January 13, 2025
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.
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.”
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This story first appeared in The Baptisdt Paper.
