Is Harry Potter the Son of God?

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 171141

Katie:

Also, may I beg to point out that Evangelical Christianity is
incredibly different from mainstream Christian religions, and quite
disturbing to a lot of us (Catholic here). I was unaware that JKR WAS
an Evangelical Christian...where is this public knowledge? I would
really be disappointed if 6 wonderful and creative books turned out
to be a vehicle for some kind of religious message. YUCK.

Ken:

I think that you should know that you are being deeply offensive here.
Perhaps you don't intend to be but you are. You seem to be buying into
the common secular American demonization of Evangelical and
Fundamentalist Christianity which I struggle to comprehend because it
is propagated by those who apparently think of themselves as tolerant
and open minded. Tolerant and open minded towards everyone but me, I
suppose. 

I think that its twin sources are the decision made by the media a
decade or two ago to label radical Islamists as "fundamentalist" for
lack of a better word and the distress that it has caused in some
circles when conservative Christians began to assert themselves
politically in this country. There is absolutely no connection and no
similarity I can see between "fundamentalist" Islam and
"fundamentalist" Christianity. And conservative Christians have as
much right as anyone to exercise their votes. We are a minority, if
you are afraid of us all you have to do is vote and you will win. I
strongly recommend that you do that anyway, every chance you get. But
somehow we have become everyone's favorite whipping post and it is
amazing how quickly all these kind, gentle liberal people have become
experts at wielding the lash.

I am a little curious as to what you perceive as the incredible
differences between evangelical and other Christians. I've spent a
fair amount of time worshiping with a local Missouri Synod Lutheran
Church and I can tell you that I felt 100% comfortable there. As far
as I could tell the only thing we differed on was the nature of the
communion elements. Hardly an incredible difference. I presume you
consider Lutherans "mainstream"? If not them then who? All Christians
have the same core theology and evangelical/fundamentalist Christians
have very little beyond that core theology. There is nothing in our
Bible that isn't in yours. I am not aware of *anything* which your
local Baptist church teaches that your local Catholic church does not
teach except that you restrict to your hierarchy things we allow laity
and local ministers to perform. We have very spare worship services
compared to most other denominations. We do evangelize more than most
but I am not sure that the Catholic Church gives up anything to us on
that front. I think it is mostly in our political and social stands
that evangelical Christians differ from other protestants and very
often then we find our closest ally is your Pope! You have nothing to
fear from us and no reason to be upset if JKR were one of us. But I am
quite sure she is not.

I don't see Harry Potter as a manual for the faith. I have trouble
seeing how Harry could become Christ without becoming blasphemous
instead. He is a decent kid and if I had any I would not be concerned
if my children adopted him as a role model. But Spotless Lamb of God
he is not. To have this series suddenly revealed as a massive
Christian allegory is something that I think would upset most readers.
It certainly would upset me, simply because it would have to come
completely out of left field. At this point the insertion of any
significant, direct Christian message would be horribly out of place.
I don't expect it to happen. I think you have nothing to worry about
there and also absolutely no reason to be disturbed by your
Evangelical Christian neighbors and friends.

Ken