The Press: Readers & Religion

Topping 1,000,000 circulation for the first time with its August 10 issue, Presbyterian Life announced proudly last week that it now reaches the "largest number of Christians assembled in one list since the birth of Jesus." Apace with the resurgence of religion in the U.S., the church-sponsored, slick-paper biweekly in less than ten years has grown into the world's biggest paid-circulation religious magazine and has helped to make sweeping changes in the economics and editorial approach of religious journalism.

Most copies of Presbyterian Life are sold directly to churches, which undertake to sign...