Debates about HP and Witchcraft

[pippin_999]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Mike & Susan Gray" <mikesusangray at ...> 
wrote:
>
> > I've seen it argued that it's okay to 
> > purchase a newly released Harry Potter book on Shabbat 
> > because the misery of going without it would ruin the oneg 
> > (delight) of the holiday!
> 
> Now, *that* is cute! (In a nice way.)
> 
> In general, thanks for all your comments. 
> 
> I have a feeling that the cC belief not only on a personal God but the
> personification of evil in the form of the demonic plays an important role
> in creating a structure of religious beliefs within which something like the
> HP books is potentially (though not necessarily) perceived as dangerous.
> Other religious systems that also have a place for personal evil could
> probably have similar disputes.

Pippin:
The Jewish concept of magic is not demonic -- it's  strongly forbidden 
by halakha (the code of Jewish law based on the scriptures and the Talmud)
like a lot of other things --working on Sabbath, eating pork, 
etc. -- that may or may not be  dangerous or evil in themselves. The
Talmud is full of charms and spells, which the Rabbis decided a long
time ago could no longer be used because one could no longer be
sure of distinguishing them from forbidden magic.


Of course there's no commandment against reading about witchcraft.
The fear seems to be that children won't take these works as fantasy,
which may seem absurd -- but on the other hand, Rowling herself admits
to having been confused about this. Is it really strange that others who
aren't familiar with fantasy have the same problem? After all, the  trolls,
dragons and unicorns are treated in a very naturalistic way. Though we
catch a glimpse of him in the Forest, the supernaturally evil monster 
which is the trademark of fantasy IMO doesn't present himself until page 
293 of PS/SS.

Pippin
devil's advocate :)