A mother in the Atlanta area is trying to ban Harry Potter books because...?

Question

she says they are evil and are trying to influence children to go over to the Wiccan religion. Has anyone else heard this nonsense? Harry Potter books do have magic, mythical things and it is a "school of witchcraft and wizardry", but the books also teach children to believe in themselves and to fight for what's right.

If a person is going to be against something, you would think that they would have all the facts about it before being totally against it. That's called being INFORMED. Here's the link, read for yourselves:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061004/ap_on_re_us/potter_protest;_ylt=AuJzbg_KAP94sFFTh52Aoiys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

So, what do you guys think of it?

Bottles, just for the record, I am informed. I am a believer in Wicca, after being a church-goer up into my twenties. I know both sides of the road, and I get pissed period that anyone would try to ban any kind of book.

You'd get mad, too, if some mom somewhere started saying that those "Left Behind" books were not good b/c they were trying to bring their child over to Christianity and they should be banned.

Answer 1

This is a classic case of what my father used to describe as, "Don't confuse me with the facts. My mind is made up."

It never ceases to astonish me how some people will confuse a book of fiction, a fantasy, with living reality and what they see as religion. Call me crazy but have you seen printed anywhere in a Harry Potter book, someone standing before the students preaching the "One True Religion?!" No. Of course not. And we all continue to march back, back, back to the Middle Ages.

Answer 2

I wouldn't say it's the religious right trying to take over your life, but rather a nut job, who happens to believe in God.

If this lady thinks Harry Potter is bad, she should not let HER kids read it. Personally, (and I'm a Christian, and a conservative) I think the Harry Potter books are great. They are well written, have good character and plot development as well as good use of vocabulary and grammar. I also like the movies as well.

With any form of media, parents should read with their kids, preview the books and movies they watch, talk about what is appropriate and not appropriate for their family. Trying to force this on others is ridiculous. A few years ago, a fundamentalist preacher in our state had a Harry Potter book burning rally. The only thing it did was boosted sales of Harry Potter and made him and his congregation look like wackos.

And by the way, a few weeks ago was banned books week. In our library there was a great display of books that have been banned, or have tried to be banned over the last 100 years. It's a very interesting list. Some of the books which are on the list are not surprising, others are.

http://www.ala.org/bbooks

Answer 3

That's like saying you have to ban Christmas books because it is trying to influence children to become Christian.

1. Most Christmas books are about Santa (by comparison Harry Potter does not reflect Wicca.)
2. It is fiction. Most kids know what fiction and fantasy are. If they do not, they can certainly benefit from reading the books and learning about it.
3. As someone said in an earlier question, you can't substitute policy for parenting.

Answer 4

SIL, I have to say that I agree with you. I am not wiccan, nor do I profess to be a devout christian, but I do know tat Harry Potter is a FANTASY story, and meant for entertainment. (Just the same way as Veggie Tales. They teach biblical lessons, but they use magic to do just about everything.(they have no arms!)
The only thing about Harry Potter stories that in any way resemble witchcraft is that they use the term witchcraft and wizardry. Anyone who is informed about the subject would know that this is a story that is so far out there that it is considered FANTASY by just about everyone out the including wiccan and pagans.

Answer 5

tsk tsk

let this woman run with her logic

we will see the Bible and Qur'an re-banned from our public schools and libraries again for it's adult and explicit violent content advocating genocide, rape, murder and inequality

The Bible and The Quran were both removed from numerous libraries and banned from import in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1956. Many editions of the Bible have also been banned and burned by civil and religious authorities throughout history. Some recent examples: On July 1, 1996, Singapore convicted a woman for possessing the Jehovah's Witness translation of the Bible. A 2000 US government report reported that Burma (also known as Myanmar) bans all Bible translations into local indigenous languages. (The military dictatorship of that country also required modems to be licensed, so residents of Burma, like NetNanny users, are not likely to see this page.) Distributing Bibles, along with other forms of proselytizing by non-Muslims, is also banned in Saudi Arabia, according to this State Department report. (An email correspondent told me a few years ago that a sign at a Saudi Arabian airport customs stated that arriving travelers should surrender their non-approved religious books to officials before entering the country. A more recent correspondent tells me that the Saudis generally allow western families to bring in their own Bibles, if they do not bring in more copies than expected for personal use.)

Some governments still tightly control religious organizations and their publications. In 1999, the government

Answer 6

formally, the completed Harry Potter sequence has been seen a chain for toddlers. toddlers love fairy thoughts, wizards, witches, fairies, dragons, leprechauns, and different staggering creatures. JK Rowling used this staggering international of wizardry to make toddlers examine. it rather is rather nicely common that the television and internet and video games make young ones examine much less and much less on a daily basis. yet in the back of the superb facade, those books sell friendship, solid rather of evil, they instruct toddlers to be certain on what's solid, whether it rather is the not common way, to be solid, to be against rasism (mudblood is a sort of rasism interior the wizard's international)... how would desire to absolutely everyone say those are evil books? The characters use their will capacity to make magic... they are actually not satanical, killing chickens or bats or maybe though! And yet another element... this lady is attempting to prohibit the books, in all likelihood because of the fact her young ones cherished them. Or did not. it is not correct. yet asserting that those books are to blame for the shootings, is in simple terms too loopy! a woman like this might make her very own toddlers loopy, and that they're going to in all likelihood get a gun a shoot somebody. So she would desire to close up and make constructive her young ones won't have psychological issues from this way of loopy mom.

Answer 7

And who's to say that she doesn't have all the facts? And who's to say that YOU DO? HMMM? I'm going to be polite here. So let's start with the fact that you seem to find this information as NEW. It's not. It's been going on since book one. So now, referring to your question, " that's called being informed". You probably felt pretty righteous when you wrote that, and now let the record show that you were NOT INFORMED. The question goes really to your belief system, whatever that be for you. Some believe that teaching children the ways of sorcery is a bad thing and can only result in more bad to come. They reason that if you teach your child to 'garden' they will learn to be better gardeners. If you teach your child to swear and hit others then they will learn to do that even more. Bad table manners, then they'll only know bad table manners, to hate Jews, then they'll hate Jews. And just because the popularity of HARRY P. got alot of kids to read isn't a valid point if what they were reading was Hating Jews or Bad Table Manners or Sorcery. Just because you clearly don't get it, doesn't make you right, afterall we already proved that you didn't know what you were talking about. By the way, NEWSFLASH, a whole lot of Christians believe that the Harry Potter series is wrong for their children. Is that ok with you? And don't worry yourself, the book won't be banned. Even though I disagree with it's message, I know that our constitution protects it as free speech.

Answer 8

More attempts by the Religious Right to take the fun out of life.

It's the same crap they tried to pull back when the Smurfs cartoon was on WAY back in the day.

Now, I used to watch the Smurfs when I was a little kid. I thought it was one of the most harmless, and mildly entertaining cartoons out there.

But I guess SOME religious people took offense. They saw Papa Smurf as some Satan-worshipping troll who used withcraft to save the day, which they believed was influencing children to become devil-worshippers, or some such nonsense.

I hate the Religious Right. They're a bunch of idiots.

Answer 9

I think it's sad that any book can be banned...if you don't want it in your house that's one thing buy don't tell me what I or my kids can read!
I love Harry Potter...and I am a Pagan...oh no maybe I was corrupted by a childrens book...time to switch to another religion!

Is anyone trying to ban the Left Behind series? It may sway someone into Christianity...OH NO!

Last time I checked we were able to choose our own religion in America...I chose mine carefully!

Answer 10

I used to say that Harry Potter was bad because it introduced children to witchcraft. I finally started reading the books for myself this past year. I'm now on book 5. I still believe the books are bad for kids, but now for different reasons. I don't really see the witchcraft as a big deal, but the practical lessons being taught are horrible. I see the basic message as "you can't trust adults, they won't believe you, if you're in trouble, take care of it yourself, don't follow the rules.' Those are more tangible everyday things that kids face. Over and over, Harry and his friends break rules and take dangerous matters into their own hands instead of seeking the help and council of an adult/ teacher. They are rebellious children, and ironically, the Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
All in all, I'm not in favor of banning books, but I do believe that people should be aware of what they are allowing into the minds of their children. Children are impressionable. They haven't gained a full grasp on reality yet. They are influenced by what they are fed. I urge parents to take care.