[HPforGrownups] Re: witchcraft and Judaism/Christianity (was Sirius Black,godfather)

[Laura Hale]

No: HPFGUIDX 32623

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Etha Williams
> <nonconformist594 at y...> wrote:
>
> Wouldn't it be a bit hard to be a witch/wizard and be
> Jewish/Christian since there are parts of the Old and New testaments decrying > magic and witchcraft?
> How would a witch/wizard explain that s/he was practicing a
> religion which stated that s/he was doomed to hell?

I wouldn't think so.  The Fat Friar from HufflePuff is a good example of a
practioner of witchcraft and religion.  So in JK's world (where magic is not
something evil but a skill to be learned and used much like other skills),
it's possible.

And on the Fat Friar, the Fat Friar is the resident ghost of the Hufflepuff
House. The Harry Potter fan page found at
http://www.topcities.com/Kids/meisetsu/characters.html describes the Fat
Friar as "a jolly ghost. He is also willing to give others second chances"
and as "a stout ghost."  No where in the books is the Fat Friar shown as
practicing religion, pushing his faith on others, or even making references
to his own faith. While his occupation while alive gives him the guise
of a religious character, he is more of a "secular" character in the books
because of the aforementioned lack of religion. Despite the fact that the
Fat Friar behaves in a more secular sense as a character, it should be
understood as to what a friar is. The Catholic Encyclopedia says the
following about friars:

"The exercise of the sacred ministry is an essential feature, for which the
life of the cloister is considered as but an immediate preparation. His vow
of poverty, too, not only binds him as an individual to the exercise of that
virtue, but, originally at least, precluded also the right of tenure in
common with his brethren. Thus originally the various orders of friars could
possess no fixed revenues and lived upon the voluntary offerings of the
faithful." (Catholic Encyclopedia p4)

and "A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders."  This means that
the Fat Friar is a member of a religious order mostly associated the Roman
Catholic tradition. He maintains a vow of poverty, living off the welfare of
the faithful, i.e. other Catholics. He most likely belongs to one of four
orders of friars: The Dominicans or Friars Preachers, formerly known as the
Black Friars, the Franciscans or Friars Minor, the Carmelites or White
Friars, or the Augustinians, or Hermits of St. Augustine. (Catholic
Encyclopedia)

Not only is the Fat Friar the Hufflepuff House Ghost, he also apparently
attended Hogwarts and was a member of the Hufflepuff House. (Rowlings, Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 115-116) This seems to indicate that being a
wizard does not conflict with a friar's vows of poverty or religious
convictions.

Laura