Originally Posted by
Xtian
I would not paint all fundelmentalist Christians with the same brush, I was merely giving a example, this caused my mother a lot of trouble at school. The problem grew due to the objections of a Jehovah's Witness.
When the books first came out many groups here is an article I took from an anti-censorship website.
Back to School with the Religious Right
Harry Potter
During the last school year, right-wing groups sought to remove books from the Harry Potter series from schools across the nation by alleging that they are luring students into witchcraft and the occult. On a December 2001 700 Club, host Pat Robertson followed up an interview with an anti-Harry Potter activist by warning that God will forsake nations that tolerate witchcraft. Robertson advised his audience that the Bible said that, "there's certain things that he says that is going to cause the Lord, or the land, to vomit you out. At the head of the list is witchcraft….Now we're welcoming this and teaching our children. And what we're doing is asking for the wrath of God to come on this country….And if there's ever a time we need God's blessing it's now. We don't need to be bringing in heathen, pagan practices to the United States of America."
(XTIAN NOTE: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WITCHCRAFT, in this form, There is Wicca but this is not the same thing. No where in the Harry Potter books is Wicca mentioned, so what is Robertson so worried about. Maybe we should be scared of SANTA CLAUS because is shift the letters around SANTA becomes SATAN. We should always be afraid of things we have no concept of, I mean really, I know many Wiccans and not one can fly on a broom or play quittich for that matter)
Several national religious right organizations, like Concerned Women for America, the Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association, and Focus on the Family, have warned their supporters against the dangers of the Harry Potter books. And across the country, parents and religious groups worked to try to get Harry Potter books removed from local schools.
In York, Pennsylvania, a parent, along with a local pastor and elementary school teacher, urged the Eastern York School District to ban the Potter series from district schools. The parent, Deb DiEugenio, complained that the Potter books were "against my daughter's constitution, it's evil, it's witchcraft. I'm not paying taxes to teach my child witchcraft." Tony Leanza, who is a pastor at the New Wine Christian Center as well as a local elementary school teacher, attempted to argue that "Wicca is a religion" and thus the Potter books should be banned because they violate the separation of church and state. The school board eventually voted 7-2 to allow teachers to continue to use the Potter series, provided that students first received a parent's permission.
(Where in the books are the tenets Wicca taught? Oh, right, "do harm to none." Isn't that the same as "treat others the way you be treated"? Is the bible teaching the same thing as Wicca.)
In July 2002, parents in Cromwell, Connecticut sought to have the Potter books, along with Newbery award-winning book The Witch of Blackbird Pond, removed from a local middle school because they supposedly expose children to spells and witchcraft and provide a negative portrayal of Christianity. Dr. J Michael Bates, a pastor in the Emmanuel Baptist Church, urged taxpayers to protest such books, even if they do not have children in the school system. "The public school needs to know that there are people out there who resent this stuff," Bates said. The objectors plan to petition the school board at an upcoming meeting.
(I would love for just one person to show me where these books insult Christianity?)
These sorts of attacks on the Potter series were not isolated incidents. Right-wing groups in cities around the country attacked the series. In Florida, Kansas, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Maine and California, individuals and organizations attempted to keep Harry Potter out of the reach of children.
Perhaps the most intense attack on the Potter books came from the Christ Community Church in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where an actual book burning was held on Dec. 30, 2001. Hundreds turned out to join Pastor Jack Brock's "holy bonfire," where they smashed CDs, videos and records with a baseball bat and burned magazines and books, including the Harry Potter books, which Brock called "a masterpiece of satanic deception."
WHat a bunch of nonsense, I have a better term but I believe that would violate a language code. Just for the record however, I am not a Christian, I am not Wicca, I support the rights of everyone to practice what ever religion they choose, and even though the belief of any particular religion goes against much of what I beleive in, "Religion is the OPIUM of the Masses" I will fight for that right until the practice of any religion infringes on my right to believe in nothing.
Just a correction though, CS Lewis was a strict Catholic from Belfast and JRR Tolkien living in Great Britian was a non-believer until he converted to Catholicism because of the influence from his friend CS Lewis. The Christian mythology is easily seen in Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan sacrifices himself for the sake of a traitor. The Christian mythos can also be seen in Tolkien but it is hidden in allegory.
But back to the topic, I just saw a preview of new Potter movie, I loved it even though it is differant from the others, it is very dark but I am sure as last book is the darkest and Rowling did say she was killing off a major character, odds are on Harry himself to get killed.
But other questions arise: When Padfoot stepped into the curtian did he die or go into a differant deminsion, after all he would have appeared as a ghost like Nearly Headless Nick, the victim of a violent death? What of Dumbledore is he really dead, could he not have the magical powers to survive, (Ben Kenobi transcended death) as did Myrtle, The Bloody Baron etc.?
I can't wait the next few weeks until the last comes out. What will Rowlings write next? Or will she follow Anne Rice into vampyres, religion, werewolves etc.?
Trust me I loved the movie. The book should be great
