In 2016, LifeWay stopped carrying books by bestselling writer Jen Hatmaker after she announced she now supports same-sex relationships. Sometimes that gatekeeping looked silly, or even harmful. (The local spiritual shop carries on, despite multiple negative Yelp reviews of its “energy.”) Even the industry’s longtime lead trade group, formerly known as the Christian Booksellers Association, has collapsed. The only Christian bookstore in the city nearest to me, Concord, New Hampshire, closed this spring after 35 years in business, blaming Amazon for a 33 percent decline in sales in recent years. “We are fast approaching an America where this particular brand of religious retailer will be no more than a memory,” as the Week put it a few years ago. A Methodist-run chain closed its 57 stores in 2012. Family Christian Stores, another major chain, said in 2017 that it would close its 240 stores and lay off 3,000 people. LifeWay Christian Stores, a chain operated by the Southern Baptist Convention, announced this spring it is closing all 170 brick-and-mortar stores. But while reporting a story that ran this week in Slate about the runaway Christian bestseller The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, I was reminded that unlike spiritual shops, Christian bookstores may not be long for this earth. The traditional Christian bookstore, selling Bibles and Christian tchotchkes, is also a product of the 1970s. Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson credits a New Age bookshop in Houston with introducing her to the city’s spiritual scene in high school she later ran a similar store herself. The shops bloomed in the 1970s as a result of interest in New Age spirituality. The Deep-Down Truth of Why Evangelical Christians Can’t Stand DragĪs young people embrace mysticism as meaning, entertainment, or both, “spiritual stores”-selling things like crystals, tarot cards, sage, and occult books- are experiencing a revival. Why Real-Life Exorcists Are Furious About Russell Crowe’s Swashbuckling New Exorcist Flick Republicans Are Finding New Voters With Ron DeSantis’ Favorite Talking Point. Listen, You’re Gonna Want to Hear About This Nun Drama in Texas
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