In Troublous Times

On a raft in the Pacific with Eddie Rickenbacker's shipwrecked airmen, Lieut. James C. Whittaker saw the stirrings of a national movement. "We all saw Johnny reading his Bible, his freckled face solemn as an owl's and the sun glinting on his red hair," he wrote in his new book We Thought We Heard the Angels Sing. "No one kidded him."

What Johnny and many another soldier was doing, civilians back home were doing, too. Under the stress of war, people were turning to religion. One sign was a definite rise during the past year in the sale of religious books.

This week's observance of the first national Religious Book Week aims at making such books even more widely read. Sponsored by Manhattan's National Council of Christians & Jews, the program is modeled after a local one held in Boston last year. Its originator: Fanny Goldstein, librarian of Boston's West End branch.

Some facts & figures :

> The Bible, still the world's bestseller, is going stronger than ever. The King James version holds the lead in popularity, but modern versions (Moffatt, Goodspeed) are gaining ground. Typical figure comes from Harper's: sales up more than 25% since Pearl Harbor.

> Chaplain Norman E. Nygaard's pocket-size Strength 'for Service to God and Country ("not for people who would understand prayer, but for people who feel compelled to pray") has sold 500,000 copies in the past nine months.

> Mary Tileston's Daily Strength for Daily Needs (prayers and meditations) has doubled its peacetime sale, passed the 500,000 mark.

> Harry Emerson Fosdick's On Being A Real Person (TIME, March 15) with 75,000 copies already printed, holds third place on national nonfiction best-seller lists.

> Charles M. Sheldon's internationally famous In His Steps (23,000,000 copies since publication 45 years ago) is selling at the highest rate in twelve years.

People have turned to inspirational reading more quickly, and in far greater numbers, than they did in World War I. The current national best-seller list includes two novels with religious themes. Jewish refugee Franz Werfel's Song of Bernadette (a story of Our Lady of Lourdes) has sold over 500,000 copies. Protestant Minister Lloyd C. Douglas' The Robe (a story of Christ's passion) has sold 240,000 copies.

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