Benedict and Harry Potter

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What do you guys think of Pope Benedict condemning the Harry Potter books?
 
Well, apart from the letter, the Pope has so far made no public pronouncement about it, and he did write it then as a Cardinal.
 
I think new registrations would do well to search the archives before asking inflammatory questions. (yeah, we just lost 4 months worth of posts, but there’s *plenty *of Harry Potter villification from before that)

:twocents:
tee
 
To be fair, many, many, children got distorted views of reality when they became too obsessed with the series.
 
Caesar said:
To be fair, many, many, children got distorted views of reality when they became too obsessed with the series.
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Children get distorted views whenever they read works of fiction. Doesn’t necessarily prove that Harry Potter’s evil; just that children need to be guided in separating fact from fiction.
 
Personally, I have never read the books. I have watched the movies. I would say I can see why a religious leader (and even the followers) would condemn Harry Potter as it is all about witchcraft and wizardry which is forbidden in the Scriptures.

JOL
 
Thank goodness I’m not Catholic because I love Harry Potter 🙂
 
Hello_Operator said:
Thank goodness I’m not Catholic because I love Harry Potter 🙂
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I’m not catholic either, at least not anymore. It doesn’t matter if what you are, if Scripture forbid it, it forbids it and it is final.

Galatians 5:19-21
19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

2 Chronicles 33:6
And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

There is more verses on this if you would like me to post them.

JOL
 
Milliardo said:
Children get distorted views whenever they read works of fiction. Doesn’t necessarily prove that Harry Potter’s evil; just that children need to be guided in separating fact from fiction.
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Thanks for that, I agree completely. While the Holy Father certainly speaks authoritatively in matters of faith and morals, it hardly seems reasonable to expect his opinions concerning popular literature to carry the same weight. Now, one could reply that such literature in some way touches on faith and morals. However, it only does so in the same way that everything “touches on faith and morals”—which side of the bread I should butter, what brand of toothpaste I use, which particular TV shows I watch, what type of car I drive. At that point, the phrase “touches on faith and morals” reduces to a collection of words without any real meaning, since there would be nothing that *doesn’t *touch on faith and morals. So, the Catholic idea of papal infallibility must apply to something much more concretely doctrinal than an evaluation of a series of children’s books.

I highly recommend John Granger’s book, Looking for God in Harry Potter (2004).

Truly,

Don
+T+
 
I have read this letter a few times and I still don’t see where he condemns it. This is a letter to the author of a book that attacks the Harry Potter books. His point in the letter is to thank the author for the insightful book. He nowhere condemns the Harry Potter books.

Regarding whether the books are evil, I don’t think they are. I have read them and I didn’t think they were that bad. I may be biased though since I liked the books. The bible and the church fathers condemn witchcraft but this isn’t exactly the same thing. It is not like it is an instruction manual on how to do certain spells. No one is going to go out and say ‘luminos’(a latin word that means light) and get light. It is a fiction book that is about witches and wizards. No one has problems with Gandalf being a wizard(I realize the differences between the LOTR and Harry Potter).

I do understand why someone would not want their children to read them though. Children are very impressionable. So I support any parent who would not let their child read them.
 
jimmy said:
I have read this letter a few times and I still don’t see where he condemns it. This is a letter to the author of a book that attacks the Harry Potter books. His point in the letter is to thank the author for the insightful book. He nowhere condemns the Harry Potter books.

Regarding whether the books are evil, I don’t think they are. I have read them and I didn’t think they were that bad. I may be biased though since I liked the books. The bible and the church fathers condemn witchcraft but this isn’t exactly the same thing. It is not like it is an instruction manual on how to do certain spells. No one is going to go out and say ‘luminos’(a latin word that means light) and get light. It is a fiction book that is about witches and wizards. No one has problems with Gandalf being a wizard(I realize the differences between the LOTR and Harry Potter).

I do understand why someone would not want their children to read them though. Children are very impressionable. So I support any parent who would not let their child read them.
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I guess it depends on how grounded in truth you are. Children are impressionable, but so are we. We are children of God regardless how old our earthly bodies are. For instance, you may hate gossip, yet if you hang around gossipers for some time, you may give into the temptation of gossip. I believe the same to be true with witchcraft, though, it depends on the motives. I don’t believe anything to be true of what I see on tv. Not even the news, though it may be real news that is happening, it is given with the slant of what the network believes, in other words, not unbiased.
 
I tried to watch a Harry Potter film, and fell asleep. I think what probably troubles a lot of folks is the materialistic, secular juggernaut that accompanies the books. The release of the book is seen as some kind of meaningful event that people should really care about. There is an aura of obsession with this particular series. People camp out waiting to purchase the book. They covet it. That’s not healthy, and in many ways an occasion for sin. Not everyone falls into that category, of course, but enough that parents should probably sit down with their kids and bring some realistic focus on the true value of book and help them see that it’s just entertainment, and nothing of any real worth.

The lives of many of the saints are way more fascinating than anything Rawlings can produce, and those are true stories. Heck, even the Catholic mass is way more interesting. Why not juxtapose that with Potter?

I don’t think Pope Benedict has ordered Catholics not to read Harry Potter. I believe he gave his opinion of the work, but he was hardly speaking from the Chair of Peter.
 
JOL said:
I guess it depends on how grounded in truth you are. Children are impressionable, but so are we. We are children of God regardless how old our earthly bodies are. For instance, you may hate gossip, yet if you hang around gossipers for some time, you may give into the temptation of gossip. I believe the same to be true with witchcraft, though, it depends on the motives. I don’t believe anything to be true of what I see on tv. Not even the news, though it may be real news that is happening, it is given with the slant of what the network believes, in other words, not unbiased.
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That is very true. A person who allows familiarity with evil has a much easier time of being atracted by it. It is easy to get pulled into gossip when you listen to it every day. You hear something you want to comment on and your mouth just opens up. I think there is a difference(I might be wrong though) though between reading a fiction book and being around what is the actual evil.
 
Out of curiosity, I checked out a book-on-tape from the library once with the first Harry Potter book on it. There was one thing that really bothered me. At one point the narrator said that Harry “hated” his step-parents, or whoever they are. And they are mean, but it startled me. In all the morality literature and stories the hero who has been mistreated never is said to hate his tormentors. And “Hate is not a family value” is a popular bumper sticker. So why is hate now touted by the most popular books in the world?

And the fact that these books took off so fast and went around the world and made the author a multi-millionaire gives me pause. I just don’t trust anything that is so popular with the “world”. It smacks to me of the stuff of pacts with the devil.

And who would you trust to be able to discern the truth about the subject matter? I would say that Fr. Amorth, being an exorcist, has credentials for being able to know what is of the devil much more than the average person.

I listened to a set of tapes by Matthew Arnold, “The Trouble with Harry” that does a great and thorough job of explaining the problems with Potter. Arnold is a convert, and was caught up in the occult before his conversion. He says that he finds it is people who have experience with the occult and witchcraft who have the most problems with Potter. I would compare it to a child who wants to play in the street, whereas his parents have the experience to know the dangers. I think we need to listen to those who have experience. That’s why God gave us the Church.

You know the devil is a supreme deceiver, and he’s very good at it. Be careful. Sometimes you really can’t trust your own understanding. Look what happened when Adam and Eve did.
 
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