Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the publisher of all "Harry Potter" books in the United Kingdom, on 30 June 1997. It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by Scholastic—the American publisher of the books—as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", after Rowling had received US$105,000 for the American rights—an unprecedented amount for a children's book by a then-unknown author. The second book, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998, and in the US on 2 June 1999. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" was then published a year later in
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series hold special liturgies every Thursday to cure those afflicted by spells or possessed by evil spirits. Pamphlets were posted throughout the city, claiming that reciting a "Harry Potter" spell "is as if you are praying to evil", and that "God hates magic." However, the Russian Orthodox apologist deacon Andrei Kuraev argued in his 2003 book "Harry Potter in the Church: Between an Anathema and a Smile" that the Harry Potter books are not dangerous. His arguments include the books' similarity with traditional fairy tales and literary classics such as the "Iliad" which no-one calls "Satanic"; the difference between the books'