Crunching the Numbers

I’ve been a semi-regular reader of the Harper’s Index for years. Interesting facts, concisely delivered, always topical, sometimes funny, often terrifying. What more could you ask for? The July Index was just posted on the Harper’s Web site. There are several items that pertain to topics we’ve discussed over the last few weeks. Such as:

Number of U.S. public-school districts that have adopted a class in which the Bible is the primary textbook: 301

Percentage of Bill Frist’s medical-school class that sent him a letter accusing him of misusing his degree: 18

Rank, in the current line of succession to the U.S. Presidency, of the first non-Christian: 16

Number of America’s nine “Founding Fathers” who denied the divinity of Jesus: 7

Percentage of the 651 fatal or wounding terrorist attacks worldwide last year that took place in Iraq: 32

Percentage that took place in India: 44

Chance that a four-to-six-year-old U.S. boy plays video games every day: 1 in 4

The one about the Founding Fathers is particularly interesting considering how often the religious right argues that our nation and our government were founded on Christian ideals. Just thought I’d mention that. With regard to the rest of the list, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

--Matthew McCoy