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Americans Find Religion on Bookstore Shelves

Americans Find Religion on Bookstore Shelves

by Jennifer Robison

Every year, the close of the holiday season brings a rash of articles bemoaning commercialism and the loss of spirituality. (In a recent Newsweek, for example, columnist Anna Quindlen called the phrase happy holidays "the new rubric designed to insulate this time of year from either religious significance or great historical moment.") Though Americans are obviously interested in material things, Gallup Polls consistently reveal a high level of religiosity among the general public (the effect of the events such as the Catholic Church scandals notwithstanding -- see Also This Week).

A December 2002 Gallup Poll* on Americans' reading habits seems to reflect that point. Americans who said they read at least one book a year were asked what genre they're most likely to read. Respondents chose among 13 categories, including biographies or books about history, personal finance and self-help books, various kinds of novels, and religion and theology books. Twenty-four percent said they are "very likely" to read books on religion and theology, nearly as many as said they are very likely to read thrillers (25%), and not far behind the leading genre, biographies (30%).

The Path in the Bookstore

America's interest in religious literature may be unexpected, but it's not inexplicable. "It's a surprise to me," said John Seifert, manager of the Lincoln, Neb., branch of the Family Christian Stores. "But I think 9/11 had quite an impact, and it's still carrying over. We're living in a different age . . . problems are more complex." The poll results provide some support for Seifert's speculation. When asked about their motivation for reading, just 14% of respondents who said they are very likely to read religious books said they read mostly for "entertainment," while 68% said they mostly read "to learn something." This compares to 32% of all readers who do so mainly for entertainment and 47% who do so mainly to learn. Such a finding may reflect the fact that two of the Dec. 23 Publisher's Weekly hardcover nonfiction top 10 best sellers are spiritual in nature, and both suggest paths to personal happiness and peace.

Also affecting the numbers may be the recent spate of popular fiction with a religious bent, such as the best-selling Left Behind series. Despite their accessibility, these books are still considered by some to be part of a religious niche. "The Left Behind books have been phenomenally successful, but not in general bookstores," said Jim McKee, owner of Lee Booksellers in Lincoln, Neb. "That market has a clearly defined source of books -- their bookstores, religious bookstores."

Bookworms

Who's most likely to say they read religious books? As you might expect, people who seldom or never attend church aren't as likely to read religious books (8% are very likely to do so) as people who attend church nearly weekly (17%) or weekly (44%). And people who say their ideology is conservative are more likely to choose books on religion (32%) than are ideological moderates (18%) or liberals (17%).

But women, who are typically found to score higher on religiosity measures than men, are only slightly more likely to say they read theological books (26% vs. 21%, respectively). Education is only weakly related to likelihood to read religious books, as 19% of college graduates are very likely to select religious books, as are 25% of those with a high school education or less.

The spiritually peripheral aspects of the holiday season, though attention-grabbing, only come once a year. When the glitz and tinsel are gone, the books America reads may supplement the religious significance that some think is missing from the holidays.

*Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,001 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Dec. 5-8, 2002. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3%.


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/7537/Americans-Find-Religion-Bookstore-Shelves.aspx
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