A faithful yet highly critical reader of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch emailed this morning with numerous complaints about Monday’s front page, including an assertion that Tim Townsend’s story about Christian Brothers Automotive was anti-Christian.

An excerpt from the email:

“…Then we have another Townsend anti-Christian front page story.  Is this Mr. T’s anti-Christian week at the PD?  Ironically, you all should take a note from these companies that “market to Christians.”

“You could learn something positive from them.  As I see it, the PD only attacks Christians…”

VALLEY PARK - Some customers of the new Christian Brothers Automotive get more than an just an oil change or a new transmission.

“If the opportunity arises, and if someone shares certain details of their life, I might pray with them,” said Kip Bynum, the garage’s owner. “We’re led by what God sees fit to do.”

Catering specifically to Christians - who make up nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population - has become a legitimate and profitable marketing strategy for large and small companies.

There are Christian bookstores, moving companies, record labels, debt-consolidation agencies, health insurance companies, clothing brands, dating websites, and film companies.

Some companies target Christians overtly, while other businesses founded on Christian principles favor a show-by-example policy. Their target market may be wider, but such companies use the tenets of their faith - especially the so-called Golden Rule - to attract consumers.

“There is a very strong network of Christians marketing to Christians and really creating goods and services for that group,” said Mara Einstein, a professor of media studies at Queens College in New York. “There’s nothing wrong with deciding your market is a Christian market, but the issue becomes if you find that’s not a big enough target and then you have to appeal to a wider audience.”