I work in an office full of people eagerly devouring their freshly printed copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. These are perfectly reasonable adults, for the most part, and they've gone completley bonkers. I can't remember the last time something had so many people so excited.
At the same time I am witnessing Potter-mania rage through the adult ranks, I keep seeing articles about the spiritual merits of the series and the implications on children. What's really interesting, and I think very telling, is that some of these articles slam the Potter series for being overtly satanic and dangerous while others actually compare J.K. Rowling to C.S. Lewis.
I have not read any of the books or seen any of the movies, so I can't really comment on the validity of relating the stories to Christianity. But I thought you guys might have some insight.
You all have kids or work with kids and I wanted to know if you've read the books and/or would you let your own kids read them?
Use the comments to respond.
6 comments:
Right on. People get from it what they want. Whatever they need to push their agendas.
Is that Jesus or a burn mark on your grilled cheese sandwich? Yes, you can take it however you want. But I think one of the reasons people are all riled up because HP takes place in the modern world, not in a mythical past like Lord of the Rings or in a parallel world like the Chronicles of Narnia.
It could also be because people like to take anything that mentions magic in any form or fashion and villify it as if it's insulting them personally. If it takes a novel to shake your faith you probably never had much to begin with.
Actualy, our minister gave a sermon on The Harry Potter Books a few years ago. There was considerable controversy back then as well. His position was that if an individual wanted to read the book they should do so basing their opinion on their own beliefs and not what the "rumors" were. I myslef would not be opposed for my children to read this series at all, especially since they are grown!
testing 123
Dude, what are you testing?
When my kids are old enough to read I will have no problem letting them read HP. If the author's intent was to proselytize for the Wicca movement then I would have a problem. But, since she says it is all make believe then I think of it like I think of Lord of the Rings or any other make believe story with magic and wizards and the like. I wonder if anyone has been turned on to Wicca because of Harry Potter? It's probably the same number that converted because of the Ouija Board.
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