The Devil and Harry Potter?

http://www.lifesite.net/features/harryp ... otter.html

Some Christian critics are alarmed over Harry Potter. I disagree with them on several counts, one being that Harry Potter encourages bad practices, like lying, cheating, etc.

Please read the article and tell me what you think about this though.

this has been going on since the beginning. Religion doesn't like magic.
People are stupid heads.
I bet they're just jealous that J.K is making more money then they'll ever dream to see.
But I don't read them for different reasons.

Christian critics of the Harry Potter series make broad generalizations with no real specifics. They heard 'magic' and 'flying on brooms' for the books, thought kids might try it (and really, who hasn't at least been interested in the idea of conjuring up a lasagna at two in the am?), and automatically blacklisted it. Of course, they didn't blacklist 'I Dream of Genie' or anything...because those are 'wholesome'. Or something.

TBR wrote:People are stupid heads.
I bet they're just jealous that J.K is making more money then they'll ever dream to see.

Judging by the article, I'd have to say this wasn't the case.

The article uses a lot of postmodern mumbo-jumbo to come off as 'intellectual' and 'well-read'. Boil it all down and there's nothing left but cheap connections.

And besides, why do we have to repress our natural instinct: imaginative thought?

The problem Christian fundamentalist freaks have with the series is this: it models real life. Yes, in real life you 'hate' the Other; yes, in real life, you 'blackmail' those around you to get what you want; yes, in real life you 'lie' as well. I don't see the problem.

They try to spin it off as undermining moral codes and so on and so forth with all this crap. But if that's the case: what world do they live in? The fact is: people have viewed Good as the conquer of Evil; this is far from the case. The advancement of Good (medicine, technology, etc.) is also the advancement of Evil--or, Evil is never all that far away from Good.

A fallacy with their debate is they employ the slippery-slope: Well, if we allow this, what else will happen? It's a wrong assumption that can be disastrous.

Another problem: they rely on C.S. Lewis and Tolkian for their argument, but what makes them more credible than Lovecraft and Rowling? Nothing. Their argument is correct if you accept their premise.

Finally, the authors of the article know very little about what Christianity is. If there criterion is true: then everything is anti-Christian, and, in a sense, they become paranoiacs. This is why I called them fundamentalist freaks. Christianity is the celebration of Good: nothing more, nothing less.

Honestly, I didn't really read it, I scanned it. Reading is what I do for school but if you want I'll read it...

"Much of contemporary fantasy for the young is actually closer in style to television than to literature. It overwhelms by using in print form the visceral stimuli and pace of the electric media."- the thingy

Yeah, that made sense on some level. Which made me think (off topic I think) What if Harry Potter was writted before television... would it be different?)

gah, i can't read this bloody article, i can't read anything about that stupid book(book series)

agh, but I leave with my cloing word, and some of what Brad said. Ta ta.

There are probably some mentalities that believe that imaginative thought gets in the way, like an unnecessary distraction on the road of life.

I disagree with this mentality though.

I am always extremely irritated by people (I know several) who insist that Harry Potter is evil but fully encourage the reading of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

They claim that those books are all right because Tolkien and Lewis used fantasy creatures as symbols of Christianity, and then turn around and point fingers at Harry Potter because there is magic involved. Those who cannot see any type of Christian symbolism in the Harry Potter books must not have read them, because I find it to be, at times, blatantly obvious, while at other times it takes some closer inspection.

Regardless, there idea that Harry is not a really 'good' character is stupid.

What about Shakespeare's plays, where the good is not necessarily discernible from the bad? Or Salinger's 'A Catcher in the Rye'? Or Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'? If in order to be pro-Christianity your character must never commit Evil, I can think of no book that is pro-Christianity.

In one of my books, the so called "evil" character actually symbolizes God. XD

No... but this argument really doesn't hold ground. Check this statement out:

A novel about a boy who regularly skips along a tightrope across Niagara Falls without falling is no real threat to one's child, because he instantly recognizes the absurdity of the notion. The danger is immediately perceived and the practise rejected.

If I were to read a book like that and he was able to actually go across Niagara Falls, I would want to do it. Yet, even though Harry always gets away with things, I would not want to break all the rules all the time. Nor would I be as vengeful. The analogies are not well thought out. On the plus side, he has read the books. Even so...

It really is ridiculous to think that J.K. Rowling meant any harm, especially since C.S. Lewis was one of her favorite authors of all time.

Here is Judy Blume's reply: http://www.ncac.org/cen_news/cn76harrypotter.html

Half of the people I talk to that don't like Harry Potter have never even read the book. It's really just like any other book where good fights evil. I think most people base their assumptions on what other people say and by how they THINK the book is. The people my parents are friends with say that it's bad because it gives the readers bad ideas. I very highly doubt I'm going to go out and kill someone because a book has it in there.

Harry Potter doesn't even come close to modeling true witch craft or wizardry in any sense of either word. There is no Satanism, nor Paganism. Its a story, nothing more. A story about friendship, loyalty, love, devotion, good against evil...how are these negative things? Just because it takes place in a fantasy world of witch and wizard school doesn't make it evil. I follow the series devotedly and the only character who represents evil in the true sense of the word IS the antagonist. Hmm, just like in any hero story. Nothing to get your panties in a twist over.

haha, funny galalatea. well i may as well throw in my two cents.... Mine's a story...

It was just after the second Harry Potter novel came out, and I was playing on the basketball court. My almost-neighbor (I have a ton of these) came over and we played for a while and then I asked whether or not he liked the Harry Potter books. At this point he said, I've never read them, i asked why, and he said, because harry potter has magic and magic is the devil ( you have to understand that his father is the christian preacher up the street, so that was a whoopsie). I tried to explain how Harry only used good magic, but he just kept arguing that all magic is bad, none is good. I gave up, and he left.

I just realized a few things just now from this....

1) If parents don't want their kids to do something, they shouldn't set an example of lying about their motives. It would have been just as easy to tell him, because we think that you might get ideas, not that it's because he performs magic.
2) I wonder how many disney movies there are in their household. If they own aladdin or chitty chitty bang bang, they may as well be satanists!
3) If they're so worried about the content of the books, they should FIND OUT WHAT THE CONTENT IS BEFORE THEY MAKE ACCUSATIONS.

I've come to the conclusion that this all comes down to over-protective parents. They need to just calm down!

EDIT:Maybe I should write a story where the PROtagonist uses evil magic and leave it on their stoop, heh heh. JK JK!

Woah...Snoink, I read that article a long time ago. Wonderfulness. But that has nothing to do with anything so carry on.

I find the whole "harry potter and all books that have magic in them to be evil and satanic and anti-G-d" argument purely stupid. Everything I would have said has already been said, so therefore, I will say only this:
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