Pope Opposes Harry Potter

[[Syl]]

www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071301.html

So what would he think of Covenant?

[Plissken]

or Sponge-bob?

[ur-bane]

Is this a joke?

Maybe Ratzinger should prepare the church for the Potterhead assault that is coming. Geez. Just when I thought kids books were entertaining to kids. I wonder how many kids are worried about Potter's influence on their spiritual development? I wonder how many parents are worried that Potter will affect their kids' spiritual development?

Aren't there more important things to worry about?

[Kinslaughterer]

I hope Harry wins...

[Reisheiruhime]

Is this a joke?

Maybe Ratzinger should prepare the church for the Potterhead assault that is coming. Geez. Just when I thought kids books were entertaining to kids. I wonder how many kids are worried about Potter's influence on their spiritual development? I wonder how many parents are worried that Potter will affect their kids' spiritual development?

Aren't there more important things to worry about?

I know of several parents who won't let their kids read Harry Potter. All of them are or were in the military. Weird... and Yes, the are lots more important things to worry over, such as laundry day, and whether or not one should vacuum one's room... Erm.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

(emphasis mine)

...Kuby says the Potter books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy.

Yeah, because everyone who reads Harry Potter suddenly starts rooting for Voldemort.

[safetyjedi]

Is this a joke?

Aren't there more important things to worry about?

I know of several parents who won't let their kids read Harry Potter. All of them are or were in the military. Weird... and Yes, the are lots more important things to worry over, such as laundry day, and whether or not one should vacuum one's room... Erm.

Well I was in the military and my girls are both Harry Potter nuts. So that is weird, or maybe I'm weird for thinking it's ok.....It's probably the latter but I'll never know because I'm too weird to know the difference. I know, it just doesn't make sense does it?

[Nathan]

good grief. I doubt the Pope will be building much enthusiasm for Christianity among the children he causes to be banned from reading Harry Potter.

[Kinslaughterer]

Is Harry Potter a worse influence than a man who previously fought for Nazi Germany, regardless of the conditions?

[Lord Mhoram]

I've always found the Church's opposition to the Potter novels to be pretty bizzare. There is really nothing wrong with them "spiritually."

However, the reality is that a phenomenon this size is bound to bring up some serious criticism from somewhere.

[Iryssa]

I've always found the Church's opposition to the Potter novels to be pretty bizzare. There is really nothing wrong with them "spiritually."

Me too. It frustrates me that so many Christians are opposed to Fantasy in general. 99% of the people who take that stance have never even read a fantasy book, but they judge them anyway. My boyfriend and my best friend both wrote articles in our Bible College student newspaper fighting that attitude...and I plan on carrying that torch when I go back there this year. Maybe someday people will get the hint.

[onewyteduck]

From my local rag........


The spell of Harry Potter continues to enchant children, adults and booksellers
By Brett Buckner
Star Staff Writer
07-14-2005


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince goes on sale locally after midnight Friday. Photo: Courtesy/Scholastic
Just mention Harry Potter and Kelly Taylor starts bouncing.
"I can’t wait … can’t wait … c-a-n-t … wait," Kelly practically shouts, cravenly staring at a Books-A-Million poster advertising the Saturday release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. "It’s been forever since the last book and I’ve gotta know what happens next."

For two years — an eternity to an 11-year-old boy — Kelly has been anxiously awaiting the sixth and next-to-last installment of the J.K. Rowling-penned series, which documents the adventures of Harry Potter at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Rumors abound about what exactly will happen in Half-Blood Prince, including a promise by Rowling that a major character will die.

"I wonder who’s gonna die," Kelly says with a shy grin before staring up at his mother, who’s warning him to lower his voice. "Somebody always dies, that’s the cool part. But it’s also kinda sad sometimes."

Kelly, along with countless other rabid Potter fans, will simply have to hold onto their wands and wait until one second past midnight Friday when the 10.8 million copies — the largest first run in publishing history — of Half-Blood Prince are officially released.

"He’ll be there the minute the book’s on sale," says Kelly’s mother, Cheryl Ann Adams. "And he’ll start reading it the minute we get in the car. Eventually, I’ll have to take it away from him or else he wouldn’t sleep until he finished the whole thing."

In the years since the 2003 release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Kelly’s eyes have hardly been idle. Both he and his mom credit Rowling’s wizard-in-training for introducing Kelly to the magic of reading for pleasure. Harry Potter also has introduced him to authors he might have otherwise ignored.

"Harry Potter’s the best, but there’s some other good stuff out there, too," Kelly says. "Some of it’s so close to Harry Potter that at first I thought it was a new book."

Kelly and his book-buying peers aren’t the only one’s who’ve noticed how Harry has sparked a new market in children’s literature.

"There are a lot of bank accounts swelling and a lot of authors who owe J.K. Rowling a great big thanks," says Brendan Helmuth, a bookseller for The Little Professor Book Center in Homewood. "Harry Potter has pretty much single-handedly brought children’s literature from a behind-the-scenes genre to the forefront of the market. For many years there have been great, great children’s writers, but only now are they getting noticed.

"It’s also gone a long way to prove that children actually do read."

Any number of titles have risen to success thanks to the Harry Potter fantasy formula. Perhaps one of the most popular of the genre is Eragon: Inheritance Book One, written by then-unknown 15-year-old Christopher Paolini. After its 2003 publication, Eragon quickly rose to No. 3 on the New York Times bestseller list — three weeks after its release.

"There’s no doubt that a book like Eragon wouldn’t have gotten a shot had it not been for Harry Potter," Helmuth says. "It’s been a true phenomenon and giving good writers a chance to finally get their manuscripts read. It’s all been a long time coming."

As part of its midnight-release festivities for Harry Potter — and recognizing the chance to double-up potential sales — the Anniston Books-A-Million will be offering advance-sales vouches for the second book of the Inheritance trilogy, Eldest, which is slated for an Aug. 23 release.

"It’s a way to get two birds with one stone," says Books-A-Million General Manager David McKimmon. "It’s going to be a madhouse on Friday. And the kids simply love all of these books — not just Harry Potter but those that follow the same magic theme. The day after they go on sale, kids will be back here asking about what’s next and what else is available.

"Harry Potter has had an incredible effect on tons of other titles."

Those include such titles as Lemony Snicket series, The Charlie Bone Series by Jenny Nimmo, The Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and others. But it’s not just new titles that are being noticed, Helmuth says.

"People are rediscovering all kinds of older titles," he says. "Things like The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe and the whole Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Those books have always sold well but now they’ve just exploded with re-issues, commemorative editions and box sets. There’s so much marketing energy behind all of these books and it’s all because of the profit generated by Harry Potter.

"And it’s been a very good thing."

But not everyone agrees.

Wandering through the discounted children’s books at Books-A-Million, Remar Smith keeps a close eye on the books that her 7-year-old grandson Reid Gorum tries to talk her into buying. With each rapidly handed suggestion, Smith flips through the book, reads the back and scans the first few pages.

With an armful already, her decisions are final.

"I just don’t want him reading any kind of trash," Smith says as Reid wanders toward the end of the aisle. "I’d rather he read something educational, something worth remembering — stories that he’ll pass on to his children."

Thumbing through such timeless stories as Black Beauty, Tom Sawyer and 20,000 Leagues Below the Sea, Smith has little desire for her grandson to be introduced to Harry Potter.

"I just don’t have any interest in that sort of thing," she says. "I don’t think it’s spiritually healthy. They start them at such a young age, introducing them to these darker things — witchcraft and sorcery — so that their minds become conditioned to accept what’s unnatural."

Though he’s too young to have read the Harry Potter books, Reid is very familiar with the young wizard, having seen all three of the blockbuster movies.

"I love Harry Potter," Reid says, his attention swaying from cover to cover. "Everybody knows Harry Potter."

It’s that kind of attitude that makes Smith cringe.

"See?" she says. "If they don’t get exposed to it at home, they get forced into it by peer pressure. You’ve got kids who’ve never been in Sunday school and don’t know any of the parables that Jesus told. Yet they know all about the magic of Harry Potter."

Smith is not alone in her opinions. Many parents and theologians have objected to the themes of magic and witchcraft that permeate the Harry Potter books as well as many other fantasy titles.

And where there is controversy within literary circles — particularly if it’s of a spiritual nature — there is also the potential for profit. Harry Potter is no different. Dozens of titles have been published to combat or explain the phenomenon of the series since the first book, Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone, hit the shelves in 1998.

Among these tagalong titles are Faith Journey Through Fantasy Lands: A Christian Dialogue with Harry Potter, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, by Russell Dalton, Looking for God in Harry Potter by John Granger, The Gospel According to Harry Potter by Connie Neal, The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices by Edmund Kern and What’s a Christian to Do about Harry Potter by Connie Neal.

"There’s no lack of marketing potential for Harry Potter," says Elaine Whitaker, a professor of literature at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "It there is a way to make money and get a point across, authors will find it."

Despite varying opinions of the value of Harry Potter as literature, there’s no disputing that Rowling’s creation has put a spell on readers as worldwide sales of the previous five books have climbed to more than 270 million copies.

"These books speak to children looking for a challenge," says Whitaker, who has also taught a Sunday school class based on Harry Potter. "And that’s the important thing — it’s getting children to read and seek out other, sometimes better, books.

"When (The Half-Blood Prince) comes out, there’ll be kids reading under the covers by flashlight. That’s a powerful thing."

[matrixman]

First of all, secular people like me are not, and will never be, enamoured by the Pope and the dogma of institutionalized religion that position represents. This new Pope's opposition to Harry Potter is just a further example of the kind of narrow-minded view of the world that I do not accept.

[duchess of malfi]

What gets me is that these books are about children who form strong friendships and face down evil together. I really don't understand why some religious people get upset about them.

I'm not knocking religion -- I just don't understand this particular facet of some peoples' religious views.

[ChoChiyo]

It's ignorance plain and simple.

I have advised many people I know that Harry Potter is not the devil's work.

People who shun works like Harry Potter and fantasy in general tend to be extremely narrow minded and controlling.

It's sad to say that my first thought about the pope's comments were, "Yeah, like I care what a former Nazi thinks is appropriate spiritual fare."

Yup. I am bad bad bad.

[Plissken]

I just figured it out! The Pope is shilling for Disney! They do, after all, have the first installment of the Narnia Chronicles on the way. Forcing good Catholics to find sets of toys to play with and Happy Meals to buy other than Harry Potter gee-gaws leave precious few options - until the release of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (and associated swag) later this year.

Av, you may officially move this thread to the Conspiracy Theory forum!

[Avatar]

You're in the wrong forum, Plissken. This is the Close.

There is a certain, unfortunately fairly large, sub-set of christianity who believes wholeheartedly that anything to do with "magic" "witchcraft" etc. is evil, and inspired by the devil.

These are the folks who would bring back the burning times without a moments hesitation, who burn books and records in the ond belief that it makes a difference, and who see the hand of satan in everything that is not in, from, or part of the bible, or otherwise are so insipid as to be unable to cause offence.

The actual moral and philosophical messages that the books may contain is not the issue. The issue is that the "power" comes not from an explicitly defined christian god.

Remeber, even the Smurfs were considered "satanic" by some, and let's not even get strated on heavy metal.

--Avatar

[Edge]

let's not even get strated on heavy metal.

You mean how heavy metal is an orca-strated conspiracy?

[Avatar]

Very punny.

--A

[ChoChiyo]

Heh heh

I remember when my mother had a fit when I bought the Godspell album. She thought it was THE DEVIL because it portrayed Jesus as "a clown."

*I* thought it was heart wrenchingly beautiful.