In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s killing on a Utah college campus in September, Bible sales have soared. 

First reported by The Wall Street Journal, sales spiked by 36% in the month compared to 2024, totaling 2.4 million Bibles sold in September alone, according to Circana Bookscan, a national book tracker. 

“September brought a wave of troubling events — violence, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty — underscoring a pattern: In times of crisis, more people turn to faith for comfort and support,” Brenna Connor, an analyst at Circana Bookscan, told The Wall Street Journal. 

EWTN Religious Catalogue, part of EWTN, the Register’s parent company, also confirmed a similar spike, with a 65% increase in the number of Bibles sold and an 80% increase in sales when comparing numbers from the last two months and what was sold in the same period in 2024. 

And other publishers are experiencing an increase, including Ascension Press, home to The Bible in a Year podcast featuring Father Mike Schmitz, which also airs via EWTN Radio.

Ascension President and CEO Jonathan Strate told the Register that since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, “We’ve seen a remarkable rise in interest in Scripture, which is a clear sign of the deep hunger people have to know and follow God. Across the country, more people are turning to the Bible, whether returning to their faith or discovering it for the first time.”

“At Ascension,” Strate continued, “we’ve witnessed this revival through The Bible in a Year (with Father Mike Schmitz) — which has been downloaded more than 900 million times — and through the Ascension App, the No. 1 Catholic Bible app in the App Store.”

Ascension, who was also just awarded a contract to publish the Liturgy of the Hours alongside Word on Fire, sees the statistics as a sign of hope that more people across the globe are confronting the Gospel message. 

“We’re continually moved by the stories we hear of people returning to Mass, going to confession for the first time in decades, or encountering Christ for the first time. It’s a powerful reminder that God is present with us and transforming lives right now, especially through his word.” 

In the aftermath of the tragic shooting of the political activist who was very outspoken about his own Christian faith, stories flooded social media of men and women sharing their decisions to buy a Bible, including one 37-year-old woman taking her followers along with her to buy her first Bible. 

Calling it the "Charlie Kirk effect," hundreds of people also posted viral videos about their decisions to head to church on a Sunday morning, including some who had never set foot in a church in their lives. 

Speaking at her late husband’s memorial service on Sept. 21, Erika Kirk said Charlie’s death had reignited a spark of faith for millions across the country.

“This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade. We saw people pray for the first time since they were children. We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives,” the widow said. 

At that same memorial service, politicians also proclaimed the Gospel of Christ to the thousands of souls gathered in person and millions watching worldwide. 

“We were all created by an all-powerful God who loves us and created us with the purpose of living with him in eternity,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared that day. 

Just last week, Charlie Kirk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump; and Erika Kirk, in accepting the award for her late husband, spoke about his love for God. 

Marking the monumental moment on his birthday, Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, shared on social media “31 Ways to Live Like Charlie Kirk.” Among the list of tenets: honor the Sabbath, keep a journal, get married — and “read your Bible every day.”