Spiritual spending on the rise

There is a Scripps Howard article on spiritual spending.

People of faith aren't part of a strange trend far from the mainstream, he said. They are the mainstream. What Waldman calls the "Faithful Consumer" is the normal consumer, part of a demographic that is larger than the sectors called "women," "baby boomers," "singles," "teens" or any of the usual ethnic groups.

Some marketing professionals seem afraid to talk about these numbers, in part because religion is often controversial and this demographic is so hard to pin down. Are "Faithful Consumers" people who believe in God or the gods? Are they united by their broader spiritual concerns or divided by their narrow, specific dogmas? Are they prickly true believers or blowing-with-the-wind seekers? These days, the safe answer is "all of the above." Americans love to shop.