Santa's Little Helper reason he stopped performing as Santa's Little Helper was because "The producers thought... 'Hmmm, Dan barks pretty good, and we are already paying him and he seems to like doing the dog thing... why do we need to pay Welker who comes in here, spends less than an hour, eats all the doughnuts, refuses to come to rehearsals... let's just give the damn dog to Dan!'" Santa's Little Helper has become a well-known dog because of his appearances in the series. A writer for "The Grand Rapids Press" wrote in 2002 that "we all know who Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa
Religion in The Simpsons praying. William Romanowski, author of the book "Pop Culture Wars: Religion and the Role of Entertainment in American Life", noted that ""The Simpsons" is not dismissive of faith, but treats religion as an integral part of American life. Episodes that I’ve seen are not so much irreverent toward religion, but poke fun at American attitudes and practices." One episode that heavily features religion is "Bart Sells His Soul" (1995). While discussing "The Simpsons" treatment of religion in his "Drawn to Television" book, M. Keith Booker cites a scene from the episode where Milhouse asks Bart what religions have to gain