Almost half of all Americans have read at least one religious book other than the Bible from cover to cover in the past two years. Such is the finding of a recent survey of 1008 American adults compiled by the Barna Research Group (BRG). “In total, 44% of all adults had read at least one book whose main theme was religious or spiritual in nature,” says the BRG report.

Women are more prone than men to read religious books. Half of all women have read a religious book in its entirety in the last two years. This compares with one-third of men. In addition, those with a college education were more likely to read religious books. Half of college graduates have read a religious book while only one-third of those with a high school education or less have read a book of a religious nature.

The three bestselling religious books of recent years have been The DaVinci Code (Daniel Brown), The Purpose Driven Life (Rick Warren), and the Left Behind series (Jerry Jenkins and Timothy LaHaye). According to the BRG report, “most of the adults who have read a religious-themed book in the past two years were aware of these books.” The DaVinci Code was familiar to 78 percent of religious readers. Sixty-three percent knew of The Purpose Driven Life and 58 percent were familiar with the Left Behind series.

(For the complete results of the Barna Survey mentioned in this article go to www. Barna.org.)