Article: Platitudes or Prophecy? Sure, they sell. But are they serious? NEWSWEEK's religion guru opines about the new spiritual best sellers.(RELIGION)(Society)(Brief Article)

Sociologists tell us that the United States is experiencing a religious revival--a third "great awakening" echoing those of the 18th and 19th centuries. But if the best-seller lists are any guide, the revival looks more like a collective leaving of the senses. The hottest books among evangelical Christians, for example, is a religious sci-fi series, "Left Behind," in which fundamentalist evangelist Tim LaHaye and co-author Jerry Jenkins dramatize in pulpy prose what happens to the unconverted who fail to get "raptured" by Christ at the beginning of the endtimes. Then there is the Dalai Lama, whose serious books on Buddhist teachings failed to sell two decades ago. Today ...

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