Religion and Reading
Posted by: Denelle
I think that most of us would agree that our religious beliefs influence our reading materials. After all, I would venture to say that you would be unlikely to find a fundamentalist Christian perusing the New Age section of their local bookstore.
And now Baylor University has conducted it's own study into the reading habits of "religious" people and the results are quite intriguing.
Interestingly the survey also discovered that women comprise a larger portion of their religious readers and that readers tend to mostly read within their religious affiliation.
I own several books by Dr. Dobson and have read one of the Purpose-Driven books and the DaVinci Code. However, I must be an fluke on their radar because the study also found:
and I regularly attend church and am active in various ministries and I very definitely believe in the "paranormal" or a very real and active spirit world.
I think that most of us would agree that our religious beliefs influence our reading materials. After all, I would venture to say that you would be unlikely to find a fundamentalist Christian perusing the New Age section of their local bookstore.
And now Baylor University has conducted it's own study into the reading habits of "religious" people and the results are quite intriguing.
The John M. Templeton Foundation funded the survey, which the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion devised and Gallup conducted. The survey found:
•19% of the sample had read any Left Behind books.
•19 % had read The Purpose-Driven Life.
•17.5% had read any James Dobson books.
•28.5% had read The Da Vinci Code.
•6.7% had read The Celestine Prophecy.
•1.2% had read God’s Politics by Jim Wallis.
•5% had read Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard.
Interestingly the survey also discovered that women comprise a larger portion of their religious readers and that readers tend to mostly read within their religious affiliation.
I own several books by Dr. Dobson and have read one of the Purpose-Driven books and the DaVinci Code. However, I must be an fluke on their radar because the study also found:
The odds of having read The Da Vinci Code declined with increasing levels of church attendance, while people who read The Da Vinci Code tended more to believe in paranormal phenomena.
and I regularly attend church and am active in various ministries and I very definitely believe in the "paranormal" or a very real and active spirit world.
