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

[Bruce Alan Wilson]

No: HPFGUIDX 153446

Geoff:
>> <snip> Speaking as a Christian who happens to have been led into 
a Baptist church, we do not have godparents per se because we do not 
baptise children as infants; they are brought to God to be dedicated,
rather as Jesus was presented to God in the Temple at Epiphany. 
Baptism is a sacrament which they choose for themselves as adults. 
>From this, I would surmise that the Potters seems to have followed 
something similar along the line of the Anglican/Methodist approach. <<


BAW:
My speculation is that:

1. Before the Seclusion there were wizards among the clergy.  The 
King Arthur myth states that Morgan leFay was 'put to school in a 
convent' where she learned magic--I wonder if the Prioress was the 
Reverend Mother Helga or the Reverend Mother Rowena?  (I'm plumping 
for Rowena, myself; with the Chaplain being Father Salazar.)

2. At the time of the Seclusion, the wizardling clergy held a synod 
in which they established their own hierarchy, hammering out many of 
the differences between the various Christian sects.

3. Because of Muggleborns and half-bloods, there has been a 
'backdoor' between the Wizardling Church and the various Muggle 
churches.  I imagine that over in Lambeth Palace there have been 
visits from 'the Other Archbishop.'

None of this has been mentioned in canon because it hasn't been directly relevant to the plot.

Beyond that, there is so much Christian symbolism in HP that one 
would have to be blind not to notice it.  The gryphon and the 
phoenix, for example, are both Christ symbols.

BAW