Since it is Father Eutener’s quote that receives so much attention, I thought it might be instructive to look for more evidence from Fr. Eutener. One important question I have is whether he has actually read the books. This is important, because while his condemnation is oft-repeated, the substance of his arguments is not.
Below is a recent interview that touches on this topic:
conversiondiary.com/2010/08/interview-with-exorcist-part-ii.html
I have excerpted some of the quotes for space considerations.
Q: I’ve noticed that you tend to get an extremely negative reaction when you say that the Harry Potter books are dangerous. Some folks hear that and think, “I know a lot of people who read Harry Potter and remained strong in their faith…and, conversely, they don’t know anyone who has read these books and gotten involved in the occult…?
I would encourage anyone who holds the beliefs mentioned above to read the articles by Michael O’Brien on Harry Potter and other occult phenomena…He holds that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling writes out of a completely pagan worldview, and … the totally pagan mindset of the Harry Potter…onslaught is what is dangerous.
Fr. Eutener seems to rely strongly on Michael O’Brien, rather than arguing from his own knowledge. His chief criticism here is the worldview of J.K. Rowling, which Eutener says O’Brien has characterized as “completely pagan”. A critique of Rowling’s worldview, however, is not the same thing as a critique of her literature. If we are to judge literature as fit or unfit from the standpoint of the author’s worldview, we are into murky waters indeed. Take Tolstoy, for example. “Are we to judge War and Peace” by Tolstoy’s womanizing, his gambling, his wacky ideas of history, his sometimes depressive personality, or his mysticism? – or, can we read the texts and react to that?
He continues:
The Harry Potter series will not make a person demon possessed; it will, rather, normalize the existence of demons and infuse the occult language and imagery that celebrates them into the minds of the young. It is absolutely not true to say that this stuff doesn’t get people involved in the occult. Go and look at the Harry Potter section in Barnes and Noble and see what occult and witchcraft phenomena this series has spawned for our youth.
Now we start to get Father’s opinion, but also we start to diverge from the actual content of the texts. For instance, I don’t believe that “demons” figure at all in Harry Potter. The central evil character is a human (Voldemort). I am unaware of any demonic terminology used, but am certainly open to anyone who can show me this in the text. What is missing here is a big “for example…” Ditto on the “occult language”, unless somebody can show me that “expelliarmus”, “expecto patronum”, or “stupefy” are real pagan spells.
His second point seems to be an argument from geography, and might be paraphrased as: “Potter books are found on bookstore shelves near materials I disapprove of.”
It is also my contention that the vampire craze is a direct result of a decade of Harry. Pretty soon the Harry Potter generation, who are now a decade older, get bored with the childish “Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry” and spell casting, and they need a little more “mature” form of occult entertainment.
This point is interesting, because Eutener seems to have a tendency to lump Potter and “vampire books” in the same breath. I can’t defend the Twilight series - I have never read them. They are quite possibly horrible trash, but it is not fair to tag Rowling with someone else’s work.
To his point about proceeding from Potter to other works, the children of Potter could just as well grow up to read Tolkien, MacDonald, Chesterton, Dostoevskii, Gogol, etc.
Q: What about other books that involve magic? A lot of people say, for example, that C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia brought them closer to Jesus …?
Following from what I said above, I believe that the infiltration of pagan images and occult themes into the minds of our children has a devastating effect on them.
Tolkein’s (sic) and Lewis’s works come entirely out of a Christian worldview, despite the use of magic and some occult powers. In Lewis and Tolkein, the use of these preternatural powers is not ambiguous like it is in the Harry Potter series, and the figures who use them are either totally good and Christ-like…
I’m not sure who introduces the mis-spelling of “Tolkien” here (I’ll chalk it up to the blogger), but it speaks volumes to the (un-) familiarity a certain side of the debate has with this literature.
Here we are back to arguing the worldview of the author. An author’s worldview may or may not intrude on his story. If you think it does, it is up to you to first demonstrate what the author’s worldview is, and then show how it is reflected in the story.
The second part about the use of “preternatural powers” in Potter vs. Tolkien echoes O’Brien again. Father’s point about characters who are totally good vs. the ambiguity of Potter can be easily explained by the fact that Potter is human – he has strengths and weaknesses. Voldemort comes closest to being all bad, but even there, Harry is almost moved to pity the man he eventually comes to call by his human name “Tom”.
The bigger point here, though, is that Eutener/O’Brien has mis-characterized Potter magic, which is mechanistic. Potter magic has none of the mystical content that magic has in Tolkien.
In short, as far as Eutener is concerned, I find no evidence that he has read Potter. I do find evidence he has read O’Brien and probably Tolkien. I given that so many have been affected by his brief comments, I for one would be more impressed if his arguments relied more on his own analysis.
