What is JKR's religious beliefs?

Mon Mar 3 05:38:54 UTC 2003

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Penny Linsenmayer 
<pennylin at s...>" <pennylin at s...> wrote:
> I suspect that she is Christian, but my reasons aren't because her
> last name is Rowling and she grew up in England.  Her admission 
> that she attends the Church of Scotland and her unrelated comment 
> that she believes in God are pretty good evidence.  Even better is 
> her interview comment that her favorite painting is Caravaggio's 
> Supper at Emmaus.  Adding to the mix are her favorable comments 
> about C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, itself an explicit Christian 
> allegory. Certainly most of these Christian commentators I've 
> discussed above believe that she is Christian and that this shows 
> through in her work.
>  I'd agree with that assessment in general.    

If she attends the Church of Scotland, known as "The Kirk," then she 
is a Presbyterian, rather than an Anglican.  There is an interesting 
article on The Kirk's website about religious observance:

http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news/observance002.htm

Many people may not know that Mr. Rogers was also an ordained 
Presbyterian minister, and a member of the second More Light 
(officially gay-friendly) congregation in Pennsylvania (my own 
congregation was the first, and we sent a letter to the Pittsburgh 
church congratulating them when they passed their statement).  
Admittedly, our left-leaning congregations are the exception and not 
the rule in the denomination, but we can dream... 

Historically, the democracy inherent in the governance of the Kirk 
(elders or presbyters elected by the congregations leading the Kirk) 
is credited with leading to the Scottish Enlightenment and to many 
other political developments in the Old and New Worlds.  This seems 
quite in line with JKR's characterization of Hermione, with her 
fight for elf rights.  JKR also seems to be using another old 
Scottish practice, that of the Lord Advocate (one person who is 
judge and prosecutor) as the inspiration for her wizarding justice 
system (the LA ceased to be Scottish law in the early 18th century, 
but we know how slow wizards are to change).

Another major religious institution that is not against the HP books 
is the Vatican.  A friend sent me an article about this months ago, 
but I deleted the mail after I read it.  All I had to do in Google 
was enter "Rowling Potter Vatican" in order to come up with a slew 
of references to this support.  Here's just one of the articles:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/07/entertainment/main539753.sh
tml

I agree with you, Penny, that if someone is preventing a child from 
reading the HP for religious reasons, they should look at those 
books you recommended.  (I know a large number of clergy who are HP 
fans.)  One doesn't even need to dig far below the surface to find 
significant evidence for JKR's religious beliefs in the HP books.  I 
think, however, that even folks who are not religious can enjoy them 
without feeling, a la Lewis, that they are being beaten over the 
head with a catechism.

And the fact that JKR likes Caravaggio just shows that she has a) 
good taste, and b) a taste for the dramatic.  (But then we all knew 
that. <g>)

--Barb

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent
http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb