Struggling authors should keep the faith – literally. Sales of books that explore religion or spirituality have grown by more than 50 per cent in the past three years, according to online retailer Amazon.

The boom surpasses the rise in sales of books in categories such as history, which have grown by 38 per cent, and politics, up by 30 per cent, confirming that religion has become a pivotal topic in the early 21st century.

But the statistics may not make uplifting reading for believers. The most popular ‘religious’ book, says Amazon, is The God Delusion, an anti-faith polemic by Richard Dawkins, the academic who has been dubbed ‘Darwin’s rottweiler’. Second is God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, another broadside at holy citadels, by the journalist Christopher Hitchens.

Believe it or not: the sceptics beat God in bestseller battle | UK News | The Observer.

For more about the sort of books that have been making the best seller lists, come to our next meeting in Ipswich on 12 September.

Tags: Books, Book+sales, Religion, The+God+Delusion, God+is+not+Great