In the United States, the world's largest market for consumer books, religion book sales grew by 50 percent last year from 2002, far outpacing other categories to account for about 17 percent of consumer book spending.

A lot of the growth is attributable to Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Life," which says that every life has a divine purpose and offers a 40-day path for Christian devotion to God. It has sold 20 million copies in English, 1 million in Spanish and is published in more than 40 languages.

"There's a sense that what is missing in our lives is a real connection to what we do, what we think, how we relate to people and how we take care of ourselves," said Bauer. "Mindfulness brings all of those things together."

Even corporate America is o­n board. Some businesses now offer mindfulness workshops to improve concentration, employee relations and ethics. Last year, Spirituality & Health magazine featured an article titled, "Lessons from Mindful Corporations."

In "Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies & the Truth About Reality," published last year by Wisdom Books in Somerville, Brad Warner tells a lively story of his odyssey from living as a punk rocker in rural Ohio to making B-grade Japanese horror flicks to becoming a Zen priest in Tokyo. A veteran of punk bands Zero Defex and Dementia 13, Warner has practiced zazen (the Zen term for "sitting meditation") for over 15 years, and a couple years ago received Shiho, or Dharma Transmission -- formal acknowledgment that he has attained the same enlightenment as the Buddha. "Dharma Punx" (HarperCollins), a 2003 memoir by Noah Levine that recently appeared in paperback, traces a similar trajectory, describing Levine's passage from a West Coast punk childhood to becoming a meditation teacher in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.

Ellison Research, a marketing research firm in Phoenix, conducted the poll for LifeWay Christian Resources’ Facts & Trends magazine. Ellison reported large numbers of Protestant clergy have little familiarity with the core beliefs of numerous non-Protestant religious groups.

Protestant ministers were asked to rate how familiar they are with the core beliefs of 13 religious groups, using a scale of 1 for not at all familiar to 5 for extremely familiar. Not o­ne of the 13 groups has a majority of Protestant ministers claiming to be extremely familiar with its core beliefs, Ellison found.