More in Response

[plinsenmayer at yahoo.com]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C715
From: plinsenmayer
Subject: More in Response
Date: 3/26/00 2:40 pm  (ET)

Part II:

The books offer a number of messages and themes that Christians and other
religions (and in fact humankind as a whole) can condone: tolerance,
compassion, self-confidence, good over evil, sacrifice, loyalty, and so
on. It is very clearly demonstrated in the second book of the series that
Harry has the capacity for both good and evil (as we all do) but that
he has the strength of character to make a conscious decision to eschew
evil and align himself with the good forces. There's a very interesting
article written by a Christian theologian that you can read at:

http://www.cesnur.org/recens/potter_016.htm

But, since you might not take the trouble to read it, I'll cut and paste
the relevant part here:

<Near the end of the second book, after a terrifying encounter with
Voldemort--his third, since Voldemort had tried to kill Harry, and
succeeded in killing his parents, when Harry was
a baby, and had confronted Harry again in the first book--he confesses
his doubts to Dumbledore.

'"So I should be in Slytherin," Harry said, looking desperately into
Dumbledore's face. "The Sorting Hat could see Slytherin's power in me,
and it--"

"Put you in Gryffindor," said Dumbledore calmly. "Listen to me, Harry. You
happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked
students. Resourcefulness . . . determination . . . a certain disregard
for rules," he added, his moustache quivering again. "Yet the Sorting
Hat placed you in Gryffindor. You know why that was. Think."

"It only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, "Because
I asked not to go in Slytherin. . . ."

"Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which makes you very
different from [Voldemort]. It is our choices, Harry, that show what
we truly are, far more than our abilities." Harry sat motionless in his
chair, stunned.'

Harry is stunned because he realizes for the first time that his confusion
has been wrongheaded from the start: he has been asking the question
"Who am I at heart?" when he needed to be asking the question "What
must I do in order to become what I should be?" His character is not a
fixed preexistent thing, but something that he has the responsibility
for making: that's why the Greeks called it character, "that which is
engraved." It's also what the Germans mean when they speak of Bildung,
and the Harry Potter books are of course a multivolume Bildungsroman--a
story of "education," that is to say, of character formation.>

I couldn't have said it better!

I would also remind you, as did someone else, that censorship and
restrictions on the expression of our beliefs goes against the very
core of the values the US was founded on. The religious fundamentalists
in this country should take a long hard look at where they would be if
this country suddenly forbade freedom of religion and instituted a "State
Church." The same holds true for literature and the free flow of ideas,
beliefs, thoughts. I too was never forbidden from reading anything as
a child and I definitely don't believe in censorship.

Now, lastly, I will say this -- you very well knew what this group was
when you posted your comments yesterday. Do you really expect any of us
believe you stumbled onto this group by accident? If you do in fact really
want to understand why we all believe the HP books are great literature
for children and adults alike (and I doubt that's really your objective),
then hang around awhile. Read the books. Read our comments. Read it and
expand your mind. But, that's not what you *really* want, is it??