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Long but amazuing article on bible sales in America.

Some quotes:

"the Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year"

"forty-seven per cent of Americans read the Bible every week. But other research has found that ninety-one per cent of American households own at least one Bible—the average household owns four—which means that Bible publishers manage to sell twenty-five million copies a year of a book that almost everybody already has."

"Have you ever had a white stain appear underneath the arms of your favorite dark blouse? Don’t freak out. You can quickly give deodorant spots the boot. Just grab a spare toothbrush, dampen with a little water and liquid soap, and gently scrub until the stain fades away. As you wash away the stain, praise God for cleansing us from all the wrong things we have done. (1 John 1:9) "

'“2:52 Boys Bible: The Ultimate Manual” promises “gross and gory Bible stuff.” In the “Rainbow Study Bible,” each verse is color-coded by theme. “The Promise Bible” prints every one of God’s promises in boldface. And “The Personal Promise Bible” is custom-printed with the owner’s name (“The LORD is Daniel’s shepherd”), home town (“Woe to you, Brooklyn! Woe to you, New York!”), and spouse’s name (“Gina’s two breasts are like two fawns”).'

Date: 2006-12-15 17:50 (UTC)From: [identity profile] fanw.livejournal.com
I'm basically atheist, well, agnostic, well Unitarian... um, you get my drift... and I own a King James bible, the book of Mormon, and a copy of the "standard" Apocrypha. (I store them right next to my Bulfinch's Mythology, Norse Myths, and the Nibelungenlied.) At some point I just came to the decision that I should be able to get the ubiquitous media and literary references even if I don't believe anything in there. I once had a Revised English version, but I wanted all the "thee"s and "thou"s. If it's not Handel's bible, all the quotes seem wierdly off. And I still am kicking myself for not picking up the $2 thick gilt German edition at a garage sale years ago. It's the closest I'll ever get to a "first translation". So I can absolutely believe the numbers for "average bibles per household". It's still a bit shocking though!

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