SAO PAULO: Faith is no foil against market forces – not even if you re flogging the word of God, as the biggest printer of Bibles in the world is finding out.
The Bible Society of Brazil, a non-profit group whose operations fill a modern factory on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, is weathering a downturn in export demand for its holy books, which are sold in 100 countries.
The company, which started its printing activities 60 years ago, currently turns out 7.7 million Bibles a year, a figure unrivaled by even the biggest US printers of Christian scriptures.
More than half the production goes to Brazil – the most populous Catholic nation on the planet. Around three-quarters of the country s 190 million people are professed Catholics. Adding Protestants, the total proportion of Christians rises to nearly 90 percent.
That devout home base is keeping the presses turning and upholding the company s activities using part of its revenues to fund social and educational programs, mainly among Brazil s poor.
We believe the distribution of the word of God makes a big difference in the lives of people, Erni Seibert, the head of the Bible Society s communications and social actions division, told AFP.
The chief of the printing unit, Celio Emerique, explained the scope of the operations.
We re printing in around 20 languages, 20 different languages. Mainly Portuguese, Spanish, English, French and African languages, he said.
But foreign sales have been declining for the past two years.
Seibert could not pin down one precise reason for the drop, nor could he say whether it was a long term trend.
He said, however, that customs barriers in some markets might be contributing to the dip, as was increasing competition – particularly from China, an officially atheist country which sees a profit in printing Bibles under state quotas.
So far, the company, which has revenues around $30 million a year, is taking a wait-and-see approach.
But it has to keep business principles overlaid on its religious mission.
Such a big quantity of Bibles need to be administered as a business, because it s a lot of money. If you think about one or two dollars for a Bible, the most common Bible, with such a number you need a lot of money that must be well administered, Seibert said.
In Brazil, the Bible Society highlights social programs based on reading the holy book, such as promoting literacy in isolated indigenous communities – in their own native languages – and supplying blind people with braille Bibles.
Flavia Goncalves, a 52-year-old woman who lost her sight at age 11, is one beneficiary.
Despite a couple of Catholic figurines and a painting of Jesus Christ at her modest Sao Paulo home, she does not profess to be a practicing Catholic.
But since being given a free Bible in Braille by the Society in 2002, reading the testaments has become a nightly passion of hers – a transportation into an epic story whose 38-volume bulk she is halfway through.
There were a lot of things I didn t know, very important, like in Genesis, how the world began, she said, her fingers rubbing over the raised dots representing words.
The Bible Society of Brazil said its non-publishing activities go beyond the inking of the scriptures, including providing medical help for the needy.
What we are really aiming for as an organization is that in the future our society is better, with more hope, with more love, with more human relations – and hopefully better relations between people and God, Seibert said. -AFP
