Christianity in HP? (WAS: Dumbledore's Death)

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 151085

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Rachel Crofut" 
<rhetorician18 at ...> wrote:
>
Rachel responding to Tonks:

 if you take a look at many main-stream religions, their morals
are strikingly similar to those of Christianity.  Christianity does 
not need to be the spear-head of JKR's message, regardless of the 
subtlety in which she does so.
---------------
Rachel responding to Geoff:
 I'm not saying that ALL (or even most) Christians will be chased
away by JKR's use of witches and wizards, however you clearly 
demonstrated that there are some Christians who (most likely without 
even reading the books) disagree with its use of magic and therefore 
regard the books as some form of evil incarnate.

Geoff:
>So, is our line of demarcation revealing discrimination which is 
misplaced?

Rachel:
Quite possibly.  I just want everyone to read and enjoy the books :-
).
-------------

Tonks:
Does this mean that if JKR is using Christian symbolism that we 
should not tell anyone for fear that they will not read the books?  
Or as some have suggested that by pointing out what seems to be 
blatant Christian symbolism that we are merely trying to justify the 
books to other Christians? 

I expect I will get some flak for pointing this out. And as a former 
atheist I can understand. There seems to be an elephant in our 
living room that we are stepping around. It seems to me that many 
people appear to be very hostile to the idea that JKR might be using 
Christian ideas and symbols in her work. If she is, what of it?  It 
is not a book FOR Christians. It is a book with symbols from her own 
religion and she is sharing what she believes. I don't think that 
she is doing this to `save the world' or the reader's soul as the 
bible thumpers might do. I think the message as I said before is a 
universal one, but that does not negate the fact that while she uses 
many symbols that are part of the collective unconscious, she is 
also using symbols and ways of putting them together that can not be 
interpreted in any other way then by the Gospels. She is a genius in 
the way in which she has done it, but she has done it never the less.
---------
Rachel:
I would suggest that the traits within DD and Harry (which 
undoubtedly many Christians possess) are those that JKR admires
and believes should be held by all people - that of acceptance, 
trust, and, most importantly, love.

Tonks:
So what will happen when the series is over and JKR says that the 
model for DD was Jesus? Will that make people think that she is 
pushing her faith? It will not say that to me. I think that she is 
using many forms for her storytelling and one of them is the Gospel. 
That IMO does not mean that she is saying that Christianity is the 
only way. Because she may have a universal message does not mean 
that she is not using the Gospel as a model for what she is writing. 
The symbolism is just to obvious for it to be anything else. 

Tonks_op
(heading for cover in an undisclosed location.) ;-)