This weekend, whether you believe in the Harry Potter's magic or not, you're bound to run up against the fictional preteen's all-consuming power. Televisions, billboards, even your local fast-food joint are already teeming with Potter come-ons. By Saturday, reporters will be accosting blinking Potter fans outside movie theaters to record their judgments. Monday we count the box-office.
This is all the standard hype. Peculiar to Harry, however, is the smattering of stories about Christian fears about Potter and Paganism. "I will not allow my daughter to see this film because I feel it has pagan teachings," writes theblessed7 (See post #275). But rarely are we told how Wiccans and other Pagans feel about being identified with the staff at Hogwarts.
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Not all Pagans take the guilt-by-association so sedately. "I don't know which is stupider and more offensive," writes Mirror Eyes, "the idea that Wicca is ANYTHING like fantasy, make-believe magic in those books, or the idea that my religion is something that children need to be protected against." If Christians fear the specter of Satanism, say others, they should look to their own religion, not Paganism. "Wiccans don't believe in Satan. Satan is strictly a Christian boogyman," writes anniecat
The Pagans' sensitivity is perhaps understandable, given the amount of Christian
Many evangelicals, however, see themselves as as a minority equally subjected to a larger society. "There is spiritual warfare going on," wrote mumsy5 (post #126). "Those of us who are not lukewarm recognize that kids getting obsessively involved with the whole Harry Potter thing, are subjecting themselves to views and situations that fly in the face of what is good and pure. Harry's supposedly good, but he lies, cheats and steals to get what he wants. Great example."
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Not all Christians, of course, are raising alarms about Harry. "Harry doesn't need a bible," writes GodIsLove. "He already knows the main principle of God's on-going message, which says that God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him."
The most common cry on the boards, no matter what the member's faith, was: "It's just a book!" But the controversy is an important one to many readers because it concerns not just their beliefs, but their children's well-being. "Though there may be nothing harmful in the general themes of Harry Potter, it is that I see no profit in it," says one Christian (post #24). "I would much rather a Christian child read something that would at least edify their Christian spirit as entertain them solely for the purpose of entertainment's sake."
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Others put their trust in the magic of the movies, or fiction itself. "I believe that, just like you and me, [children] go to a movie for sheer entertainment (and of course the hot tamales and big popcorn), not to figure out the meaning of life," says Boyimbleu (post #321). "I know my six year old knows the difference between fact and fiction, real life and movies." "'Harry Potter' is terrific-at least for kids," amenset chimed in (post #25), "but I think there are certain adults who definitely should be prevented from reading the books."
But what will they talk about this weekend? Maybe they can get together with TristanFlame, who admits, "I have a true confession about the Harry Potter books though - LOL - and I KNOW that people will hate me for this - but, well, um, uh, er, ah, well, I found them boring. Now THAT'S evil."