Woops! Mistake regarding HP and the Catholic church...

[davenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 132621

I recently posted that the Catholic church had expressed approval of 
the HP novels.  Looks like I was wrong, that the press had mis-
reported this, and that Pope Benedict actually disapproves of them.  
I disagree with his opinion, because he seems to think that fiction 
should reflect black and white when identifying good and evil, and 
that all authorities should be obeyed.  I think the book is 
important in that it teaches children that those who seem good 
sometimes are not, and those who seem evil sometimes are not, and 
this is the way the real world is.  It would be a mistake to teach 
children to completely trust those who seem trustable (um, priest 
scandal anyone?), and to teach them to only identify good and evil 
through the most obvious and superficial appearances.  As for 
obeying authorities, the Church has, in the real world, supported 
uprisings against immoral authorities, so you would think that it is 
okay to teach kids to know that obeying authorities is not always 
the most moral or righteous thing to do.  We also learn in the books 
that sometimes you can think you know more than an authority figure, 
but can be wrong, with disastrous consequences.  For example, Harry 
ignores the instructions to learn occlumency, and it was a mistake. 
The books are very realistic regarding the stickiness of identifying 
good and evil, but there are also clearly dividing lines that are 
more important than superficial identifiers - thus Snape is on the 
good side despite being a nasty, petty jerk.  I don't see how this 
harms children's ability to relate to God.

Here is the link:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071301.html

- davenclaw

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