The last of the original seven “Harry Potter” books was released in 2007, some 12 years ago, and the last of the eight movies made from them was released in 2011. One would think, then, that in terms of pop culture, they’re old news.
But it turns out, some Christians are still pitching fits over them.
A lot of them have long had trouble with these books about a youthful wizard and his friends going through a wizardry and witchcraft school, especially given their wide popularity in the English-speaking world. This is something I’ve blogged about a few times, but for some odd reason, it keeps recurring.
The latest example of a Christian getting sanctimoniously worked up over H.P. comes from the great Bible Belt state of Tennessee. As The Tennessean reports, a Catholic school in Nashville has eradicated these vile witchcraft manuals from its library (locally-cached article):
The students at St. Edward Catholic School in Nashville can no longer checkout the popular Harry Potter book series from their school’s library.
The seven-book series depicting the magical adventures of a young wizard and his friends was removed from the library because of their content, the Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at the Roman Catholic parish school, wrote in an email.
“These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception. The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text,” the email states.
Reehil goes on to say in the email that he consulted several exorcists in the U.S. and Rome who recommended removing the books.
I wonder if the same exorcist(s) in Rome who told Reehil to ban the H.P. books are the same one(s) who inspired some Polish priests to burn an H.P. book earlier this year.
Note, Reehil isn’t a teacher or administrator at the school; he’s the school’s pastor. So this is not an educational decision made by a professional educator. Contrary to Reehil’s claim, there are no “actual curses or spells” in the books. There can’t be, because there’s no such thing as an “actual curse” or an “actual spell.” They are not real and do not exist.
Look, it’s time for Christians to give up the ghost on this. For good or ill, H.P. is now part of the occidental world. Children growing up and going to school these days are virtually certain to read H.P. books and see H.P. movies. They’re going to know about it. One may as well let them read the freaking books already.
One more thing: It’s obvious Reehil hasn’t read the books or seen the movies, because if he had, he’d know that the character of Harry Potter is a literary Christ figure, and the books are full of Christian imagery, including the need for compassion and the nobility of sacrifice. In this regard, the H.P. series isn’t much different from other fantasy series such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, both written by very-Christian authors who used them to promote Christian ideals. It really is difficult to understand why so many Christians seem to have so many problems with H.P. … except to assume they’re not fond of the competition and are incensed by the series’s popularity.
Photo credit: Hung Chieh Tsai, via Flickr.
Hat tip: Friendly Atheist.
