More popular than Jesus a minor panic when a firecracker was set off on stage during the evening performance, which led the group to believe they were the target of gunfire. The Beatles hated the tour, partly due to the controversy and adverse reaction from Lennon's comments, and were unhappy about Epstein continuing to organise live performances that were increasingly at odds with their studio work. The controversy had also overshadowed the US release of their 1966 album "Revolver", which the band considered to be their best and most mature musical statement up to that point. Following the tour, Harrison seriously contemplated leaving the
More popular than Jesus In 1963, the Anglican Bishop of Woolwich, John A.T. Robinson, published a controversial but popular book, "Honest to God", urging the nation to reject traditional church teachings on morality and the concept of God as an "old man in the sky", and instead embrace a universal ethic of love. Bryan R. Wilson's 1966 text "Religion in Secular Society" explained that increasing secularisation led to British churches being abandoned. However, in the US, churches remained popular. Both McCartney and Harrison had been baptised in the Roman Catholic Church, but neither of them followed Christianity. At the start of Beatlemania, the group