Religion in HP

[davewitley]

Kneasy wrote:

> > Rowling is cagey.
> >  "Um. I don't think they're that secular," she says, choosing her
> > words slowly. "But, obviously, Dumbledore is not Jesus.")

> I think Jo was being careful, not further alienating those not 
very fond of
> her to start with.

*coughanvilcough*

> To a greater or lesser extent the old truism holds.
> What you get out of it depends on what you bring to it.
> Those with religious convictions will find support for those 
convictions,
> even if it's in a negative fashion i.e. a book so opposed to their 
beliefs
> that it ends up strengthening them. What does not destroy us ....
> 
> The a-religious will notice not very much of this sort of thing - 
unless
> it's shoved down their throat. And if it were I wouldn't be 
reading HP. 

Perhaps not.

But the people who see religion in HP aren't necessarily just 
finding support for their own convictions.  For example, the people 
on this board who have discussed possible Christian motifs in HP are 
not just the Christians here.

It's quite possible to be interested in religion, and to discuss it, 
without immediately relating it to one's own religious belief, 
indeed without having any religious beliefs at all.  And it's 
possible to get more out of a text than you bring to it, in religion 
as in any other area.

Some of us a-religious do notice religious things, and don't mind 
talking about it.  

David, who feels duty-bound to point out that the word a-religious 
mixes Greek and Latin