Both your story and the article seem quite controversial, and I'm not entirely sure why. For your story, I've noticed there us a certain sort of atheist that becomes offended of even a ghost story is told with too much sincerity. It reminds me of conservative Christians denouncing harry Potter for supporting witchcraft. So that might be it. But there is also the urban vs rural thing. People can't seem to accept that some people like living differently than they choose to.