U.S. Bible sales appear to be soaring over last year by 22%, according to a report by Circana BookScan, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 1. In a year with ongoing overseas conflict, economic challenges, natural disasters and a volatile presidential election, the surge may be due to an increase in anxiety, uncertainty about the future and a search for hope.
According to WSJ, Bible sales jumped from 9.7 million in 2019 to 14.2 million in 2023, and so far this year — with a few weeks to go — nearly 14 million copies have been sold. Meanwhile, 28% of people in the U.S. claim to be atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular,” according to Pew Research.
Seeking assurance
Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, told WSJ, “People are experiencing anxiety themselves, or they’re worried for their children and grandchildren. It’s related to artificial intelligence, election cycles … and all of that feeds a desire for assurance that we’re going to be OK.”
For more related headlines, see list below:
Bible Sales Are Skyrocketing: What’s Going On? -The Christian Broadcasting Network
Bible sales soar as number of American Christians shrinks -Higher Ground
Bible sales soar as anxieties spike -Yahoo Finance
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was compiled by Shawn Hendricks, content editor of The Baptist Paper. NOTE: The links above are a sampling of headlines related to story and are not an endorsement of all viewpoints or reporting.
