Perhaps it’s because I just caught the Harry Potter exhibit at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center, but here’s the religion news story that struck me as the most entertaining this week:

Romania’s “Witch Tax:” Magic meets bureaucracy (Religion Dispatches)

The thought of Romania’s witches pelting their country with a “volley of curses” — including one that requires “cat excrement and a dead dog” — over a new tax struck me as hilarious at first. But after reading the story again, including the embedded links, I began to appreciate the parallels with some of our own “don’t tax me, bro” Americans. (Perhaps Christine O’Donnell would have reconsidered her “I’m Not A Witch” campaign ad, if this story had come out earlier. In any case, given that Tea Party members are closely aligned with evangelical Christians, it’s probably better that the irony just fly over their heads. On broomsticks, if necessary.)

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