Hi everyone -- banning the books

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 159580

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Lynda Cordova" <moosiemlo at ...> wrote:

x_dreamsmadeflesh_x:
 
> I find it humerous when people try to say HP is
> bad, but when you ask them why they can't give a good reason at all.
> Most of the people trying to ban them have never even read them and
> that annoys me so much!
 
Lynda:
 
> I think my church is divided about 1/3 to 2/3's on this matter and its not a
> fundamentalist church but a major protestant denomination (Disciples of
> Christ).  Some of my friends are set dead against them but most of the
> children and many of the adults have read them.
> 
> One of my friends who is married to a Baptist minister was against them at
> first, but after several years she picked up SS at the library and the rest,
> so to speak is history.  Most lately, she ask me to tell her all about Half
> Blood Prince because she lives in a rural section of Maryland and the
> library doesn't carry the books. Quite a change from the woman who told me
> the books were nothing more than trash that could not possibly be
> interesting.  And this is the woman who introduced me to David Eddings,
> Katherine Kurtz and Patricia McKillip among other recognizable fantasy
> writers.

Geoff:
I have said in the past that I was initially against the books because I allowed myself to be 
influenced by members of my home church - a UK Baptist church.

Like your friend, I found my way into the stories by seeing the second film - almost by 
accident - in November 2002 just after release.

Since then I have found that many folk in my church are HP fans. I find the books a good 
talking point with the young people and have used ideas from them formally in church 
youth work.

A good apologia is "The Gospel according to Harry Potter" by Connie Neal (published by 
Westminster John Knox Press of Louisville and London in 2002) which takes each book in 
turn up to GOF and cites incidents which can be seen "as glimmers of the Christian 
Gospel" - to quote the cover blurb.