The following is an excerpt from Josh McDowell’s personal notes on Teen Statistics posted on his website sometime back.
“Spirituality”
• “One-third of all teenagers (34%) as born again – unchanged in several years. (2000)”
• “The most common church affiliations among teenagers were Catholic (22%), Baptist (16%), and mainline Protestant (19%). Only 4% usually attend a charismatic or Pentecostal church. (2000)”
• “In 1997, 88% of teens say they are Christian. This number dropped to 82% in 1999.”
• “Of those who call themselves Christians, 26% said they are ‘absolutely committed’ and 57% said that they were ‘moderately committed’ to the Christian faith. (1999)”
• “Almost two-thirds of teens (62%) believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings. (2000)”
• “Almost two-thirds describe themselves as ‘religious’ (64%). (1999)”
• “Three out of every five call themselves ‘spiritual’ (60%). (1999)”
• “Three out of five say they are ‘committed Christians’ (60%). (1999)”
• “One out of every three teens (33%) is born again. (1999)”
• “Only 4% of U.S. teens are evangelicals (1999)”
• “28% of teens feel a personal responsibility to tell others about their religious beliefs (56% of born again Christian teens feel this way). (1999)”
• “56% of teens feel that their religious faith is very important in their life. (1999)”
• “Two out of three teens (65%) say that the devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil. (2000)”
• “Three out of five teens (61%) agree that ‘if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven.’ (2000)”
• “Slightly more than half (53%) say that Jesus committed sins while He was on earth. (2000)”
• “30% of teens believe that all religions are really praying to the same God, they are just using different names for God. (1999)”
• “In total, 83% of teens maintain that moral truth depends on the circumstances, and only 6% believe that moral truth is absolute. (2001)”
• “When it comes to believing in absolute truth, only 9% of born again teens believe in moral absolutes and just 4% of the non-born again teens believe that there are moral absolutes. (2001)”
“Religious Activities”
• “Nearly 9 out of 10 (89%) teens pray weekly. (1999)”
• “Over half of teens (56%) attend church on a given Sunday. (1999)
• “38% of teens donate some of their own money to a church in a given week.” (1999)”
• “35% of teens attend Sunday school in a given week. (1999)”
• “35% of teens read the Bible each week, not including when they are in church. (1999)”
• “More than seven out of ten teens are engaged in some church-related effort in a typical week: attending worship services, Sunday school, a church youth group or a small group. (1999)”
• “32% of teens attend youth group, other than a small group or Sunday school, each week. (1999)”
• “29% of teens attend a small group each week that meets regularly for Bible study, prayer or Christian fellowship, not including Sunday school or a 12-step group. (1999)”
• “18% read from a sacred text other than the Bible in a given week. (1999)”
(“Teenagers,” Barna Research Online, www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PageCategoryID=37)
(For more information about the held perspectives on moral truth, see the February 12, 2002 Press Release article titled "Americans Are Most Likely to Base Truth on Feelings.")
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