A self-professed atheist is reportedly making over $100,000 a year selling a Bible app that he designed.
Christian Today reports that Trevor McKendrick found a gap in the app market for a Spanish translation of the Bible and made the app for about $500. He now makes about $6,000 a month for his app and has added an audio version as well.
The Mormon-raised app designer said that he feels guilty about profiting from a book that he believes to be a work of fiction.
"What if you sold 'Harry Potter' books or 'Lord of the Rings' books, but you told people it was real? And you told people if they would just learn how to write spells themselves, they could heal their children? And if you sold that as a real thing? I would feel terrible about that," McKendrick told StartUp podcast host Alex Blumberg.
"But that's really the situation I am in selling the Bible. I am selling this thing I truly believe is fiction, but other people are trying to use [it] and mold their lives to fix large and small problems."
According to McKendrick, some users even believe that he is a pastor, sending him prayer requests and asking to interpret scripture.
"They think I'm a preacher. If you're emailing the maker of an app to get help for your son, you're probably not a in a great spot. Trading that for profit weighs on me a little bit,” he said.
Publication date: February 4, 2015