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Our magic kingdom

The supernatural is as British as fish and chips

Sarah Churchwell

Wednesday, 29th August 2007

We’re all accustomed to stories about credulous Americans; as an American living in Britain I am constantly asked to defend the 43 per cent of my compatriots who believe in creationism.

We’re all accustomed to stories about credulous Americans; as an American living in Britain I am constantly asked to defend the 43 per cent of my compatriots who believe in creationism. Naturally, I can’t begin to; they’re the same people who voted for Bush, after all, which I find a far more mind-boggling proposition. But before British readers get too cocky, let it also be remembered that last year a poll showed that 22 per cent of Britons believe in creationism; 43 per cent believe in telepathy and 36 per cent believe in ghosts. This pales, to be sure, against the 79 per cent of Americans who evidently believe in angels, but taken together these statistics suggest not only the persistence of supposedly dying forms of faith, but also a culture that dreams of power and of solace.

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