Catholic priests in Poland burn Harry Potter and Twilight books

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CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN a Polish city burned a number of books they claim are sacrilegious over the weekend, including some from the popular Harry Potter and Twilight series.
In a Facebook post showing photographs of the public book burning, priests in the city of Koszalin quoted Old Testament passages. They urged believers to destroy the enemies of God, telling them to “burn their idols in the fire”.
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Catholic priests in Poland burn Harry Potter and Twilight books
 
I wouldn’t say “never.” Scripture presents it as a good thing in acts, showing it as a sign of the word of the Lord prevailing mightily (cf. Acts 19:18-20).

It’s kind of hard to tell what was going on there–as it wasn’t just books (as the article notes, there was even a Hello Kitty umbrella). Maybe people were asked to get rid of anything that were an idol to them in their homes, or things they felt led them away from God, just like in Acts.

It seems from the other stuff the priest has done–a travelling confessional in a van and evangelism via text messages–he’s trying to be creative with evangelization. This one may have been a dud (or maybe not), but we can’t blame him for making a mess trying, as Pope Francis says: “¡Hagan lío!”
 
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I have read that some clergy do not object to Harry Potter. What is being contested here as sacrilegious?
 
Genesis315 said:
Maybe people were asked to get rid of anything that were an idol to them in their homes, or things they felt led them away from God, just like in Acts.
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That would seem to be what was going on.

People were asked to give up (by disposing of) items that they, themselves, were treating as idols.
They urged believers to destroy the enemies of God, telling them to “burn their idols in the fire”.
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*For what good shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? (Mark 8:36)
 
Book burning is purely symbolic and obsolete. Digital is the present not the future. I’m ok with book burning as a symbolic gesture. I’m also ok with flag burning, and bra burning…
 
I’m ok with anyone burning anything they own. Safely, of course.
 
Folks used to burn leaves, raked up from their lawns. I assume they owned them, in some sense.

Can’t do that anymore, mostly.
 
I disagree, error has no rights, and leading people into sin is wrong too. If I had the chance to burn every copy of the Communist Manifesto, I would do it. The ideas within caused more death, more suffering, and less liberty than burning the book.
 
Catholic priests showing others how to root out evil by burning a pile of bad books isn’t obsolete.
 
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I assume this burning of objectionable material was simply a symbolic act to draw attention to the fact that the priests believe there is a danger in such entertainment.

I have no objection to people reading such material for entertainment but I do accept the right for priests to make their opinions known in such ways.

As an aside, when I was the teacher at a Catholic school my superviser wanted to replace teaching the students the bible with teaching them Harry Potter. We shared a class of 60 students and as usual I opposed what she was trying to do with regards religion. She left to become the Religious Co-ordinator at another Catholic school. In this context (which may not be the case) I would support the priests actions wholeheartedly.
 
Dan Brown’s books, Divinci Code and others, really led me to discover the truth about the Catholic Church.
 
Like the Catholic faith needs any more bad publicity? The sentiment behind this may have been worthwhile (rid yourselves of idols) but surely in Poland of all places they should know the connotations and connections associated with burning books in such a public way?! A little prudence may have been a good thing here.
 
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