Christianity and HP

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 112385

Regarding whether HP reflects "Christian values" I just want to make one observation. The values we are talking about, moral behavior, sacrificial love, the ability to make right or wrong choices, etc, are NOT exclusively Christian values. They are values held dear by a variety of religions and belief systems, including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Humanism, Wicca, etc. While JKR may have been influenced by Christianity among her many other sources (paganism certainly being one), she has kept her religious references vague, to allow us to interpret HP from a variety of perspectives. I think this is deliberate on her part since she has not included any specific religious references in HP (there's not even a chapel at Hogwarts, AFAIK) that can't be considered reflective of long-standing local culture (Christmas and Halloween celebrations, for example). HP and the values contained therein are meant to speak to all of us, no matter our backgrounds or beliefs, IMO. And that's how it should be for a book series that has enchanted the entire world (thank you, JKR).

Juli 
(who dislikes seeing sacrifice, love, morality, etc, co-opted by ANY religion or belief system)