Do you think Harry Potter books should be banned?

Question

I have to write a paper on how Harry Potter books should be banned from schools because of witchcraft... I need a lot of sources so please put in your opinions!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Did you choose this topic? Or did someone say you "have to" write on this topic? It sounds like an opinion paper, so make sure that you are basing it on your opinion, and not someone else's.

Here is a really excellent website that addresses the topic of whether or not magic can be accepted in books for Christians. The author of this site (John Granger) has also written a book called "Finding God in Harry Potter", which I recommend, because there is a whole chapter about your specific topic. You should be able to find it at any Christian bookstore, or you can get it online.

http://www.ev90481.dial.pipex.com/harry_potter_granger.htm

There is a lot of info there, but you will find this topic addressed in a number of places throughout the essay. The book would be a better source for your topic.

Here's another by James Sennett:

http://www.christianstandard.com/articledisplay.asp?id=11

Scroll down to "What About the Magic"

And a few more to round out your research:

http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/potter.htm
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3777/is_200204/ai_n9067773
http://hogwartsprofessor.com/?page_id=2
http://www.cesnur.org/recens/potter_mi_eng.htm
http://www.george-macdonald.com/harry_potter.htm

Answer 2

You should look at some of the other answers here, different people bring up interesting points.

I personally think that Harry Potter books should not be banned and that they are not offensive to Christianity, but that is my personal opinion. Here's why:
1. America is a free country. Even if the book was something to worry about, it should not be banned from school libraries so long as it was not included in the required reading for courses. This way, those who like it could read it and those who don't won't have to read it.
2. The magic in Harry Potter is fantasy. It follows the fantasy idea of what a wizard or witch is, the kind that doesn't really exist. So, it doesn't really resmebled paganism, the occult, and Wicca enough to directly link children to such religions.
3. Lots of people who read Harry Potter have never been tempted to join the occult. If you have been in the occult or it seems to have a certain lure for you, you may want to be wary of reading any books pertaining to spellcasting and practicing magic whether it is highly based off of an existing pagan religion or not. But I imagine that most people would not have a problem with Harry Potter.

Answer 3

I don't think any book should ever be banned..well, certain books, like books on how to build bombs or books that incite hate...but other than this, books shouldn't be banned, instead parents should decide what they feel is appropriate or inappropriate for their children to read...I don't think the Harry Potter books should be banned because of witchcraft...they are fiction, the author's intention is not to cause reader to go out and become wizards, she intends to entertain us with a STORY....like most authors of fiction, the author wants to give us a story that is good enough so that the reader can escape our ordinary lives, again she is not trying to recruit wizards, just trying to entertain us with an excellent read!

Answer 4

They shouldn't be banned. They are not promoting any form of witchcraft available in reality. The magic is Harry Potter doesn’t even resemble Wicca and the book doesn't dismiss Christianity in anyway. They are fictitious children novels. They promote being good friends and stopping evil.

As a reply to the first person who said they speak the language of the devil...um the spell are derived from Latin which is the holy language of the bible. It's only the language of devil worshippers in the context that Satanism only exists in a Christian paradigm.

The only way it could even remotely be offensive is that whole "thou shall not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18) but that only for those people who take the bible totally literally....which you know is crazy! as it’s been translated. See Source for more.

Answer 5

No, I do not believe the Harry Potter books should be banned.
As one whose personal and professional life is very much involved with the written word, I really do not like the idea of book banning. In my perfect universe, it would not exist.

That being said, I have to agree that not all books are perfectly matched for all readers' interests in reading. Not all books are appropriate for every reader. I very much admire the author David Pelzer (sp?) who wrote "A Child Called It" and others about the abuse he endured as a child and the remarkable journey through healing that he has made and passes on to others. Yet the first time I began to read "A Child Called It" I had to put it down. I had just become foster parent to a child who had been through their own horrific events, and reading his
book was very unsettling at a time when I needed to be strong for the child in my care. Had I not just heard my foster child's ordeals, I might have been better able to detach, but I couldn't.

I'm very grateful to my mother who did not set strict rules about what I could read. First: She was an avid reader herself, who read to my brother and I every night until we were in our teens. She gave recommendations; she talked about books with us, and she wasn't always thrilled with my choices.

One of the best thinkers on this very topic is one of my favorite writers, Madeleine L'Engle. I heard her speak many years ago and if I recall her message correctly, she suggested that we, as individuals, do need to be careful with what we read. The books we choose have the power to build us up or break us down. They can enrich our lives, or they can diminish us. I'm sorry this is paraphrased, very loosely, from something I heard over ten years ago, but the point still makes sense.

Back to the Harry Potter books. I know there are people who, because of the constraints of their religious beliefs--and their own ignorance of the books--think the books somehow promote
interest or experimentation in earth-based, pagan religions.

This is something I cannot understand, on so many levels. The books are MADE UP STORIES, i.e. not real. They appeal to the wild, free imaginations of children. There is no overt or covert teaching of any religion, pagan or monotheistic, in these novels. JK Rowling stays refreshingly away from that, creating a pluralistic world of diversity such that children and adults, from all different backgrounds, are able to enjoy the books.

These comments may not constitute the type of source your teacher will accept, but I'm a Christian, a wife and mother, a lifelong bookworm, an English teacher, a major Harry Potter fan. There are strong values in these stories---the struggle of good over evil---that make them compelling reads.

Answer 6

No book should ever be banned. Ever.

The witchcraft in HP books are a glorified form of occult religions. HP is like any other witch book--it makes "witchcraft" look fantastical and superficial.

There are no references to any good guys worshipping the devil in any way, shape, or form. That wouldn't fit into the superficial image of a "witch" or "wizard" now, would it?


Go start searching up various Pagan beliefs in order to compare HP to the *actual* "witch" practices, for starters. Most pagans, you will find, don't worship the devil anyway.

Answer 7

I am not a fan of Harry Potter, and I do think they trivialize the craft. And yes I used to be a witch. It funny that so many want to ban a book of fantasy and fiction. It not like they learning Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft. Why don't you ban all books with any magic in them including the f*cking bible!

Answer 8

Here is the law:

"The plurality conceded that school boards must be permitted “to establish and apply their curriculum in such a way as to transmit community values,” and that “there is a legitimate and substantial community interest in promoting respect for authority and traditional values be they social, moral, or political.” At the same time, the plurality thought that students retained substantial free expression protections and that among these was the right to receive information and ideas. Carefully limiting its discussion to the removal of books from a school library, thereby excluding acquisition of books as well as questions of school curricula, the plurality would hold a school board constitutionally disabled from removing library books in order to deny access to ideas with which it disagrees for political reasons."

http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt1cfrag6_user.html#amdt1c_hd17

Answer 9

I don't think they should be banned. They're fun books, Harry and his friends don't worship the devil, and they're actively trying to fight someone who is evil and hurts people.

And the first person who responded to your question said the HP characters speak the language of devil worshippers? Most of their spells are in LATIN. Which was the language spoken in ancient Rome, the language that French and Spanish evolved from along with several other modern languages. Yes, Latin was spoken by pagans, but it was also spoken by early Christians.

Answer 10

It shouldn't be banned because every author has the right to express his/her views, and all this talk about Harry Potter containing withcraft mantras etc, is pure rubbish.