Harry Potter?.......( Is it bad?)

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Rare would be the child who would beg for a Bible after reading the Bible…

Children want to play. Perhaps a child would want a Noah’s ark toy but it’s no more Noah’s ark than a oversized pencil is a wand.
 
The biggest loser in all of this is the poor chap who divorced J. K. Rowling before this was all created.
 
One of the interesting motifs of Harry Potter is that love is the most powerful magic of all. Indeed, Harry doesn’t win because he’s a great wizard, but because of love. A mother for a child, between friends, for others, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Not to whitewash the series.
 
That may be so but I don’t see many children running around wanting to play let’s love each other.

They want wizard hats and wands and fresh spells…always fresh spells.
 
🍿 Another HP thread. Oh goody. Anyone wanna place a wager on how it will stay open? :crazy_face:

I read the first three books to my son when he was in about second or third grade, I think. We would frequently pause and discuss the characters’ choices and motivations. We would talk about courage and loyalty and virtue. We would relate characters’ choices to Church teaching, or something in the scriptures (we also listened to an incredible amount of “Adventures In Odyssey” and memorized a lot of verses).

These discussions absolutely helped my son make connections between fantasy, real life choices, and our life as Catholics.

My son’s dad (my ex) is an agnostic/atheist who has no intention of shielding our son from fantasy. He introduced my son to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies before I thought the kid (who was extremely sensitive to violence) was ready.

By reading the first HP books and The Chronicles of Narnia with my son, and then also reading The Hobbit with him, I was able to navigate the conversation. During the summer before my son entered fourth grade, he read the Percy Jackson series, and was discussing with me the heroic archetypes that could be seen in his favorite series of books and movies. 🤓

He’s 14 and is still a practicing Catholic, asks questions about our faith and discusses Church teaching with me, and even asks to make sure we can get to confession sometimes. He also has toy wand from Universal Studios and a Ravenclaw costume. And we love Marvel movies. And LOTR and books by Rick Riordan are still some of his favorites.

There is room for fantasy and works of fiction in the Christian life. We see ourselves in the characters and can learn from their mistakes and their virtues. As a mom and a teacher, I am not going to plant the seeds of fear and anxiety into the minds of children by declaring everything but the Bible a temptation towards evil and separation from God.

That’s way more than my two cents’ worth, but there it is.
 
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Lee1 said:
Adults want to play too. The results can be seen all around us.
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And so? I thought your argument against Harry Potter was about “raising saints”

That adults now have extensive leisure time is a relatively new phenomenon compared to history. However, even before when adults had leisure time they tended to play sports or create items–many of them derivative. Again when comparted to Native history role playing isn’t even all that odd when compared historically.
 
That sounds great, really, but and it’s a big but, most children don’t have a guardian like that to help them navigate the underlying concepts in the books.
 
Lee1 said:
That may be so but I don’t see many children running around wanting to play let’s love each other.

They want wizard hats and wands and fresh spells…always fresh spells.
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Do you have or work with children?

Last I checked my kids were using the giraffes from their Noah’s Ark as swords to be “knights” and the chickens and pigs were trebuchet fodder. Children don’t exactly think or behave linearly or how we expect.
 
I had four lovely little children all grown up now and I allowed them free reign within reason and yes, they did read the Harry Potter books and …they’re all atheists now. Though those two things may be unconnected we might suppose.

I thought I was on a Catholic forum, yes I am.
 
Lee1 said:
I had four lovely little children all grown up now and I allowed them free reign within reason and yes, they did read the Harry Potter books and …they’re all atheists now. Though those two things may be unconnected we might suppose.

I thought I was on a Catholic forum, yes I am.
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Catholics are allowed to hold different opinions on secular matters.

There are many strong Catholics who read Harry Potter growing up. There are many people gone Athiest who did not. My brother thought Harry Potter was the most inane bit of writing ever to be invented. He’s an atheist. I was VERY into Harry Potter, grew out of it but still appreciated Harry Potter Land as an adult. I’m a practicing Catholic who’s very much a part of parish life.

It seems to me that you’re trying to find things to blame on your children’s atheism rather than what amounts to the fact that they have wills of their own.
 
I am saying that what we read affects us. If that wasn’t so uninstructed people would never have become Catholics anywhere in the world. So, the Bible is a good influence, Harry Potter is a bad influence. That’s what I’m saying and that’s the topic of this thread.

I’m also saying that if we do not control our diets, film, books etc we are going to be corrupted by other people’s ideas which may be manipulative for whatever reasons. We can see it. It’s obvious.
 
Lee1 said:
I am saying that what we read affects us. If that wasn’t so uninstructed people would never have become Catholics anywhere in the world. So, the Bible is a good influence, Harry Potter is a bad influence. That’s what I’m saying and that’s the topic of this thread.

I’m also saying that if we do not control our diets, film, books etc we are going to be corrupted by other people’s ideas which may be manipulative for whatever reasons. We can see it. It’s obvious.
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If that was truly the case people would have been Catholic/Christian before Harry Potter was ever introduced.

To me, Harry Potter is a good influence who resembles and exemplifies many Christian principles.

Your “proof” of what is obvious doesn’t hold to the historical test. We no longer have public lynchings or behadings…there are many parts of society that are vastly improved.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
To me, Harry Potter is a good influence who resembles and exemplifies many Christian principles.
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Christian principles which involve using white magic for example?

Let’s not talk about history, I’m talking about how we progress. We need to improve the human race, that won’t happen by being tolerant of evil.

There is another thing, the source of all lies is clever, it mixes truth with lies, that can easily confuse your average human. That’s why the source of our beliefs should come from scripture. Have I got that wrong?
 
I feel like this got very off topic… crime stats ?? I’m confused what was in the 77th comment section of so…???
 
Please stop spreading these embarrassing fabrications. These accusations have been disproved again and again and again on thread after thread after thread…and yet you continue to post them.
It is disappointing that a Catholic priest would repeat such nonsensical hearsay with absolutely zero knowledge of the actual books or author.
I’ll take her word that her Christian upbringing inspired much of the symbolism of the books and that Wicca / real witchcraft plays no role in her fictional world. I think the author knows her intent better than you and some random internet priest… unless you claim to read the hearts and souls of men?
 
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Thanks, we are on topic generally speaking.

I’d just say we can test our thoughts by asking ourselves a simple question, does this move me away from God, is it neutral or does it move me towards God.

Harry Potter in my opinion is not neutral and doesn’t lead to God and so is not good.
 
I take Harry Potter as fun… And i’m kinda in love w/ it… to me its neutral, and has not effected my love for God
 
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