It depends on what you mean by witchcraft. Pre-Christian/pagan themes and practices are a major element of Slaine from Horned God on, and Pat Mills intended to do a series entitled Witchlands at Epic that I don't think ever materialized. James Robinson's Witchcraft minis aren't exactly about the practice so much as the "Sandman" version of it, but there's enough folklore in there to count, I'd say.

Depends on how we're meaning "pushing" here. i've loved some religious or spiritually themed comics, from Hellblazer and Preacher to The Invisibles and that Batgirl story where she and Robin beat up Benedict Arnold's ghost, the Devil, and the Devil's brides. Masamune does some wonderful things with philosophy, spirituality, and cosmogony in Orion and later Ghost in the Shell 2 that is fascinating, exciting, sometimes really funny, even if you don't buy into the religion or philosophical structures he's using. Tales of the Buddha Before He Was Englishtened is amazing.

Religious themes are fine (Testament for example), but stuff like Stories from the Bible above I pass by. Religion's not for me.

I wish there was more religion in comics, purely because it's important to a substantial percentage of people (ten percent? fifty percent?). Ignoring it, or treating it as a minor point, makes comics unrealistic. I feel exactly the same way about politics. I get the reasons: writers don't want to offend people, but an unwillingness to embrace major themes makes for bland comics. So does a desire to offend - they are both extremes of bad writing.

I am religious, though not conventionally: I no longer attend any church, and I don't believe in the supernatural. Religion has dominated my life since childhood, and I just don't recognise the religion I see in comics. Religious folk and comic writers generally seem at opposite poles, and I think that narrows the views of both.

Take the examples above: "Four Horsemen" is one of Jack Chick's famous tracts. These are famous, and I find them fascinating and, in their own way, very well done. But they are extremes of polemic. Rabid evangelism is only a small part of religion. The average person in the pews does not see the world that way, or if they do, they usually haven't thought it through in any depth. (Same goes for extreme political views.) Similarly, the illustrated Bible is clearly made by outsiders to comics: it's like "the kids are reading these awful comics, let's give them something worthwhile".

At the other extreme, religion seems alien to most comic producers: we have Nightcrawler occasionally referring to faith, but it's like the religion in The Exorcist: it's not religion as most people experience it.

My point is that religion in comics is usually unrepresentative. To most believers, religion is a social thing: it is how you meet friends, it's a framework for making sense of the world. Most believers are not theologians, not rabid evangelicals, and not earnest preachers: they are just ordinary people who find that, usually for social reasons, a church meets some of their needs. A realistic comic would have maybe a quarter of the people attending social activities with their church friends: we just never see that.

Ironically, the only mainstream entertainment that gets religion right (in my view) are the Simpsons and South Park. Ned Flanders may be an absurd, and most people would feel uncomfortable in his house, but he's also the nicest guy in Springfield. And Homer actually attends a church, while it has no effect on him (or the majority of attendees), simply because Marge does. That's pretty common. And while the South Park episode on Mormonism portrayed it as "dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb" they also make clear that people with dumb views can actually be nice guys with nice families: it works for them. Parker and Stone's other famous project, the Book of Mormon musical, has the same message. Personally I'd also like to see philosophers of religion more represented in comics, to give a serious intellectual view, but that's probably asking too much

I see religion as a variant on politics: it isn't about beliefs, it's about belonging to a tribe. And I think that's why writers usually steer clear of both: religion and politics are dominated by in-group out-group feelings, and it's super easy to offend people. Would you like your favourite superhero as much if you found his politics were the opposite of yours? But in the hands of a good writer we can still like someone who differs from us: it makes their story richer, more interesting. it makes them a gateway to a more interesting world.

For me the most interesting people are those who have opposite views to mine, but they can share them intelligently and with compassion. For example, I generally identify with liberals on most issues, but as someone who loves economics I love reading essays by "right wingers" like Peter Hitchens. I can see why Stephen Fry considers him a miserable turd, but I prefer Hitchens to Fry. Fry is very clever and very likeable, but ultimately (to me) vacuous: by his own admission he avoids hard topics. Occasionally he will have a strong opinion on some hot button issue (especially gay right, obviously) but mostly he just entertains with his wit. Hitchens on the other hand never met a topic he didn't have a strong opinion on, and at least he tries. I like that. If nothing else it creates intellectual conflict, and isn't that the bedrock of interesting writing? On the other extreme I also like the writing of Jewish writer Lionel Blue. He used to give regular Radio 4 talks full of homespun wisdom. He is such a bland pollyanna that my first reaction is to turn off the radio when I hear his voice. Yet the fact is that his blandness and desire to be nice is a reflection of a very large part of humanity, and the world is a much better place because of it. I want I find that most comics try to be like Fry: they want to look smart (and often they are); they occasionally making a stand on some hot button issue, but generally they avoid controversy, yet without going all the way and being gentle or curious.

I want my comics to contain the full range of experience and people. I do want smart ass stuff, but I also want meaty stuff and I also want gentle stuff. I want it all.

Like Scott Harris, I find things like Jack Chick's comics hysterical; they're so extreme in their bigoted and idiotic message that it's hard to take them seriously. Then again, perhaps I'd be more upset about them if I belonged to groups he and his rabid brethren so clearly hate. Catholics, Moslems, Jews (or homosexuals, for that matter) might not find his stuff half so amusing.

Tolworthy points out something very important when he says that religion, like politics, is about belonging to a tribe. They are perforce a delicate subject because a writer wants to interest all readers, not cater exclusively to the interests and beliefs of a few. Those who want to use the subject without preaching can however produce great material, because both religion and politics elicit passionate responses. One of my favorite comic-book series, The Decalogue, is about a (fictional) document supposedly left by the prophet Muhammad; there is naturally a good measure of religion in there.

Things like Stories from the Bible are usually a lot of fun; these tales, after all, belong to the classical literary corpus of western civilization. (Whether they're always well-made is another thing).