[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry Potter and the Bible

[John Walton]

No: HPFGUIDX 17611

on 4/25/01 12:09 AM, rabanesss at yahoo.com at rabanesss at yahoo.com wrote:

> Now to your question. Neo-paganism is a contemporary form of ancient paganism
> which is usually some earth-based spirituality that denies a personal God (ala
> Christianity, Judaism, Islam) in favor of a more pantheistic concept of deity.

Richard, please, say it. "Religion". "Ruh-LIDJ-unn". It's not a
"spirituality", it's a religion with many different adherents. Please don't
be insulting about it. I'd compare what you say above with describing
Christianity as a "Messianic Cult". Please, have consideration for others'
*religions*.

Moreover, your definition of neoPaganism (yes, it's a proper noun, so please
do use a capital letter, there's a good chap) lacks in correctness, and
while I'm reluctant to make generalisations about "all neoPagans believe X
or Y", here's something from the UK's Pagan Federation:

The Three Principles of the Pagan Federation:
1) Love for and Kinship with Nature. Reverence for the life force and its
ever-renewing cycles of life and death.
2) A Positive Morality, in which the individual is responsible for the
discovery and development of their true nature in harmony with the outer
world and community. This is often expressed as "Do what you will, as long
as it harms none."
3) Recognition of the Divine, which transcends gender, acknowledging both
the female and male aspect of Deity.

> Occultism is a set of practices often used by neo-pagans to access knowledge
> that would otherwise be unknowable, hence the meaning of occult (hidden
> secret).

Not necessarily by neoPagans. Some nonPagans use the occult as well. I'm
thinking Satanists in particular, which have no links to the vast majority
of Paganism.

As this now seems to be almost off-topic, I'm going to be ending my
discussion with you here, Richard. During your (thankfully) brief time in
our community, you've managed to irritate, offend and insult nearly
everyone, from Christians to Pagans to nonbelievers. Congratulations if that
was your aim. However, *my* aim is to discuss a set of fictional, *magical*
books which I enjoy with other rational people. I will be recommending to
the rest of the Moderator Team that, unless you begin to discuss the
positive aspects of the Harry Potter series, you and your negative karma be
removed from our wonderful, thoughtful community.

Lock up your children now -- here comes the Real World. An' it's a-gonna
getcha.

--John

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*"Quidditch Through The Ages" by Kennilworthy Whisp: 14 Sickles 3 Knuts
*New Firebolt Broom: just over 100 Galleons
*Watching Draco Malfoy being bounced up and down
after being turned into a ferret: Priceless

The best things in life are free. For everything else, there's Harry Potter.

John Walton -- john at walton.to
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