HP and religion/Religion in HP

[Hillman, Lee]

No: HPFGUIDX 17561

Hey, everyone, Gwen is catching up on lots of traffic over the weekend.

Midst all this talk about HP and its implications for several branches of
religion, I have to agree with many: that HP is not about, nor meant to be
interpreted in terms of, any particular faith. The ethical, moral, and
humanistic issues that the books address span a broad spectrum of behavioral
and cultural codes. If anything, I believe the only arena equipped to
examine these implications is one of secular humanism. It is the context
that allows the most leeway for acceptable behaviors and the least amount of
additional layers to be added on--such as dogma from this or that or the
other religious context. Indeed, I believe Rowling went to lengths to show
that the wizarding world is as much a cross-section of the outer, Muggle
society as anything. Which brings me to the real purpose of this post:
adding my "me too" to Rita's views on religion IN HP.



> Seattle de Taelore wrote:
> > I know this has been brought up before in a way, but I
> > was wondering about Wizard religion. (snip)
> > Then I got to thinking, what if the wizarding world
> > has religions, similar to those of the muggles, and
> > yet without all that "witches are evil" stuff.  For
> > example, are there Catholic and Muslim and Jewish
> >  witches?  Mayhaps they have their own kinds of
> >  religions?
> 

And Rita Prince Winston answered:
> One of my favorite things to try to figure out.
> 
> I feel CERTAIN that there are Catholic and Muslim and Jewish 
> witches --
> in every generation there are a number of Muggle-born witches and
> wizards, some of whom would have been raised in religious families of
> all the common religions, and I can't imagine that they would 
> give up a
> religion they believed in just because of going to school at Hogwarts.
> The Patil twins, Parvati and Padma, were almost certainly raised in a
> Hindu family (of which there are many in Britain) because 
> they are named
> after Hindu goddesses with a South Asian family name. I wish we saw
> something about Parvati celebrating some Hindu holy day. I 
> wish JKR had
> mentioned some student with a Muslim name.
> 

What about Ali Bashir, the Middle Eastern wizard trying to repeal the ban on
flying carpets? I'm reasonably certain there's a good chance he's a Muslim.

Rita continued:
> I fantasize that rather  than the main religion of old pureblood
> wizarding families being a distinct wizarding religion, perhaps
> descended from Druidism or NeoPlatonism, that in Britain it is the
> Anglican religion. In my fic, I have some wizarding folk going to
> regular Muggle church with Muggles. I further fantasize that Hogwarts
> until recent years had an Anglican chapel and compulsory 
> Sunday worship
> services. That just seem so old-time English. Don't bug me about
> Hogwarts actually being in Scotland.

Brava, Rita! I wholeheartedly agree with you (and I also implied my belief
in my fic, where Albus Dumbledore alludes to mandatory church attendance in
the 19th c). IMO, the founders were probably Catholic, it being the dominant
religion at the time (though in 1000 AD there were still many who weren't,
most of those people had been baptised or at least professed to be
Catholic). So maybe Rowena, Helga, Salazar, and Godric came from different
religious backgrounds. Whatever. Since their time, other administrators have
run the school, and they may have done so with a higher regard for and
emphasis on the importance of religious education as well as magical. As
time passed, these administrators have had to learn to respect other
religions, so less emphasis is placed on any particular faith.

However, there is ample evidence that in the modern era (Harry's time),
vacations and holiday structures are still based on the _assumption_ that
most people are from a Christian (Anglican) background, although it is also
clear that not everyone is a practicing Christian. Again, to use Rita's
example, Padma and Pavarti are probably not Christian, nor (I'm betting) is
Lee Jordan. There are also people who probably are nominally Anglican
(Hermione, Harry, Dean, etc.) but who are not particularly devout--not
surprising, considering that in general, families emphasize religion in
their daily lives less now than they did ten or twenty-five years ago, and
certainly less than they did in the 50's and previously. And I think there
are a number of students who are pagan, Jewish, Muslim, Asatru,
fill-in-the-blank, as well. 

I think Hogwarts still does have a chapel and there are students who are
raised with a deep-seated belief in their religious education. But, as is
the case in many countries, there is less pressure on schools--even boarding
schools--to provide religious instruction than there was, say 50 or 100
years ago. It is not felt to be the responsibility of the teaching staff,
even though students spend such protracted amounts of time away from home. 

I think it's worth stating again that the wizards and witches of Harry
Potter are a cross-section of society: rich, poor, religious, agnostic,
good, bad, nice, mean, and everything in between. For more on this topic,
see my other message about it (14760) and the conversations around that
thread at that time.

Gwendolyn Grace