When I was reading the article for the post below I found this one written by an anti-Harry Potter Christian.
This is what struck me first:
- When I was a witch, I performed rituals. I evoked spirits. I called entities. I cast spells, burned candles, concocted brews. The only thing I didn’t do was fly on a broom, but I probably would have figured it out if given time.
Wow! If you read the 100 things about me page there is a comment that I would like to learn to fly on a broom. I wonder if she’d teach me? I’d sell the technology needed to reverse gravity and make millions too.
Then there is a comparison to that list and what happens in Harry Potter, complete with page numbers in case you want to read the “bad stuff” yourself.
- Though it’s all dressed up as sweetness and light, the first Harry Potter book has rituals (for example, the Sorting Ceremony, pp. 117-122); spells (Hermione casts the full Body-Bind spell on Neville, p. 273); spirits and other non-human entities (Voldemort inhabits Quirrell’s body, pp. 293-295, and the myriad ghosts of Hogwarts); candles (thousands floating above the tables at Hogwarts, p. 116); and brews (Professor Snape’s potions class, pp. 136-139).
Ok, let me try. The Catholic Church has rituals (mass), spells (anointing with oil), spirits and other non-human entities (angels and demons), candles (lots of ’em), and brews (monks used to brew beer – ok, that one’s weak). Can we conclude that the Catholic Church that the author of the article attends is evil?
She does conclude that maybe Harry Potter isn’t an express to trip to hell for everyone.
- Not everyone who reads Harry Potter will be harmed spiritually. While I do see danger in the books stimulating an interest in the occult, I’m the least worried about children who are protected by the sacraments….
Protected by the sacraments? Smacks of magic to me.
I do have friends who won’t read the books for these reasons. I’ve always been entertained by Christians who see a demon beind every tree because I grew up a church with lots of them. I just wish they were so focused on Christianity’s message to help the poor and spread justice that they were too busy for this kind of stuff.
Okay people, let’s get real. People are reading sin in to these books. They’re F-I-C-T-I-O-N. And J. K. Rowling knows that not all her readers are Christian. *Gasp* Not everyone is a Christian! If you MUST go on about HP, then don’t bother the rest of the world. It gets tiresome. JK doesn’t have God in her books, but if you want to look for God, than:
1. Maybe God is behind the magic.
2. In the end, Good will always prevail, although there will be sacrifices. Isn’t that the idea of the Bible?
Now, I’m not a Christian (again, gasp!) but I believe in God. I believe in the idea of a being higher than us who will reward and punish as he sees fit. I don’t think he meddles in our lives. I think he watches, see what choices we make, and judges us accordingly. That is the idea I see in HP.
While there’s nothing wrong with a little discretion, I feel quite offended when I read what my fellow Christians have written about a series I love almost as dearly as I love my favorite book of all time, “Jane Eyre.” I beg to differ to anyone who says one can’t find God in Harry Potter (though I also fail to see why people have to over-analyze). Rowling directly quotes scripture! I think that not making her religious inclinations overtly apparent was a good move on her part. How else could the series have become a phenomenon of major proportions? She conveys Christian messages to millions of non-Christians without effort. Last time I looked, Bible-believing Christians like myself advocated friendship, love, justice, mercy, and acceptance. By the way, to the guy who says that Harry and Jesus are both ficitonal, please stop spouting atheist propaganda. You might be believable if Jesus wasn’t known from countless sources other than the Bible. Go do some research, then come back and contribute something meaningful to the conversation. And to the people who say the Bible advocates murder, genocide, etc…you are as bad as the people who take parts of Harry Potter and criticize the books without looking at the entire context. Go read the gospels and come back with a meaningful contribution. P.S. I love, love, love Harry Potter!
HARRY POTTER ES LO MEJOIR DEL MUNDO, INVESILES
!!
ASI Q LOS COMENTARIOS SE LOS PUEDEN METER BIEN EN EL MEDIO DEL CULO, SI ES Q LES ENTRAN
PAJERON IMNSSERVIBLES DE MIERDA
ESTUPODOS MAL NACIDOS
This is all F-I-C-T-I-O-N. Most children with the maturity level required to read these books are not stupid enough to truly believe in Harry’s world. Their obsession with it is on par with other childrens’ obsession with the world of Narnia. They will play around with it, but they know it isn’t real.
As to the idea of these books being “gateways” to the occult, I believe that anyone assuming that the occult is ANYTHING like Harry’s world will be in for a nasty and off-putting surprise.
I tried to make the transition, and in a real setting, it just doesn’t work. You just can’t go from Hogwart’s to “magick.”
those people who don’t read HP it’s your loss. & trust me it’s a HUGE one. don’t foist your beliefs on other people by banning kids or anyone else from reading it. it’s as nuts as the witch hunts, the Nazis and the september 11th murderers.. you fall into their sorry category ‘coz it’s in one sense you are doing what they did. try to destroy anything you don’t agree with and is presumably against your beliefs…
harry potter is just a book. its fictional. calm down jesus freaks.
i love harry potter it is a story for all ages. and watching it high is an awsome experience as well i can not see why people would demonize this story if anything i would demonize the bible because it advocate murder,slavery,genocide,torture and other things that the harry potter books are against and the author is a christain so what is the big deal? why can’t we have imagination anymore why can’t we let our kids have an imagination instead of filling there heads with lies and fear let kids be kids.
I like reading harry potter, its the best! I wish I could go to hogwarts. I would be in griffindor!
I like reading harry potter, its the best!
What I dont understand is that we all agree on likeing the book, so why do we sit around and pat eachother on the backs when we should be openly expressing our feelings towards are beloved friend harry potter. Laura Mallory and Anne Feaster should Have a fight of exponential praportions not only that but we as HP fans should be out spoken about it and not hide it.
Long live harry potter… and all those who seek freedom from the tyranny of fanatics
What I dont understand is that we all agree on likeing the book, so why do we sit around and pat eachother on the backs when we should be openly expressing our feelings towards are beloved friend harry potter. Laura Mallory and Anne Feaster should Have a fight of exponential praportions not only that but we as HP fans should be out spoken about it and not hide it.
Long live harry potter… and all those who seek freedom from the tyranny of fanatics
What I dont understand is that we all agree on likeing the book, so why do we sit around and pat eachother on the backs when we should be openly expressing our feelings towards are beloved friend harry potter. Laura Mallory and Anne Feaster should Have a fight of exponential praportions not only that but we as HP fans should be out spoken about it and not hide it.
Long live harry potter… and all those who seek freedom from the tyranny of fanatics
Glamour Photography
hey great stuff
LOL. Another crazy anti-HP and another crazy pro-HP. You are taking it too seriously 🙂
You need to calm down, it’s just a book…
Hi! 🙂
I found your addy on a site after googling either “anti harry potter” or “what’s wrong with Harry Potter”
If yo want to cotact me, please do so at [email protected]
While I do agree that Harry Potter, which I’ve heard referred to as “Today’s Dungeons And Dragons,” could lead a kid into witchctraft and I’m as much against witchcraft as you are, I have to admit I do wonder how many have *actually* been lead into witchcraft by reading all or part of a book or seeing all or part of a movie versus how many have read all or part of a book or have seen all or part of a movie?
If it helps, out of my own curiosity, I once e-mailed the owners of several witchcraft websites asking “How much of Harry Potter is actual witchcraft” and the cosensus is “Nothing in Harry Potter is actual witchcraft and if it were, the flying cars & brooms, magic wands, etc., would be considered ‘show magic’ which is useless.”
All that aside, what about stories like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty And The Beast which contain what could be considered witchcraft? Why are people jumping all over Harry Potter and not those stories? What about author Philip Pullman’s “Dark Trilogy” in which the objective of main characters, according to what I’m told, is trying to kill Jehovah? Why aren’t people raising a fuss about that?
Moonbarker Osbourne
“Hop on board let the wind carry you around!…No one is safe! No stone is left unturned! And we won’t stop ’till somebody get burned!”
Petra – Witch Hunt
I’m a Christian, and I’m also a Harry Potter fan as well. I’m 23 years old. I’m old enough to tell if Harry Potter is ‘evil’ as many people say.
Plus, I love to read and i love the Harry Potter books because they
take you to another world. I like the stories, the characters and the message behind Harry Potter. i would know better to read a Harry Potter book and be compeled to want to practice witchcraft just becasue I read a Harry Potter book. I don’t see anything wrong with
Harry Potter. some people think it’s evil and lures children to want to do witchcraft, but that’s just their opinion. I, for one do not think that Harry Potter is evil and I’m also a big fan of J.K. Rowling!
Ex-witch,
you are horribly retarded
The greatest aspect of Christianity is that it is completely your choice. Jesus Christ gave us the choice whether to believe in him or or not to. To read Harry Potter is a choice. How you perceive it is something else entirely. If you embrace witchcraft and sorcery as something that is acceptable and fun, then that is your belief and your choice. I believe however, that morality should be considered at some point. Just because these books get kid’s, teens, and adults to read doesn’t necessarily mean that it is good for them. Would you say the same if it were a porn book? or would that also be good because it gets them to read. Reading is good . But not everything should be read simply because people like reading it. Not everything is good in this world. Evil has many faces. And it can be found in the most innocent of places. But, as I said, it is your choice after all. God does not force you to do anything. The actions in life will echo in eternity. To a true Christian, that is simply the truth. No guilt intended.
I dont understand why these anti HP people are against these amazing books. What is wrong with teaching our kids to have imaginations? Isn’t that the whole point of reading books? If these people would as much time into real world issues as they do trying so hard to ban/burn these books we would all be living in a better place. Or maybe they should read the books and learn that the morals that come from these books are the same they try and teach thier own children: friendship, love, loyalty, faith. I think god is a bit more worried about actual sinners then Harry Potter readers.
Harry Potter and other Occult based stories give the world a desenitation to the Occult. They show magick as something that can be good, thus justifying the practice of it. While Rowling does not explicitly promote the occult she sure does a good job painting that picture that there’s nothing wrong with meedling with it. The reality is that the rituals of the Harry Potter are not done with God involved. There is only self. Christian “magick” as some have referred here is different in that anything miraculous that happens does not happen because of the person healing or blessing someone. It happens because God works through that person to bring the blessing. In Harry Potter, and other magick books, the power never comes from a higher source or God, it comes from a natural ability found inside the person. The individual becomes God. Harry teaches us that we have the power to do magick and that we don’t need God to help us with our issues. THAT is the REAL PROBLEM with HARRY.
I am a christian. I think it has a good meaning. Harry Potter is Good and wins over Evil. God wins over the Devil. (see the comparison). I believe that Jesus did die for me and I love him for that. I don’t think God is going to send me to hell for “Eternal Damnation” just because I saw a Harry Potter film or two and actually liked it.
I understand why so many Christians feel the way they do but I feel that god in no way would want someone to give up something they like to read because it contains magic or mythical creatures. People like to believe in things that arent real, thats what makes children so innocent. They still believe in things that aren’t there or are mythical. If everyone were this innocent there would be no war, no destruction, because fairytales tell us things should never be full of hatred. But, as our children get older they are taught that these things aren’t real, forcing them to give up their innocence to make way for disapointment. So many children cry when they find out Santa Clause is a lie because he was always what they looked forward to. He is what made them want, emphasis on want, to be good. Why crush them after telling them all their lives these things exist? Why not make them miserable from the begining? I feel sorry for those children who are disappointed when they find out Santa and the Easter Bunny are a lie. I am 15 years old and still believe that this isn’t the only world, that some thiings we think are fantasy do exist. With genetics evolving mythical creatures won’t be mythical for very long. So why not ban genetics research? Someone is going to make a new creature on day, but the very research that person will use will end up saving many lives and improving humanity.
It is your choice what you do in life, but don’t raise your kids just to disappoint them in the end.
if people belive that Harry Potter is evil, who do they see as the “good guys” in the books?
Harry- no; uses magic (to save lives!)
Voldemort- well, he is trying to “get rid of” a bunch of wizards/whitches, but he uses magic and kills people, so no
the dursleys- they hate magic, dont do it, and tried to save harry by “beating the magic out of him”, so yes the tryanical, abusive, hypocritical, minor charecter bullies are obviously the good guys in this series. makes perfect sence. so either harry is good, the dursleys are good, or everybody in this series is evil. stop kidding your selfs, and read the series before you burn and bann it. it is a great piece of literiture and desurves to be treated as such.
And about what “Andy” said, a few posts up:
“What I don’t get is that Christians can’t see the connection. What does Harry Potter and Jesus have in common? Answer – They are both fictional characters.”
There are about 24,000 documents/manuscripts/scrolls describing Jesus and Christianity. There is more proof for the Bible then ANY work of literature. For example, there is somewhere around 700-900 documents about the author Homer. (He wrote the Oddessy) I am not saying Homer is wrong or anything but i would rather trust a book that has over 24,000 recorded documents then one that has less then 1000.
I am a Christian and I love God.
Harry potter book are just a book and are pure fun.
When you read books in school like To kill a mockingbird or Oedipus Rex, TKAMB has to do with racial issues and in oedipus rex, having a kid with your own mother; kids are now reading these as early as 7th grade. If you can learn to read these, learn from it and go on to other more questionable books, why not Harry Potter.
And yes i am a hardcore christian, God has worked in my life in many ways. To me, he is more real then me getting hit by a bus. If we are grown Christians and mature enough to handle bigger things, why do people thing harry potter is so bad?
You have to be mature enough to say this is just a book. I dont see how some people say WOWOWOWW HARRY POTTER IS BAD, YOUR GOING TO HELL IF YOU READ THIS. One, you are not. Two, they need to grow up. Three, if you are there parents, talk to them about witchcraft if you are concerned and tell them the bads about it, but dont go saying harry potter is evil. It is a wonderful piece of literature. A grow christian should be mature enough to read this if they can read other things and just let it slide.
So answer me this…if I let my child read David Copperfield, will he become a runaway? If I let him read the Diary of Anne Frank, will he become Jewish? Or all the Bible thumpers, if he reads the story of Joseph, will he become a murderer? How about if my kid reads about Noah, will he become an alchoholic?
Fact- Joseph was a murder
Fact- Noah was a drunk
According to this logic, if you read any story, fiction or non-fiction, you become like themain character. When books like Mien Kamph are readily available to elementary schools, how do these people get off saying HP is evil. Read a couple Grimm Fairy Tales, and then come back.
What I don’t get is that Christians can’t see the connection. What does Harry Potter and Jesus have in common? Answer – They are both fictional characters.
Well, it is good to see all you Christians haven’t totally lost your minds.
To those who claim HP is evil and magic is real I dare you to prove it. Satanists and Wiccans can’t do magic, they are full of it.
love the books and the movies, but fanfiction is my obsetion of choice!
Yes if they read the books then they would be instantly hooked!!
Well I am a Christian who loves Jesus and yet I am obsessed with anything to do with Harry Potter.
H/P isnt bad, if anything Harry is GOOD fightinng evil.
These people seriously need to understand that God isnt going to be fussed if we enjoy reading one of the best peices of literature around.
I bet if these anti H/P people actually read the books they would love them right away!
I love Harry-potter stories…. He is a legend in story world… Very entertaining and creativite thinking stories…
Don Lapre Jones
[email protected]
http://www.nanoosenativeplants.org
Why do you like Harry Potter? What is it that made you become a fan of the books/movies? When and how did you become a fan? Share your stories with us!
Personally, I've been a “Harry Potter” fan for a few years, having first discovered 'Philosopher's Stones' at the tender age of 10. I became a real fanatic
at 12 when I read 'Prisoner of Azkaban' and have been truly Potty ever since! Now I'm nearly 19 years old and eagerly awaiting/dreading the release of book
7!
I heard a rumor that Disney might be making a Harry Potter theme park? I imagine that it would do very well for a while, but in the long run it would flop.
These people are insane. They believe that it’s their way or nothing. I’ve been corresponding with Laura Mallory and Anne Feaster who are attempting to have Harry Potter banned from all Georgia (USA) public schools… I am a conservative Catholic and I love Harry Potter. Your blog entry makes an excellent point! BRAVO!!
I am at a loss. My step-daughter is forbidden to watch Harry Potter movies, spongebob squarepants but she is allowed to watch Nanny mcphee, and other childrens movies. Her mother is one of those hypocritical religious woman who has two children out of wedlock and the second one was after she was ‘born-again” She FREAKED out when she learned we let her watch the movies and read us the riot act. WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s a really good comparison you’ve made there – it’s a case of ‘Our rituals are okay. Other rituals are bad’. :).
A Christian vicar in the UK was so concerned about ‘inviting in the forces of darkness’ that he had a Harry Potter fancy dress party banned at the school of which he was a governor. (side issue: shouldn’t religion, all religions, be banned now and forever from ties with schools? faith based schools are a terrible idea and their numbers, both Christian and Muslim, are rising hugely in the UK.)
Now this Vicar, who believes in witchcraft… what exactly sets him apart from the family of African origin who are currently undergoing a trial in the UK because their witchdoctor told them their 8 year old daughter was a witch and they beat her, abused her in a vile manner, and nearly drowned her to ”drive the devil out’?
I guess our Vicar will continue to be revered as a pillar of the community even though he is as barking mad as someone who believes in witchdoctors.
one other comment, I just read the essay you referred to and she mentions C.S. Lewis’ books as the same type of fiction. If she actually read them and knew C.S. Lewis, she would know that the Chronicle books are actually Chrisitan stories.
I have wondered about my fellow Christians “concern” over what amounts to a fictional book. I mean, if they only saw whats in The Wizard of Oz books and the Lord of the Rings books! At the same time, I must point out that chairty is only one part of the Chrisitian message and not the central one.
I’m a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ died for me. But I read HP novels and LOVE the movies. My kids read the novels, too. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with reading them.
I also read PlasticMan comics, but I don’t think my arm will stretch around the corner.
Be honest. If you could reverse gravity and fly on a broom you wouldn’t make millions…you’d make BILLIONS!