Baptism/Christianity in HP: was Looking for God in Harry Potter

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 153418


> Julie:
> And I do agree Harry was baptised, so James and Lily were  at
> least nominal Christians. But again, a lot of people are nominal 
> Christians, sometimes merely following their society and  family 
> traditions.( And being a nominal Christian to me does NOT imply a
> disbelief in Christian theology, rather a disinterest in it in  
> relation to everyday life).  

Leslie:
Well, I guess my one disagreement there would be that Lily and James 
were "nominal" Christians.  "Nominal" Christians do not make a 
singular effort to have their infant baptized in a "hurried affair" 
with just them and the godfather present. Obviously Lily and James 
were under duress, hunted by Voldemort, etc. Nevertheless they took 
the time and trouble to see to it their son was baptized.  Were 
they "nominal" Christians they would not have bothered about it, I 
think. 

I have a friend who is the last of four kids, and her parents just 
never got around to having her baptized.  I would say that more 
qualifies as "nominal" Christianity.  

(snip)
> Julie:
> I just don't agree that JKR is using overtly Christian
> "values" in telling her story, because those values of love, mercy,
> sacrifice, etc are highly regarded in virtually *every* religion, 
> as well as by non-religious groups like humanists. 

Leslie:
Quite true.  I do think you can definitely interpret specifically 
Christian themes, but I wouldn't want to do that until the last 
book.