Religion in HP

[c_voth312]

No: HPFGUIDX 40481

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "reincineir" <reincineir at y...> wrote:
> Something that has been bothering me for a while: what is 
everyone's 
> take on religion in the HP wizarding world? They have references to 
> and practice such holidays as Christmas and Easter, yet it doesn't 
> seem to make sense that they would be Christian, since in the Bible 
it 
> was said that "You shall not allow a sorcerer/ess to live." Perhaps 
> wizards are Christian, and regard sorcery as different from 
wizarding 
> magic (perhaps sorcery is what the Dark Wizards practice?) and thus 
> abide by that rule by hunting out the practitioners of sorcery... 
but 
> that seems like a stretch, and wizards on the whole seem to be a 
very 
> pragmatic people. 

Actually, since Christmas and Easter are, in addition to their 
religious connotations, rather major secular celebrations as well, 
there's no reason to believe that enjoying those celebrations makes 
the wizards Christian.  And since there are numerous interpretations 
of Biblical passage, there's no reason to assume that being a wizard 
excludes one from being a Christian.

> All of the normal things they deal with every day- giants, 
vampires, 
> magic itself- are supernatural in Muggle eyes, which perhaps makes 
> wizards seem beyond Muggle religion as we know it... but do wizards 
> have their own concept of the supernatural themselves? Is there 
> anything that is supernatural to -them- (other than Muggle science) 
as 
> their world is supernatural to us? Does it seem like wizards would 
> have/believe in angels? Demons? Gods?
> 
> -Rei

Actually, this is one area that Rowling (probably for the best) is 
scrupulously quiet on.  Apart from indications of an afterlife 
(ghosts etc.), there is nothing to indicate what belief (if any) 
wizards practice, or any definitive proof one way or another of a 
divine force in the universe.  I would guess that since wizards, 
apart from their power, are pretty much the same as us Muggle folk, 
that some are inclined to spiritual practices in one form or another, 
some are not, and some just don't know.

~Christi