Lupinesque/Facing the Challenge & Tabouli/Silent Majority

[mjollner]

<Lupinesque, in "Facing the Challenge Web Site (long)" wrote:>

<Ah, my favorite two topics: HP and religion! <Amy rubs hands 
<together gleefully>
<The article proposes to "[explore] the different Christian 
<responses," which seems very promising. I would think that for a 
<Christian trying to make any difficult decision, it would be most 
<helpful if the person advising them would admit, "Christians take a 
<variety of points of view on this question--here are their 
<arguments." The article starts off by offering two rather extreme, 
<and in the author's mind, apparently equally problematic views

<snip snip>

and

<I have no objection to an article that tries to argue that Harry 
<Potter is contradictory to Christianity and should be handled with 
<care if at all. However, this article does just this while *claiming* 
<to be offering a wide variety of Christian opinions and options.

Brava, Amy/Lupinesque, for your thoughtful post about the article at 
http://www.facingthechallenge.org/potter.htm.  You expressed more 
eloquently (and more quickly!) than I could the overall unease with 
which I read Facing the Challenge's anti-HP attack disguised as a 
"careful thought and discussion."  As a Christian who has felt 
compelled on occasion to defend my enthusiasm for Rowling's works, I 
looked forward to seeing a balanced response which presented the many 
possible (and biblically based) attitudes a Christian could have 
toward the Potterverse.  Unfortunately, I didn't find it there.  

Fortunately, I *did* find your reasoned, biblically supported response 
(50 points to your house for all of the Old & New Testament 
quotations!), which I will now place in my quiver (reminiscent of 
Legolas's...sigh...but I digress!) along with some essays from First 
Things and other literary arrows I've managed to pick up here and 
there.  So thanks!

<Tabouli, in "Banned topics, pseudonyms, the silent majority," wrote:

<Also, and perhaps most significantly, the fact that just about every 
<single possible interpretation or observation to be gleaned from a 
<normal (as opposed to obsessively scrutinising) read of the HP books 
<has already been ambushed, tortured and beaten to death umpteen times 
<in overwhelming detail. I imagine that a constant stream of "we've 
<covered that about 10 times in the past year, check the archives", 
<understandable though it is for longer term listmembers,
<could be off-putting and embarrassing for many. 

You hit the nail right on the head!  This for me is the main reason 
why I, a newcomer to the HP4GU lists, do not post more often.  I blame 
the timing, for the most part:  GoF has been out for (seeming) eons, 
we've had relatively little new Potterverse information since then and 
we're all getting antsy waiting for OotP.  For those who have been 
posting for a long time, every point has been discussed to death.  
Those of us who are recent arrivals get the message with the numerous 
"check the archives" admonishments, and therefore can feel reluctant 
to post on some topic of interest, knowing that it has probably been 
talked about thousands of times before and fearing to annoy those for 
whom the discussion is not new.

Mjollner