LONDON (AP) - The success of fantasy films such as "Lord of the Rings" and the Harry Potter series reveals a widespread yearning for spiritual experience, a retired Church of England Bishop said Tuesday.
Jim Thompson, the former Bishop of Bath and Wells, said the films' success was partly due to "the re-creation of what has been lost to so many modern minds, namely the eternal dimension central to most religions, especially the Christian faith."
Thompson spoke at an awards ceremony for religious broadcasters
Religious reaction to Harry Potter has been mixed. Evangelical groups have condemned the boy wizard for glamorizing the occult, but last month an ecumenical group, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, cited J.K. Rowling's best-selling books as a good way of illustrating important themes like the battle between good and evil.
The Harry Potter books "ask people to look again at the selfish material world and the presence within it of Christian values — truth, love and, supremely, self-giving and sacrifice," the group said in a booklet.
The second Potter film, "Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets," opens in cinemas in Britain and the United States on Nov. 15.