Harry Potter and exorcists

  • Thread starter Thread starter dallas_r
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Spyridon said:
NO @Don_Ruggero, do NOT leave us!!
Click to expand...
I second or third or whatever number we’re up to, this.

Don_Ruggero, some of us “Amurricans” try to take a global view. One of my grad schools had students from over 100 nations in my class (I think the total number was 115). I work at a company with offices and employees all over the world and spend a huge amount of my day dealing with non-Americans. We need people like you to remind us of the non-US-centric view.

I have not 100 percent agreed with you on every single thing, but in general I appreciate your posts and see where you are coming from, even though I personally may have my hangups with some Protestant faiths or whatever. Please don’t stop posting.
 
Oh, yeah; Book 5 should have been called “Harry Potter and the Teenage Sulks,” and Book 7, although it had some neat scenes in it (the battle of Hogwarts and breaking into Gringotts) was more like “Harry Potter and the Dismal Camping Trip.” I reread those books recently and found myself figuring out ways to cut material.
 
Also, St. Hedwig is the patron saint of orphans and Harry’s owl in named Hedwig.
 
Last edited:
It gets like that with any popular author. Usually the first book or two are really good, but once the author gets a huge following then the public will basically buy anything that comes out and it becomes a matter of rushing things into print to make sales while the franchise is hot.
 
alice24 said:
media-paranoid soccer moms in a british village church circle
Click to expand...
Just as a point of information, but we don’t have ‘soccer moms’ in Britain, and it’s football not soccer ☺️

As for Harry Potter books, if Fr Amorth has said they ought to be given a wide berth (and I think he has) then I think we would do well to pay heed.
 
Last edited:
I am still a bit conflicted regarding Harry Potter.

Just for the sake of argument, let’s say, the books should not be read by children. What effect will it have? Some parents will not allow their children to read the books, I suppose. But the children, I think, that would be most “at risk” from reading Harry Potter books would be children being raised in non-Christian or nominally Christian homes.

The whole discussion calls for an immense amount of speculation and conjecture. Will some children in the United States be encouraged to actually look into practicing witchcraft and enter into it because they read the books? I think the answer is yes. However, the vast majority of children who read the books, 99% or 99.9%, won’t give it a second thought.

But make no mistake, witchcraft is not mumbo jumbo for those who get serious about it. It can definitely connect persons to powers of darkness. I don’t know how many people in the United States practice some form of witchcraft. The percentage in the U.S., Italy, and other countries may vary considerably.

It seems to me that people who are seriously broken in some way might be at greater risk to turn to the occult than most others who come from solid christian families.
 
Last edited:
@Gertabelle

Well Madame,

We have formed a coalition here at H.P.E. and would just like to say…


But you’re right about the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, let’s go practice those. We can come back to this thread and others such like at recess. Class dismissed. 🧐
 
I might feel differently about it if witches weren’t a pretty established part of children’s fantasy literature for decades now.

Legions of kids during the 20th century alone and into the 21st century have
  • read a children’s or young people’s book involving witches or warlocks and/or
  • dressed up as a witch or a male magician/ warlock for Halloween and/or
  • seen some movie or TV show aimed at children and involving witches or “magic” (whether the witch is good, evil, funny, scary, revealed to be a total fake at the end, killed at the end by the good child or the good witch, etc.) and/ or
  • played some game involving witches or witchcraft (when I was a kid there was a popular children’s board game called “Which Witch?” ).
The overwhelming majority of kids have not grown up to join covens, get involved with the occult or become possessed as a result, and when children might grow up and stop going to church, virtually nobody says “I left because of this book/ TV show etc. I saw about witches when I was 8 years old.”

People need to be realistic and not hysterical about such things. There is a huge difference between a kid playing with a Ouija board or reading tarot cards, and a kid reading a Harry Potter book or watching “The Wizard of Oz” on TV.
 
Last edited:
I’m thinking you didn’t read through the thread… Father’s been refuted on this front.
 
MtnDwellar said:
Really? If five plumbers told you Drano will damage your septic system, will you look for additional expert opinions?
Click to expand...
A better analogy would be if five nutritionists told you toast was a carcinogen, or vaccines causes autism.

In this case, none of the above can say there is a direct link. Even the simplest here knows that we do no have millions in need of exorcism from these books. The correlation is simply not there, numerically. Sure, they might really be bad for some people, as might any particular video game or book. Such decision are best handled locally as so many factors come to play.

The one sure norm we have is the catechism. We really should stop trying to have others live according to our conscience in areas that are non-essential, or that vary from person to person. There are people here that should not be here, as posting is a greater stumbling block to sin than Harry Potter. Yet that is a call that only the individual can understand.

If in doubt, go to your priest or someone who knows you and you trust for spiritual guidance.
 
Last edited:
I know that exorcisms are not my strong point, but I do know math. 400,000,000 million copies of the books have been sold. How many people do we know or suspect have come under demonic influence as a result? Do we have reports of people going off mentally disturbed after reading them?

Finally, do you think we have more cases of disturbed individuals that use Harry Potter as the focus of their mental illness than use the Bible?

I mean, the historical data simply does not bear out this claim that Harry Potter is more of an evil influence than a million other things we have to decide on.
 
I have tried to find some support for what he said and been unsuccessful. Far be it for me to suggest to a priest what he should do, but I know I would not be so willingly to believe what a demon told me. Deceit is kind of their stock and trade.

A fire spell burned a house down? This whole thing strikes too close to Jack Chick for me.

Again, those inclined to take fantasy seriously should avoid them, as some should avoid Dungeons and Dragons, or some video games. If you ever think it is more than a book, quit.
 
Last edited:
Well, I don’t blame him for that. Twas a bit silly thread. It did have the effect of bringing back a ton of nice childhood memories about all the books, TV shows, movies, and games I enjoyed as a child that involved a witch or magic spells.
 
I wonder now if it was wrong for me to have watch Bewitched as a child. What says the forum? It seems to me Samantha was not to blame, at least, because she was born a witch.
 
Last edited:
I was not allowed to watch Bewitched! Nor was I allowed to see 'Escape from Witch Mountain".
 
You were lucky – think how many of your brain cells were spared by these simple actions.

😂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top