In my email this morning, from Amazon.com:

As someone who has purchased “The Road Less Traveled” or other books on religion and spirituality from Amazon.com, you might be interested to know about these new inspirational books…

Woah! I haven’t purchased “The Road Less Traveled”. I didn’t even know it was about religion at all. I have purchased several books about atheism and religion from the point of view of atheists. So apparently that put me in a category to receive notices about religious books. So I received this list of suggestions, which all sound pretty Protestant at first blush:

  • Faith and Inspiration
  • Transformation Journal
  • Writing Tides: Finding Grace and Growth Through Writing
  • Vessel of Peace: A Guide for Pilgrims of the Spirit
  • Film & Religion: An Introduction
  • A Doubter’s Guide to Heaven: Walking a Path from Doubt to Trust
  • The Eight Blessings: Rediscovering the Beatitudes
  • Strong Was Her Faith: Women of the New Testament
  • Soul Tending
  • Soul Shakers: Inspiring Stories from a Presidential Speechwriter

Of course I don’t really think that Amazon’s computers are trying to convert me, but the thought has to enter your mind when you order books about atheism and are told “you might also be interested in A Doubter’s Guide to Heaven: Walking a Path from Doubt to Trust“. Presumably people who ordered the Qur’ān were put into the same “interested in books about religion” category, I could imagine some of them might be much more offended than I am (I mostly think it’s funny). If I were Amazon, I’d be a bit more careful about this.