Sociologists tend to agree that America is a more religious country than Great Britain, a difference that is reflected both in higher church attendance and in more unusual manifestations of spiritual zeal.
Decades ago Britons were bemused to hear reports of Beatles records being hurled into the bonfire by Americans outraged by John Lennon's comment that the group was "more popular than Jesus." These days American correspondents for British newspapers are assured of an audience for stories about fundamentalist parents complaining about schools that assign "The Wizard of Oz" or observe Halloween.
Now Britons can read about how one of their own, Harry Potter, has provoked American wrath.
At a recent Anti-Harry Potter Conference in Lewiston, Maine, a Pentecostal minister cut up a copy of the book version that inspired the hit film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." A crowd of 100, comprising believers and protesters alike, also got to view a film drawing parallels between the wizardry in the Harry Potter series and "real" witchcraft.
The Rev. Douglas Taylor of Lewiston's Jesus Party Church told reporters: "I'm against Peter Pan, the Wizard of Oz. I'm against any kind of movie or book that has a kind of magical or cultish theme to it."
Harry Potter fans have taken to calling Mr. Taylor a "muggle" -- the term used in the Potter books to describe nonwizards. In Harry's home country he'd be called something else: an American.
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