Voldemort AND Religion WAS Re: Religion in HP

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 40549

Religion in HP - the topic that is - lost its appeal for me a long 
time ago. You can only debate the significance of the Easter and 
Christmas holidays for so long.

But something new has occured to me after reading all these marvellous 
posts on the graveyard scene. First of all, they've really identified 
why that scene made me feel so icky, in a way I couldn't quite put my 
finger on. I didn't sit there reading the scene and going, "Oh this is 
so sexually perverted" by any means, but now that I look, the elements 
are there, and it goes a long way in explaining the revulsion I felt. 

As well, I think that the perversion of religion was there as well. 
It's a very sacriligeous scene, isn't it?

But what does that say about religion in the wizarding world? 

As noted, Voldemort twists at least three of the sacraments. There's 
his rebirth in "baptism." The consumption of blood is a twisted 
version of "communion," and he holds his own mockery of "confession."

Well, the point about this type of black magic is that it is based not 
off a disbelief in the sacraments, but a belief in them, in the belief 
that they are powerful things, magical in their own, and that one 
attempts to take their power to oneself. The history of black magic 
(or reputed black magic) is not something I know much about, but I 
have always thought this to be the case. Everything from the Black 
Mass to the old Reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards. 

So, while it's anyone's guess what Harry's personal beliefs are, can 
we side Voldemort up as religious in his own twisted way? And not only 
Voldemort. 

Eileen, deeply disturbed