| The objections raised by some fundamentalist | | | | that young readers are incapable of divining meaning |
| Christians to the Harry Potter books continue to make | | | | and truth beyond the trappings of the tale. They get |
| the news. | | | | hung up on the trappings themselves rather than probe |
| The Christian attacks on the Potter series aren't an | | | | the deeper meaning of the stories. When they do look |
| attack on witchcraft and magic, so much as an attack | | | | a little deeper, they often misconstrue the author's |
| on the imagination and freedom of expression - and | | | | intent and try to spin the plot as evidence of literary |
| by extension an attack on literature. The Harry Potter | | | | evil doing. Fortunately, a few leading voices in the |
| books aren't 'How To' manuals on witchcraft, nor is the | | | | evangelical community have had the good sense to |
| author, J.K. Rowling, advocating the practice of | | | | take a more objective view of the content, and have |
| witchcraft. | | | | resisted the temptation to try and subvert a fictional |
| The themes in the Harry Potter stories pit the good | | | | fantasy in order to smoke out the devil. |
| against the dark side. Magical themes happen to be an | | | | In attempting to ban the Harry books or in other ways |
| effective way to play out the drama in a manner that | | | | suppress them, the detractors ironically succeed in |
| is engaging, especially for younger readers. | | | | adding to their allure and power. When something is |
| Professor Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster, is | | | | 'forbidden' it becomes a lot more tempting. When the |
| clearly the personification of good and urges Harry to | | | | D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley's Lover was |
| use the power of love when dealing with the dark side | | | | banned, it did more for the sale of the book than any |
| personified by Lord Voldemart. On one level the Potter | | | | promotional campaign could ever have done. The |
| books are morality tales that happen to take place in a | | | | same went for Ulysses by the great Irish writer James |
| make-believe world that is magical - but then a lot of | | | | Joyce. |
| literature contains magical themes, including books by | | | | Moreover when you consider the amount of material |
| famous Christian authors. | | | | on magic and witchcraft that is freely available in book |
| C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein are examples of Christian | | | | stores these days, on the internet, in magazines, via |
| authors who created magical worlds with plots that at | | | | certain video games or just by word-of-mouth - it |
| root are moral and even Christian in philosophical intent. | | | | makes it almost absurd to try and suppress Harry |
| The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by Lewis | | | | Potter books. |
| creates an intermediary zone between the real and | | | | If Harry Potter gets banned in the bailiwicks of the |
| imaginary worlds using a prop - the magical wardrobe. | | | | offended - what's next on the list? Grimm's Fairy |
| Enchantment and make-believe allow the 'other world' | | | | Tales? Rupert the Bear? Teletubbies? We live in a |
| beyond the wardrobe to become a possibility. Similarly | | | | society in which diversity of opinion is an integral part |
| Tolkein in Lord of the Rings invokes the powers of | | | | of our fundamental freedoms. People who for |
| wizardry and magic. But it is used as a device to | | | | personal or religious reasons attempt to create a chill |
| enable characters and events that couldn't feasibly | | | | by pushing for a ban of material as innocuous as Harry |
| exist in the 'ordinary' world. This doesn't mean that | | | | Potter, cater to a mean spirited approach that |
| either Tolkein or Lewis were promoting magic or | | | | diminishes us all. Objectors can refuse to buy the |
| attempting to 'corrupt' the minds of young readers. | | | | books or have them in their home, and that's as far as |
| The problem with the criticism coming from a section | | | | it should reasonably go. |
| of the evangelical community is that their interpretation | | | | We are talking about tales for young readers after all - |
| of the books is much too literal. They seem to think | | | | not Anton La Vey's Satanic Bible. |