Wow

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 182123

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "doddiemoemoe" <doddiemoemoe at ...> wrote:
>
> Lesley wrote:
> > I think if I had read a lot of these post's before reading the 
> book's I would never have picked them up after the amount of 
> religious comment's and references that have been made about them.
>  I didn't see any religious messages in any of the book's and am 
> amazed at the amount of comment's that say there were. I also read 
> the book's because I liked them and have no interest in  what 
> JKR'sreligion is.
> 

Doddie:
> You don't have to have interest in religion...some here have it, 
> some don't...some are Christian, some are Jewish, some Mormon, some 
> Muslim..no one wants to get into a comparative religion debate 
> here...(believe you me, my posts have been chastized more for their 
> grammar and the appropriate posting method before language came into 
> play...but this is an international board with a not so 
> international moderatiion...

Geoff:
I might just interject here that, as a practising evangelical Christian, 
I believe that faith is more than an "interest in religion"; I don't consider 
myself to be religious for that reason. I believe that decisions about faith 
- or its lack - are the most inportant steps in life.

Doddie:
> Therefore continue posting your view...do not stop a story for 
> story's sake still hold's true to me.

Geoff:
I think that you have to make some allowance for the beliefs of the 
authors in a series of books such as HP, LOTR or Narnia.

If JKR, Tolkien or Lewis had been writing, say,  just a run-of-the-mill 
detective novel, I wouldn't worry about the views of the author in this 
area.

However, when you consider the amount of time, energy and planning
which these three writers invested in their worlds and characters, one 
needs to ask why they considered it so important. I agree with one recent 
contributor that the Wizarding World - and for that matter Middle-Earth 
- are not overtly Christian, but it should be remembered that these 
authors did make it clear that their faith helped shape the way in which 
their fictional worlds developed and we should grant them the courtesy 
of viewing the story they were telling in the context of how they 
approached it. You may not agree with their world view, but that doesn't 
mean that it should be discarded without some acknowledgement that 
their view of life is represented there, even if only in a subliminal way.

Interpret the story to suit your own views by all means but bear in mind 
that Jo Rowling's take on it might really be what you don't wish to consider.
:-))