We heard about it with Harry Potter in spades: that J.K. Rowling’s beloved series about witches and wizards would somehow corrupt the minds and religious practices of youth all over the world. We heard about it with Philip Pullman, too, that somehow his magnificent trilogy “His Dark Materials” was going to turn kids into atheists.
But apparently Buffy the Vampire Slayer (three cheers for Buffy!) really is turning women and girls toward Wicca–and a recent British study called, “Women and Religion in the West: Challenging Secularization” by scholars Kristin Aune and Giselle Vincett, proves it.

A new entertainment blog picked up the story:
“Hollywood actress Sarah Michelle Gellar’s hit show ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ has been blamed for 50,000 women abandoning traditional Western religion to study paganism. According to the recent British study published in Women and Religion in the West, young women have taken an increased interest in practicing witchcraft after Gellar’s hit TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit the mainstream.”
Apparently, the entire Church of England “declined to comment.”
Long live Buffy! (And Spike! Sigh.)