[X] My Assistant

[iconoclasticGent...]

Harry Potter is one of the biggest controversial topics in literature. There are many different opinions on the magical world, and how it relates to our world.

Some people believe that reading the Harry Potter books to children, or having your child read them may persuade them to turn to Witchcraft and the occult for more. Parents may not want their children to grow up anti-Christian.

They also attempt to make the point that Harry Potter is "anti-Christian" because it blurrs the line between good and evil. Yes, Voldemort is evil and dies in the end, but Harry has to break rules and laws to do it. This may lead children to do uncertain things to get what they want and what they believe to be defeating evil. Apparently, the Harry Potter books support the religion of Wiccans, because there is magic.

Other groups of people argue that Harry Potter cannot be anti-Christian because there is no faith in the stories. Hogwarts students do celebrate Christmas, Holloween and Easter, but nowhere in the books is Christ mentioned. Also, other stories have used such magic to create their fantasy worlds, such as J.R.R. Tolkien in the Lord of the Rings, but his books are not slandered as such. The magic in Harry Potter is more of a fantasy-world than Wiccan.

So, where do you stand? I'm going to keep the discussion open.

Personally, I'm one of the biggest Harry Potter fans that you'll even talk to. In my mind, J.K Rowling can write no wrong(except for when she killed Fred...). But hey, I'm biased.

[Iconox]

I'm a Christian and I love Harry Potter (I've actually been a Harry Potter fan longer than I've been a Christian xD). Anyways, I can see where people would argue that it contains occult influences, but I can't really see it causing kids to turn to the occult (any more than watching anime will convert someone to shinto-buddhism). So I mean, I guess it just comes down to what parents are comfortable having their kids watch/read.

[Lord Raven]

I personally think that certain people just want to whore attention so they go against what's popular to do so. It's stupid but they do get the attention they want.

[HellLord2000]

This is new O.O, this is a big load of b.......t,the church its just afraid that theyr gone lose more ppl to the ocult and so on.I my self dont belive in magic but that dies not mean i have to against every idiot that belives in it

[Big Papi]

This is silly. It's like reading To Kill A Mockingbird and thinking your child will be a rapist.

[Skins T]

All a bunch of hogwash. There are more religious elements in Toaru Majutsu no Index than Harry Potter.

It's magic and mythology. People need to stop reading into things that don't exist.

[daniff]

argggh god only in a America
you hear loads of stuff like pokemon is the work of satan, harry potter is anti christian, burn the koraan!!!!

that never happens in England... O_O



(its prolly because the English and Irish left for America around the time when our monarchs kept changing the country's religion while everyone here was being forced from protestant to catholic and and back and fourth of face death, so they weren't really bothered in their views and more bothered in their lives while the americans set up towns and stuff with their own beliefs..... *phew*)

[Knight of Cydoni...]

I just hate people who say that Harry Potter is brainwashing every kid who reads it. I've read all of the books and am a really big fan of it, and I've never seen anything, well, bad... or anti-Christian.

Well, at least Harry Potter didn't say that stalking was romantic...

[roygbiv]

im a religous person but i like harry potter there is nothing wrong with it

[Izo]

It's not like the books are trying to be anti-religious. They're just set in a world of magic and fantasy or whatever and they aren't 'bad' or 'wrong.' In my opinion, anyway... xD

[nokrow889]

see if your afraid your children will turn around and try to be a witch wizard break rules and so fourth dont let your kids read it i dont see it as a children's book series at all there is too much older humor and alot of depressing things like sirus's death in the 5th book and well the WHOLE 7TH BOOK

[Wingcap]

Say what? What an odd idea, I personally have never heard anyone mention this sort of theory before now, nor did the thought cross my mind before now. Interesting, nevertheless. These are fictional books, just because they contain magic and good writing doesn't make them anti-religious. I am against the theory of God personally, but not because of these books.
You'd have to be VERY imaginative, or mature to get that from the books, and then you wouldn't go off fighting "evil", like your brother/sister/etc. The worst that could happen is that you'd wave a stick around, roaring "magic spells" at people.

This post has been edited by Wingcap: Apr 27 2011, 05:30 PM

[Klowii is Sexy]

I feel that Harry Potter is just a book series and not a cult-starter shit. Whoever started that rumor is going to warm their fucking toes when they die. )<

[ravezombie]

I hear this debate all the time throughout classes and religion based studies. It's beating a dead horse and no one necessarily cares anymore until the next big fantasy movie comes up (Remember the protests for The Golden Compass/Northern Lights and all of Philip Pullman novels and movies based on his work? I remember those protests.).

It all is up for personal interpretation; if your religion says so and you're dedicated to your religion and believe it'll cause witchcraft, then hot-damn it'll cause people to turn to witchcraft. If not, then oh well you're safe and continue reading as you desire. It's not that one way is wrong nor is one way right.

You really have to look at this from a perspective of how influential the books can be on people with obsessive personalities rather than religion (even though that's the topic, but one thing relates to another). Not from a witchcraft standpoint, but more from a persons obsession over something. Memorabilia is one thing, dressing up is another, but killing yourself over the fact that someone released a fake script of the final book where the entire cast dies is another (yes, this is true. It happened. Look it up, I'm not linking it here because of underage people out and about on the boards.).

[Dazmi]

Regardless of what it is or isn't, it's completely harmless. There is no problem here.

This post has been edited by Dazmi: Apr 30 2011, 12:29 PM

[RoyalDemon]

Never heard something like that.It's only a fantasy story, and nothing anti-christian.

[gretchen8642]

Anyone afraid of bad morals and lessons in Harry Potter affecting their kids obviously doesn't trust their children very much. In real life there is rarely "good" or "evil". Every story has two sides, and there's often a gray area of morality within. Although really Harry Potter has villains with names like "Malfoy" and "Lucious" which basically scream "I'm evil "

[Womit]

I'm a christian and I abosolutely ADORE the Harry Potter books and see no fault in them whatsoever. I was brought up with them and dont understand how they can have any affect on peoples spirituality or lack of. The reason christ is never mentioned is probably not to disrcriminate or just because JK Rowling didnt think of putting it in there. There are so many books in the world and I bet that over half dont have any religion in them whatsoever. If it wasnt so successful, people wouldnt be asking about it. It's just jealousy or a need for them to blame someone else for something that went wrong.

[Thale]

If these people actually read the series, they would know that Harry Potter's main theme is love (Lily's love for Harry, Snape's love for Lily, the trio's love for each other, Harry's love for the Wizarding World, etc.) and how it can overcome even the most potent forces of evil.

That doesn't sound very satanic to me. Just saying.

[John Richard]

I don't think that it leads readers to wrong path...