I've started working on a paper on the presence of Harry Potter references in religious worship. I've come across an assortment of sermons online that mention some aspect of the Potterverse -- some in response to the books, and others reacting to the cultural phenomenon -- and I'd like to study more than just the ones that happen to show up via Google. I'm planning to focus mainly on Unitarian Universalist and Jewish sermons.

I'd also love to hear about the Harry Potter books and/or movies being used as an inspiration for religious education courses (such as the "HUUGWARTS" program in Anchorage) and church events (such as my own church's Hogwarts Ball).

You can e-mail me either to send me a copy of the text or to obtain my postal address. (Alternately, for Jewish or UU homilies, I'd be happy to send a SASE.) Please feel free to repost or forward this request.

[I'm hoping that the paper will be accepted by an anthology and/or a conference next year. I presented a poster on Dorothy L. Sayers and J.K. Rowling at Lumos 2006, and I've preached two sermons that discuss HP fandom -- one was ad-libbed and the other is here.]

For what it's worth, my two main reasons for investigating the topic are curiosity and crankiness: I like analyzing how literature gets deployed in non-literary settings, and I am irritated at how often I encounter "religion" as a synonym for "conservative Christianity," which many people currently associate with "book banning nutcases." Thus, I'm working on this paper both for fun and because I'd like to see positive religious responses to the Harry Potter series get more press.

Any help you can provide will be much appreciated!