used to get perspective on the crisis facing this generation, even more particularly, our schools:

In the history of America, the concept of a wall between church and state is a very recent concept and was never used but twice in the history of America up until the late 1940s, but in the last 50 years there have been countless cases citing this concept. Beginning in 1962, with the removal of prayer from schools, a host of other decisions were made removing God from our generation:

- 1962: A verbal prayer offered in a school is unconstitutional, even if that prayer is both voluntary and denominationally neutral (Engel v. Vitale).

- 1965: Freedom of speech and press are guaranteed to students and teachers – unless the topic is religious, at which time such speech becomes unconstitutional (Stein v. Oshinky).

- 1965: If a student prays over his lunch, it is unconstitutional for him to pray aloud (Reed v. Van Hoven).

- 1979: It is unconstitutional for a kindergarten class to ask whose birthday is celebrated by Christmas [Jesus] (Florey v. Sioux Falls School District).

- 1980: It is unconstitutional for students to see the Ten Commandments in school because they might read, meditate upon, respect or obey them (Stone v. Graham).

- 1990: It is unconstitutional for a classroom library to contain books which deal with Christianity, or for a teacher to be seen with a personal copy of the Bible at school (Roberts v. Madigan).

- 1993: Artwork may not be displayed in schools if it depicts something religious – even if that artwork is considered a historical classic (Washegic v. Bloomingdale Public Schools).

Barna Worldview Survey from March 2009

For the purposes of the survey, a “biblical worldview” was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.

The research data showed that one pattern emerged loud and clear: young adults rarely possess a biblical worldview. The current study found that less than one-half of one percent of adults in the Mosaic generation – i.e., after ’84, those aged 18 to 23 – have a biblical worldview, compared to about one out of every nine older adults. 

50 Year Teacher Question

In 1940, teachers were asked to identify the top problems in public schools. They answered, “talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise.” In 1990 teachers were asked the same question, their responses were, “drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery and assault.”

Bible-Based Believer Percentages: 

Builders (born 1927-1945) 65% Bible-based believers
Boomers (born 1946-1964) 35% Bible-based believers
Busters (born 1965-1983) 16% Bible-based believers
Bridgers (born after 1984) 4% Bible-based believers

Over 80% of churchgoers become Christian before the age of 18. Once a person reaches 20 years of age, the odds of reaching that person falls to 10%. The Southern Baptist Convention’s Family Life Council found that 88% of Christian youth fall away in college in 2002. LifeWay conducted a similar study in 2007 and found that 70% of Christian youth fall away in college, and only 35% ever return.