We watched a documentary this week called Jesus Camp (lance called it “disturbing” in his blog post, which is a pretty good word for it), and there was random Harry Potter bashing in the middle of it. “If Harry Potter existed during Jesus’ time, he would have been executed!” is a pretty close quote. My mom also has expressed that she dislikes the Harry Potter books. I don’t think she’s read them, so i assume that someone has told her they’re not good Christian books.
Why is there this anti-Potter campaign in the fundamentalist churches? The quote above is pretty disturbing – why teach children that it is okay to execute anyone? I’ve done a little searching and here are the supposed reasons.
1. It teaches children to solve problems on their own without asking adults for help.
This is something my mom said, and i have seen it echoed in a few online resources on this topic as well. First of all, there are very wise adult witches and wizards in the Harry Potter world and it’s not entirely true that the students don’t seek guidance from them. Secondly, isn’t one of the things we should try to teach our children is how to solve problems on their own? Thirdly, isn’t much of children’s literature also guilty of this? How many children’s books are of the form “meet johnny, johnny gets involved in conflict, johnny runs to mommy to solve his problem”? Not many.
Most children’s books do have some sort of message they are imparting, and Harry Potter does, too. There are incredible lessons of friendship, loyalty, duty and trust. And good always triumphs over evil.
2. It gives children detailed instructions on how to do magic.
This is just riddikulus. Yes, i suppose there are a few incantations given, but they are silly. And besides, all the children in OUR world are muggles. Parents who read the books with their children could explain that.
3. It breeds an interest in the occult.
And? Children are like sponges – they are interested in anything they encounter. Mom & Dad telling them “don’t touch that” doesn’t work past the age of 6 or 7. Why do so many people believe we can protect our children by keeping them ignorant?
There is an occult subculture that believes in the supernatural. Harry Potter does not resemble them in the slightest.
4. Magic is bad.
My brothers were into Magic: The Gathering when they were younger. It’s a card game that as i understand it has different colors of magic. I don’t know much about it, but i recall my parents discouraging my brothers from playing it. They relented and allowed it as long as my brothers did not play with Black Magic.
So, killing an opponent in a make-believe game using your Black Magic cards is Not Okay, but you’ll allow your kids to watch violent movies like Terminator, Predator, and scores of other movies where real people are killed with real live weapons, like guns.
So, just to be clear, Harry Potter is teaching kids how to use Dark Magic, which they’ll never actually be able to do. And Harry Potter is not okay. But other movies that show people killing other people with guns are fine. Even though they are essentially teaching kids how to use guns, which they could actually obtain in their life.
My brothers and i were also discouraged from playing Dungeons and Dragons and from reading Lord of the Rings.
Frankly, i view that as simply discouraging imagination.
What is magic? What about The Incredibles? What are superpowers, if not magic? What about Cinderella, that favorite children’s story? Why is that magic okay, but Harry Potter’s magic is not? Like The Incredibles, the characters in Harry Potter are born with abilities and they have learned to control them and are trying to save the world. We embrace superheroes like Superman and the Incredibles, but not Harry Potter.
Conclusion – i know a vast majority of people love Harry Potter, and i’ll be preaching to the choir for the most part. I just think it’s utterly riddikulus that any group would be so threatened by a figment of imagination.
Tags: books, movies, religion
