Chain says customers had 'hardly any interest' in its 'Read With Discernment' advisory program

LifeWay Christian Stores has dropped its "Read With Discernment" program, which labeled books the chain regarded as espousing "thoughts, ideas or concepts that could be considered inconsistent with historical evangelical theology."

The warning label was placed on several titles, including William P. Young's The Shack (Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group USA), Rob Bell's Sex God (Zondervan) and Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (Thomas Nelson). 

The decision to drop the advisory labels was made because there had been "hardly any interest" in the practice among customers, according to Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources—the chain's parent company, Baptist Press reported. LifeWay officials declined to comment to Christian Retailing.

Some had criticized the program, which began in 2007. In an October 2010 blog post, Christian musician, author and speaker Shaun Groves wrote that he was so annoyed by the warning he found on A Million Miles in a Thousand Years in a LifeWay store that he walked out and bought the book at Barnes & Noble across the street instead.

"I felt that it was duplicitous to warn me on the one hand that what I wanted to buy was not orthodox evangelical theology, but on the other hand to profit from selling it to me anyway," Groves told Christian Retailing. "But I also realized (that) we all exercise selective discernment, reading certain books fearfully and carefully, while giving others a free pass."

Meanwhile, LifeWay Christian Stores marked its 85th anniversary in February. 

Started in 1925 with the purchase of Baptist Book Concern in Louisville, Ky., the Nashville-based chain now has more than 160 locations in 27 states, with approximately 4,500 employees.

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