[the_old_crowd] debates about HP and Witchcraft

[Sherry Gomes]

Kathy W:

Yes, that sort of person would claim to be Conservative and would claim to
be Christian, but that is not what Conservative Christians are really like.
That  sort of individual is a fanatic. Fanatics, no matter the religion or
politics, are dangerous.

As a rule, I think, cCs believe that a Force (personal or impersonal) is
doing battle with Christianity. That Force can move in subtle ways and
entrap unsuspecting minds. Conservative Cs feel that they need to be ever
watchful. Constant Vigilance sounds like a cC motto.  In many cases, any
playing around at witchcraft, as imagination or for real, is seen as an
opening for evil influences. 

The issue may be that in HP, the wizards and witches are good. In C.S.
Lewis, the witch is bad.  The idea being that children are being made to
feel comfortable with something that is evil (witchcraft).

Many churches have no issues with the HP books, and many have created
discussion groups and children's programs around HP books

For the record, I'm not a Conservative Christian, but I did grow up in a cC
community. 



Sherry now:

my very best dearest friends in the world are extremely conservative
Christians.  They home school their children; go to church every week; read
the Bible and pray together individually and as a family, support
missionaries, vote conservative, and in every possible way, they would be
considered fundamentalist Christians.  Except that one, they never judge
anyone, as I know from personal experience, and two, they love the Harry
potter books as a family.  they believe they have taught their four children
that witchcraft is not real, and they see no problem with the kids reading
the books, no more than they have with them reading any other books with
magic, or watching movies like Wizard of Oz or Disney movies.  In fact, the
Potter books got the oldest boy, nearly 16 now, to love reading.  He'd been
a terrible reader before, but he tried the first book and got hooked.  Now
he's an avid reader.  They had to buy two books  when HBP was released, so
the mom could read and the oldest boy could read.  I feel so frustrated when
the media proclaims that Christians hate the HP series, because I know so
many of them who revel in the books!  I guess it's just another sign of how
a few loud mouthed fanatics can give a whole segment of population a bad
rap.

Sherry