Does Harry Potter indoctrinate children into the Wican religion and Pagan worship?

Question

I don't think so. In fact, I think Harry Potter is the best children's series of the century and that it has helped literacy in the younger age groups exponentially. But what are your thoughts?

Answer 1

He is a fictional character. I love those books and I gave every one of them to my 11 year old. I'm not from the mindset of "book burners".

Answer 2

JK Rowling is not a Wiccan and neither is Harry Potter. Harry celebrates Christmas which Pagans being not Christian, do not. Also, although there are subtle Pagan aspects to Harry Potter, the story line only uses magick as a back drop for something larger which is the battle between Good and Evil. This polarized idea of Good and Evil is not a Wiccan concept. We don't believe in absolute good or evil.

Answer 3

I sincerely doubt so. It is just a story. Moreover, what is pagan worship? Is it to worship a religion with with many gods? In fact, Hinduism is a religion with many gods, is that pagan worship?

Only staunch Christians who are so full of themselves and does not respect others will see Harry Potter as a book that indoctrinate children into Wican religion and pagan worship. In fact, that is what happened to me years ago when I was reading "Lord of the Rings" in my English Reading class. A staunch Christian teacher insisted that I am reading rubbish and I would be burning in hell if I continue to read "such" books. That was when I told her .... Dear Teacher, the "Lord of the Rings" was written by a English Professor from Oxford University, unless you had reached the level, I think you are not right to post such comment ;P

Answer 4

NO in fact they is a few book stores that r of christian worship that sale stuff on harry potter i think it might help kids and young adults more then anything cause they see the movies then wanna see how differnt the books r (that was me i seen the 1 st one then read all the books now i m hooked lol)

Answer 5

I actually had this discussion with a woman at the bookstore. I explained to her that I see the Harry Potter series as a standard good versus evil story, presented in a way which kids (and adults) enjoy.

I went into alot more detail with her, but I had her nodding at the end.

Answer 6

Harry Pottter has about as much to do with Wicca as the Tooth Fairy has to do with the practice of dentistry.

Wicca is a religion with its own liturgy, cosmology, theories of magic, and so forth. Nothing in Harry Potter even comes within sniffing distance of anything Wiccans do or believe.

Harry Potter is a fantasy series that raps off its "spells" in bastardized Latin and never addresses the question of Deity or religious worship. Wiccans practice a carefully thought-out system of sympathetic magic in which everything in the universe is considered to be connected in one vast energy web; create their spells in English (or whatever their native language is); operate by a strict code of ethics, the Wiccan Rede, which can be stated as "If it harm none, do what you will"; honor Deity as Goddess and God; cast "circles" to create sacred space before they worship, and perform highly ritualized acts of invitation to the spirits of the cardinal directions and the Deities once they are in sacred space; and celebrate eight holy days a year attuned to the change of seasons and the solstices and equinoxes, as well as twelve or thirteen esbats associated with the full moon. There are other Wiccan practices as well, but those are the basics -- and as anyone who has read Harry Potter can see, they have no similarity whatsoever to what is done in that popular childrens' series.

I hope this clears up any confusion that the uninformed might have about how our practices relate -- or don't relate -- to Harry Potter. If not, feel free to email me.

Answer 7

It's all claims. I have yet to see any kind of survey done to actually see if children are turning to Wicca based on the Harry Potter series. I have never seen or heard of any actual child doing this. My son never tried to cast spells after reading it.... and I'm a Pagan.

Answer 8

I completely agree.

But once when I had to stay home sick, I channel-surfed, and happened upon a televangelist named John Hagee talking about it with this woman who claimed to be a Christian parenting expert. This woman said that if a thick book can distract kids from the computer and video games and TV, something strange and magical had to be going on!

Wow. When I was a kid, that was called "good writing," and I guess Louisa May Alcott was also a magician, 'cause I got lost in "Little Women."

Answer 9

Most of the stuff in the Harry Poter books is base mostly in general brittish and European folklore and really has very little to do with modern pagan worship or with Wicca.

Answer 10

How could anyone think Harry Potter is a bad influence? He teaches children (and heck, even adults) about courage, risk-taking, loyalty, and confidence. Those are pretty decent qualities with which to "indoctrinate" people, I'd say.