"Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Allen Wrench, Nor His Swedish Meatballs, Nor His Klippan Sofa."

Amen! Hallelujah!

yeah. Gonna have to say false to this claim:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

hessilou, the key word here is "distributed", not sold.

Even if this is about distribution numbers and not selling numbers, I know this is false. More IKEA catalogs than Bibles distributed in Seattle? Maybe. In the US or the world, there is no way.

But IKEA is worldwide too, so it might be true.

I thought this was common knowledge: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/home/article-1261423-details/Ikea catalogue beats the Bible/article.do The numbers talk about annual distribution, thought. If we're talking all time distribution, then of course the Bible, having been published long before flat-packed furniture was conceived of, would win.

The world is getting wiser!

Is that Supposed to be a bad thing?

that's funny, i frequently refer to the ikea catalog as my bible. the comments give me hope that there are not enough jesus freaks in this country after all to vote republican in november, but then i realized that there are probably not that many jesus freaks commenting on AT to begin with. sigh.

I feel glad to be a part of the IKEA flock.

I smile whenever I see an IKEA catalog on someone's coffee table...the 2009 catalog is so colorful :) I have my IKEA, Room & Board, West Elm and CB2 catalogs on my coffee table as decoration and my guests will pick them up without fail! The Bible...mmm..not so much. I used to have one, received in protest from someone else who had received it in protest, but Jesus only knows what happened to it....

It's not so 'thought provoking' to me because we are not all Christians in this world, ya know.

I guess I was confused on the wording. The sheer quantity of Bibles distributed and/or sold will fair surpass the Ikea catalogue across time but maybe in the past few years the distribution of the Ikea catalogue has exceeded the Bible?

That is a little disconcerting and I am not even thinking about it in a religious sense (I am not religious). I guess I am thinking more in terms of the exorbitant amount of paper used and how frequently I disregard product catalogues (I usually just look at Ikea stuff online, not in a catalogue.)

Melon is a fruit. Learn to spell.
The sir name is Mellon.

You know? There are hundreds of countries where Ikea does not deliver their catalogues and where the Bible is delivered and read.

I don't think I would consider myself a Jesus freak, but I am also quite religious (Episcopalian), a perennial IKEA shopper and a daily reader of AT. Ok, thrice daily...anyway, as much as I am glad to see that people across the world are being brought closer to affordable, good design, I agree that such a wide distribution of such a publication is a colossal waste of paper in this day and age.

The Bible's ALOT more interesting than an IKEA catalog, that's for sure. I own both. One holds the answer to all of life's problems. The other gives you nice things to fill it with. One gives the Source of life, the other life's little things to enjoy while here.

Finally! Stupid Bibles...

I find many of these comments disconcerting. Would you all say such rude things about any other religion's holy book? And have you read it to validate those comments or are you speaking out of prejudice? Besides... since when did materialism and blanket advertising become more acceptable than the ancient wisdom, poetry and stories of at least two major faiths? And how thoughtless to think that one needs to be a "Jesus freak" to find the Bible more engaging than the IKEA catalogue. Without even touching on religion, that kind of thinking reveals a lack of thoughtful literary and historical engagement.

Ha! Ikea - "We're more popular than Jesus."

(But is Ikea more popular than the Beatles?)

I'm not sure I'm allowed to have a Bible at home, this is a VERY catholic country and I'm not married... and living with my boyfriend! and, yes, we do "married people" things. We're so bad.

But yeah, I keep my 2008 Ikea catalogue because is the one with all the notes and post-its from when we furnished our 1st apartment together and for 2009 I recently picked up a copy in Sweden (I'm cool, I know ;) ) and have my regular Spanish one.

I love hessilou: "It's false! Wikipedia says so!"

The bible attracts haters because, historically, so many have done hateful things, using the bible as an excuse. I'd argue that's it's the most violent 'literature' ever written. Sure, there's some good stuff in there. But all I hear about lately is how the bible god wants our government to wage war and deny rights to gays and women.

If only our fearless leader would've prayed to the god of the Ikea catalogue, we'd all have perfectly organized closets, and maybe our accounts would be in the black.

That would be leaders not leader, southof290. This economic crisis has long been in the making and has the fingerprints of every party all over it.

cola: And Oasis and Kanye West, let's not forget about them

Ikea will bring peace and joy to all ! After one assembles the stuff in the box!!!
Are not all things made by man really sent to use by God? So go forth and enjoy my interiorits, who live in the land of the free!
Walk or ride you camel to the house of Ikea, bow to the golden Letters on the wall---when done there, go on to the golden arches and feast of the bread and beef. It could be your last supper, especially if you partake of the holly fries and a pie!!! :-)

Wow, reading these comments left me speechless for quite a bit of time. I have to agree that it seems to me that the production of so many Ikea catalogs has to be wasteful. It's also interesting to find that such 'open-minded' people can hold such little respect for what so many consider holy. Although I am a huge fan of Ikea, I can't say that in serious times of hardship turning to an Ikea catalog has given me the peace and comfort I'm seeking. Although if that's what gives someone comfort then right on, read away!

I am also curious, what exactly does it take to be a 'jesus freak?' And do you extend you generalities to those of the Muslim faith? I suppose they must all vote, think, and act in the same manner as well?

southof290 - haters occupy every movement and religion, and use many texts - the Bible isn't unique in that regard, it's simply more visible in a Western context than something like the Qu'ran. Lovers are also attracted to the Bible, and have set up the first hospitals, fought against child labor, gone to Iraq to care for the wounded and protest war in the thick of things, and given their lives out of compassion for others, even those they disagree with. Any major force will attract lovers and haters, you have blinders on if you think it's only the Bible and/or Christian faith. You hear from those who want war and want to deny rights to women and homosexuals b/c 1) they are loudest and 2) that loudness is projected by the media in a way that thoughtful, cautious and compassionate thought is not. However, the majority of Christians that I know are the opposite of what you claim to see, and it is because of their love of Christ and the Bible that they are that way. Don't buy in to shallow stereotypes - I doubt it's how you approach any other group of people.

This comparison is so banal as to be borderline irresponsible. To imply that more Ikea catalogs being distributed has any statistical relevance to the amount of bibles sold is silly and attention-seeking.

There isn't even a common basis for the comparison to be made. You're talking about a catalog vs. a book, and free distribution via a single corporation vs. a varied distribution model and sales platform of a religious text.

It's mindboggling anyone would even attempt to correlate these two.

oh, and case in point - some people use the IKEA catalogue to say hateful things (M: "stupid Bibles"). And how arrogant! I would never, never say that the Qu'ran is stupid, though I am not a Muslim and though some who claim to be Muslim have done terrible things. For one thing, I haven't read it all the way through with the help of someone who understands it, so how can I cast that kind of judgment?

One problem.

The Bible is printed but not typically thrown in the garbage.

There's no way. I've never even personally seen an Ikea catalog and I've been to IKEA!

oops. it's not a problem that bible is not thrown in the garbage--it's a problem that ikea catalogs ARE thrown in the garbage.

Since when is a catalogue a book?

I meant haters as in, hating on the bible, not the followers as haters, sorry, bad sentence. Of course, every religion has it's extremists, but we were musing about the ikea catalogue and the book that the worlds most powerful nation (for how much longer?) sometimes considers more important than the Constitution.

I've been trying to learn, what little I can, about possible-president-Palin. And having horrible flashbacks about my own pentecostal upbringing.

I'm having a hard time finding out if she really thinks you can 'pray the gay out' of a person, anyone got a link? but if she does, that would be considered pretty liberal in most southern pentecostal churches...

Emily, M said 'stupid bibles' in a jest...it was not hateful...at least I didn't take it that way.

And to the poster (I can't find it now) who corrected the spelling of "Mellon"...that is what (sic) means..that the misspelling was the fault of the student who wrote the blurb in the school newspaper, not the fault of the AT blogger.

Also, I think you meant to say "surname", not "sir name". Maybe you ought to apologize for telling the blogger to 'learn how to spell" when you made a phonetic mistake yourself.

I think this teaches you not to post anything vaguely referencing religion here :) Talk about tangents!

And technically Carnegie Mellon is not a surname as referenced here...it is a private research university...LOL!!!

southof290 - sorry i overreacted and misunderstood. you're absolutely right that that's why some people hate the Bible, and it's sad (both the terrible acts that have been done in the name of the Bible and the resulting distaste for it). And yeah, Palin worries me too. And I think it's absolutely okay, even important, to talk about and disagree about religion on a blog - it's a part of who we are and why we love and do what we do, just as long as when we talk about it we remember there are real people behind those books and beliefs. (to be honest, i don't really care how many ikea catalogues are distributed vis-a-vis bibles, except for the paper waste as mentioned)

no biggie, i'm obviously too old use current slang properly, sigh. And i agree, i like the give and take on AT, and think we're being far more civil and open minded than the tired "I love/I'm over MCM" threads, talk about haters ;)

Sarah Palin shouldn't worry you, but Barak Obama should. He wants to Socialize our medicine, raise taxes even more, and increase Government spending. BTW I read somewhere that Sarah left the Pentacostal church 5 yrs. ago. or so... not that it matters to me. She represents us Americans who want LOWER taxes, LESS Goverment, and the freedom to choose which Dr. you wish. Christian or not, these are some of the things that matter most to me.

I actually do hate the bible. It is a boring and silly and old book. Except for Job. And Revelations. Song of Solomon ain't bad either. Okay, it's good. But what I really hate is Christianity and Islam. Ha!