Bible Sales Are Booming. Is Revival Coming to America?

Americans are purchasing Bibles at a record rate, The Wall Street Journal reported. More than 13.7 million Bibles were sold in the first 10 months of 2024.

Book sale tracker Circana BookScan found that Bible sales increased by 22% through the end of October, compared to the same period in 2023. By the end of October last year, Bible sales were only up 1% from 2022. The growth is even more astonishing when you look at data from 2019, when Bible sales hit 9.7 million per year. That’s a 41% increase in sales from 2019 to 2024!

Even more encouraging, first-time buyers are driving many of the sales, with a lot of Generation Z and younger Americans showing increased interest in the Bible. Plus, it’s not just Christian stores that are selling more Bibles, but also mainstream retailers, including Amazon.

This is all consistent with a 2023 American Bible Society survey which found that nearly three in four Americans (71%) are curious about the Bible.

We often hear that our nation is increasingly secular. Headlines and reports spread a narrative of religion in the U.S. being in decline. In what appears to be a culture hostile toward faith, we may be tempted to think that Bible reading is no longer valued. But the opposite is true. Americans of all ages are embracing faith, Scripture and religious expression. A report released earlier this year found that the rise of religious “nones”—those who don’t identify or practice a religion—has hit a plateau.

There’s no denying that we still confront many challenges. Opponents continue to attack religious freedom every chance they get. But there are many reasons to be hopeful for the future.

The more intently we look, the more we see that faith and religious expression are being restored across America. We think this has a lot to do with a seismic shift in the law favoring religious liberty—a change that’s reflecting in the broader culture.

We’ve witnessed incredible momentum for religious freedom at the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years. With God’s favor and your support, First Liberty secured some of the most important victories of our generation in our Faithful Carrier, Coach Kennedy, Treat Children Fairly and Bladensburg Peace Cross cases. These victories ushered in a new era of religious freedom unlike anything we’ve witnessed in our lifetime.

These landmark cases didn’t just bring a positive change to the law. With more protection of religious freedom, we’re witnessing the beginning of a revival for faith and freedom across the country. A message is being sent that prayer and religious expression should not be censored or hidden. Americans today have more religious freedom than any point in the last 50 years to boldly and fearlessly live out their faith in public.

FaithBlazer Challenge: Bringing Back Expressions of Faith to the Public Square

The Supreme Court victories are beginning to bear fruit.

After decades of hostility, high school football players are once again praying together after their games. “In God We Trust” can be put back in public schools. Chaplains of all faiths can open courtroom sessions with a prayer. Crosses and Ten Commandments monuments can be restored and displayed on public land.

And the best part? This isn’t where the story ends.

How often have you seen or heard about crosses being torn down? What about the many veterans memorials that have been desecrated for including a Scripture? What about Nativity scenes or menorahs outside a city hall or in a public park that were carted off into storage? How many times has a religious symbol or reference been scrubbed because someone claimed to be “offended”? There are simply too many examples to count.