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

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 153524

Marion wrote:
>
>Of course, the cultural values of an author will be reflected in
his/her writings, but is it really necessary of proclaiming everything
a christian author writes as 'inherently christian'? 
> Why?
> What would be the point? 
> Can a story only be relevant if it carries some christian 'message'
in the christian mind?
> 

Ken:

Of course not. I do not require Rowling to write overtly Christian
material whether she be a very devout Christian like Tolkien or only
nominally Christian. I see very little in the books that is overtly
Christian and that is perfectly fine. I also do not see any of the
evil, subversive, anti-Christian material that so many of my
conservative Christian brothers and sisters apparently believe is in
there. But then few of them have actually read the books, I suspect. I
read the books because I enjoy them. While childless I see a lot in
these books that is excellent for children to read and if I had any I
would encourage my children to read them. They can get their religious
instruction from Sunday School.

In Tolkien's case, if you read The Silmarilion it is impossible to
miss the Bible-like creation story even if we didn't have his comments
on the Christian nature of his created world. It is obviously a very
theistic universe. Even so none of that is overt in The Hobbit or
LOTR, his best known works. And all of the action takes place well
before Christ, or Noah, or Abraham. He certainly did have a deep love
of northern European mythology and the languages it was first recorded
in. His writing is obviously an attempt to meld that with the Jewish
and Christian creation stories from the early part of Genesis. It
wasn't intended as a religious instruction manual any more than Harry
Potter is.

Most of my fiction reading is science fiction. SF ranges from
religiously neutral to rabidly anti-religious, for the most part. That
does not stop me from enjoying it. I may not agree much with David
Brin on matters of religion or philosophy but I love reading the
stories from his Uplift Universe. I'd love to live in it and to be
able to hear Dolphins taunt each other in Trinary haiku. We don't have
to see our personal beliefs reflected in the fiction we read to be
delighted and inspired by it.

Ken