This February, The Barna Group published the findings of a survey that investigated Americans’ willingness to sacrifice and impulses toward self-oriented behaviors. Here is what they discovered:

The Good

• 74% of Americans have recycled something in the past month
  >> born again Christians were among the least likely groups to recycle
• 48% have helped a poor or homeless person in their community in some other way than handing them money in the past month
• 44% have discussed a specific spiritual issue or belief with someone who belongs to a different faith in the last month
• 25% (roughly) have volunteered some of their free time to help a church in the past week
• 25% (roughly) have volunteered some of their free time to help a non-profit organization that is not a church in the past week

The Bad

• 33% of adults say they have used profanity in public in the last month
• 31% have purchased a lottery ticket in the past month
• 28% have said mean things to others about someone else when that person was not present
• 28% of adults have read a magazine or watched a movie or video that contained explicit sexual images in the past month
  >> 35% of men
  >> 19% of women
• 18% have placed a bet or gambled in the last month
• 16% of adults have consumed enough alcohol to be intoxicated or considered legally drunk at least once in the last month
• 14% have had an intimate sexual encounter during with someone to whom they were not married in the last month
• 13% have told someone something they knew was not true
• 10% have gotten even for something someone did to hurt or offend them
• 10% have visited a website that showed explicit or uncensored sexual content in the last month
  >> 14% of men
  >> 2% of women
• 6% have inappropriately traded or downloaded music in the past month
• 5% have consulted a psychic or medium for spiritual guidance in the last monthÂ
• 4% admit to stealing
• 3% admit to recent use of illegal, non-prescription drugs
• 2% admit to fighting or abusing someone else

Additional note:

Adults under 40 - and especially those ages 18 to 22 - were more likely than average to engage in many of the morally questionable activities (the only clear exception was gambling, an activity in which younger adults are equal to that of older adults). The use of profanity is an example of shifting generational values: three out of ten Boomers [born from 1946 through 1964] had cursed in public during the past month compared to nearly half of the Buster generation [born from 1965 and 1983] and two-thirds of Mosaics [born from 1984 through 2002]. Busters and Mosaics exhibit lower than average levels of volunteerism, to churches and other non-profits - and are less likely to admit helping the poor. Defying their reputation as environmentally conscious, Mosaics were also the least likely generation to recycle.