Is Harry Potter Initiating Children Into Magic, Wicca, Witchcraft & Satanism?

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I in no way think that instantly people turn to wicca, witchcraft, or satanism after reading Potter series. What I do think is that it allows people to think wicca, witchcraft, and satanism are not that big of a thing and they are very serious. I also think that when the supposed hero begins to do wrong things to accomplish what seems to be a good thing, then I take issue.
 
Revelation1217 said:
The video in the article posted below claims that the Harry Potter series of books and movies is leading our children into things such as sorcery, curses, black magic, demon possession, witchcraft and satanism:

shatteredparadigm.blogspot.com/2008/07/harry-potter-series-of-books-movies.html

What is your opinion about the material the video presents? Should we let our kids read and watch Harry Potter?
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When this movie first came out, an elderly person told me the same thing. That the Harry Potter movie(s) will lead our children into things such as sorcery, curses, black magic, demon possession, witchcraft and satanism: :eek:

I did a couple of research papers on the “Effects of Media on Children” for one of my college classes a couple of months ago. The results of what I learned by doing the research was not a pretty picture. Children, teens, etc. are very much influenced by the media (movies, video’s, radio, video games etc)
 
It’s all in knowing your own child. There are children who can read or watch anything and not be affected ‘because it is a story’ and there are others who can’t. (My oldest boy was terrified of puppets. I told him that puppets were not real. He looked shocked and insisted puppets ARE real. What he meant by ‘real’ it turned out was, you can touch them and they can touch you.) My nephew had to be taken out of “ET” in hysterics when the plant died, and out of “Milo and Otis” when the kitten and puppy got washed down stream clinging to a board.

On the other hand, my grandson who was in the fourth grade and reading on the first grade level, and whose teachers had told his mother he would never progress, was so intrigued by the first Harry Potter movie that he asked me if I would buy him the book. I told him I would if he would promise to read it. He did, and I did. He struggled and sweated his way through that book and to the surprise of his teachers and his mother, brought his reading up two levels within three or four months. We also used the movies as springboards for discussions that were surprisingly deep. He asked me once if Snape was a good guy or a bad guy, and I told him that I didn’t think Snape had decided yet which he was. That was the first time Paul had ever heard you got to CHOOSE if you were going to be a good guy or a bad guy! It led to quite a discussion, in ‘bits and bites’ of course, as he grew older and we saw more movies. And seeing the Weasly family he commented that he had always thought being poor was a bad thing, but they looked like they were having fun. Then we talked about all the things we did together that were ‘for free’ and how the Weasly family probabl did those things too.

I would never just hand my kid a book I had never read, though. And I would not recommend The Golden Compass or any of the myriad of vampire books, especially not to girls.
 
Appleby said:
It’s all in knowing your own child. There are children who can read or watch anything and not be affected ‘because it is a story’ and there are others who can’t. (My oldest boy was terrified of puppets. I told him that puppets were not real. He looked shocked and insisted puppets ARE real. What he meant by ‘real’ it turned out was, you can touch them and they can touch you.) My nephew had to be taken out of “ET” in hysterics when the plant died, and out of “Milo and Otis” when the kitten and puppy got washed down stream clinging to a board.

On the other hand, my grandson who was in the fourth grade and reading on the first grade level, and whose teachers had told his mother he would never progress, was so intrigued by the first Harry Potter movie that he asked me if I would buy him the book. I told him I would if he would promise to read it. He did, and I did. He struggled and sweated his way through that book and to the surprise of his teachers and his mother, brought his reading up two levels within three or four months. We also used the movies as springboards for discussions that were surprisingly deep. He asked me once if Snape was a good guy or a bad guy, and I told him that I didn’t think Snape had decided yet which he was. That was the first time Paul had ever heard you got to CHOOSE if you were going to be a good guy or a bad guy! It led to quite a discussion, in ‘bits and bites’ of course, as he grew older and we saw more movies. And seeing the Weasly family he commented that he had always thought being poor was a bad thing, but they looked like they were having fun. Then we talked about all the things we did together that were ‘for free’ and how the Weasly family probabl did those things too.

I would never just hand my kid a book I had never read, though. And I would not recommend The Golden Compass or any of the myriad of vampire books, especially not to girls.
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That’s good. 🙂

Unfortunately, there are many children, teens etc. out there who don’t have anyone to guide and teach them like they way you have taught your children.
 
If I ever have a kid who’s interested in fantasy and adventure books, I’ll have him read the great myths by Tolkien and Lewis.
 
I think it depends on the child. I have a thought of having a mini book club for your child/ren and yourself. Read the books they are reading chapter by chapter. Then have a discussion about it’s contents after the chapter to clarify what values were good and which one are against the Church’s teaching. It would be a constructive way to discuss Harry Potter(if the kids is interested in reading it)
 
Revelation1217 said:
The video in the article posted below claims that the Harry Potter series of books and movies is leading our children into things such as sorcery, curses, black magic, demon possession, witchcraft and satanism:

shatteredparadigm.blogspot.com/2008/07/harry-potter-series-of-books-movies.html

What is your opinion about the material the video presents?
Click to expand...
The person who made this video is not very smart, technologically inept, and has no concept of fictional literature.
Should we let our kids read and watch Harry Potter?
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Yes, because it’s good literature that properly portrays good, evil, humanity, sacrifice, etc. If you don’t let your kid read Harry Potter, then cross Tolkien, Lewis, Shakespeare, Dickens, and most other good literature right off your list.

Check this book out:

catalog.osv.com/Catalog.aspx?SimpleDisplay=true&ProductCode=T497
 
Sure said:
Yes, because it’s good literature that properly portrays good, evil, humanity, sacrifice, etc. If you don’t let your kid read Harry Potter, then cross Tolkien, Lewis, Shakespeare, Dickens, and most other good literature right off your list
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There are great dissimilarities between Rowling and Tolkien/Lewis and I would not take this statement at face value until you have done some additional research.

When we say that Harry Potter could be dangerous for children, what do we mean? I propose the following list of dangers:
  1. That children might become convinced that occult powers are real
  2. That children might become tempted to try the occult in the form of spells, potions, etc.
  3. That children might become convinced of the innocence of the occult
  4. That children might become ambivalent towards morality
An overview of the Harry Potter world:
In the world of Harry Potter, seemingly ordinary people wield magic, often in hiding from “muggles” (ordinary people). The story is set in the real world (London to be precise). Otherwise normal children are discovered to have powers, which changes their lives.

An overview of Middle Earth:
Middle Earth is not like the real world. It isn’t a magical world that exists hidden from view, which exists side by side with the real world. Who wields magic in Middle Earth? Wizards, not normal people at all - legendary figures like Gandalf and Saruman. There is no way for children to aspire to be like them, because they are never portrayed as normal children. From the get-go, the story is obviously myth.

As an afterthought, but perhaps still important: Rowling’s hero character, Harry, tells lies throughout the entire story. He’s sometimes punished, but more or less encouraged even by the supposedly wise Dumbledore. The danger here is clear: children, after reading this, may believe that lying is permissible when done for the right reasons. Parents should remind them that lying is always sinful.

Again, these are just some points to consider when discerning whether a particular book presents a danger to children. You might arrive at a different conclusion, or you might be inclined to agree.
 
Here we go again with the HP topic. I’m amazed it generates such interest while no one seems concerned about the possible demonic influences of movies such as “Dark Knight” , “The Hills Have Eyes” or even “Hannibal Lecter Movies” which all seem far more dangerous to me in their violence and glorification of evil. These were the only examples I could think of but come on HP is a kids book and doesn’t aspire to anything else but light entertainment. If you really want to get worked up watch regular television and see what your kids are really being influenced by. premartial sex, violence, a society of no absolutes, homosexuality, paganism …need I go on. :eek:
 
Miles_Mariae said:
There are great dissimilarities between Rowling and Tolkien/Lewis and I would not take this statement at face value until you have done some additional research.

When we say that Harry Potter could be dangerous for children, what do we mean? I propose the following list of dangers:
  1. That children might become convinced that occult powers are real
  2. That children might become tempted to try the occult in the form of spells, potions, etc.
  3. That children might become convinced of the innocence of the occult
  4. That children might become ambivalent towards morality
An overview of the Harry Potter world:
In the world of Harry Potter, seemingly ordinary people wield magic, often in hiding from “muggles” (ordinary people). The story is set in the real world (London to be precise). Otherwise normal children are discovered to have powers, which changes their lives.

An overview of Middle Earth:
Middle Earth is not like the real world. It isn’t a magical world that exists hidden from view, which exists side by side with the real world. Who wields magic in Middle Earth? Wizards, not normal people at all - legendary figures like Gandalf and Saruman. There is no way for children to aspire to be like them, because they are never portrayed as normal children. From the get-go, the story is obviously myth.

As an afterthought, but perhaps still important: Rowling’s hero character, Harry, tells lies throughout the entire story. He’s sometimes punished, but more or less encouraged even by the supposedly wise Dumbledore. The danger here is clear: children, after reading this, may believe that lying is permissible when done for the right reasons. Parents should remind them that lying is always sinful.

Again, these are just some points to consider when discerning whether a particular book presents a danger to children. You might arrive at a different conclusion, or you might be inclined to agree.
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Harry Potter is set in a completely magical world also…because the magic stuff doesn’t really exist. It’s just fiction. Children don’t aspire to become magical like Harry Potter because Harry Potter isn’t real. Kids get that.

As to your 4 points, the same could be said of reading many many books including Tolkien, Lewis, or Shakespeare.

Teach your children to read good literature. There is much good modern literature, it just means you have to take time to find it.
 
Sure said:
Harry Potter is set in a completely magical world also…because the magic stuff doesn’t really exist. It’s just fiction. Children don’t aspire to become magical like Harry Potter because Harry Potter isn’t real. Kids get that.

As to your 4 points, the same could be said of reading many many books including Tolkien, Lewis, or Shakespeare.

Teach your children to read good literature. There is much good modern literature, it just means you have to take time to find it.
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Okay, you can have the last word. I just hope parents think about this before exposing their kids to any literature/movvies/art.

Nice talk 🙂
 
Miles_Mariae said:
Okay, you can have the last word. I just hope parents think about this before exposing their kids to any literature/movvies/art.

Nice talk 🙂
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I dont think the books were a problem until I woke up with a start and accidently changed my wife into a ferret…
 
Sierrah said:
Here we go again with the HP topic. I’m amazed it generates such interest while no one seems concerned about the possible demonic influences of movies such as “Dark Knight” , “The Hills Have Eyes” or even “Hannibal Lecter Movies” which all seem far more dangerous to me in their violence and glorification of evil. These were the only examples I could think of but come on HP is a kids book and doesn’t aspire to anything else but light entertainment. If you really want to get worked up watch regular television and see what your kids are really being influenced by. premartial sex, violence, a society of no absolutes, homosexuality, paganism …need I go on. :eek:
Click to expand...
Dark Knight is about the triumph of the principled hero (Batman). It doesn’t have premarital sex, it casts the deranged society in a negative light, etc. The only hangup is the violence - but there’s nothing inherently wrong with the movie.

Best movie I’ve seen in a long time, anyhow.
 
Miles_Mariae said:
There are great dissimilarities between Rowling and Tolkien/Lewis and I would not take this statement at face value until you have done some additional research.

When we say that Harry Potter could be dangerous for children, what do we mean? I propose the following list of dangers:
  1. That children might become convinced that occult powers are real
  2. That children might become tempted to try the occult in the form of spells, potions, etc.
  3. That children might become convinced of the innocence of the occult
  4. That children might become ambivalent towards morality
An overview of the Harry Potter world:
In the world of Harry Potter, seemingly ordinary people wield magic, often in hiding from “muggles” (ordinary people). The story is set in the real world (London to be precise). Otherwise normal children are discovered to have powers, which changes their lives.

An overview of Middle Earth:
Middle Earth is not like the real world. It isn’t a magical world that exists hidden from view, which exists side by side with the real world. Who wields magic in Middle Earth? Wizards, not normal people at all - legendary figures like Gandalf and Saruman. There is no way for children to aspire to be like them, because they are never portrayed as normal children. From the get-go, the story is obviously myth.

As an afterthought, but perhaps still important: Rowling’s hero character, Harry, tells lies throughout the entire story. He’s sometimes punished, but more or less encouraged even by the supposedly wise Dumbledore. The danger here is clear: children, after reading this, may believe that lying is permissible when done for the right reasons. Parents should remind them that lying is always sinful.

Again, these are just some points to consider when discerning whether a particular book presents a danger to children. You might arrive at a different conclusion, or you might be inclined to agree.
Click to expand...
Trust me, you can stand waving your wand and yelling WINGARDIAM LEVIOSA! for three days and absolutely nothing will ever rise into the air. 😃

As for the fact that Harry does make mistakes and do bad things sometimes,well does not that prove that Harry is a human being? Does that not make the child realize that its okay for kids to make mistakes? Or why do we send children to Confession?

My initial impression of the original HP book was that it was the fantasy of an absued foster child. Even my sister and I used to imagine we were not really part of our family but had been left on the doorstep by people who would some day come and save us from having to be related to our sisters. How much impetus would Harry have to do the same? (And isnt the Knight Bus the same kind of thing?)
 
Appleby said:
As for the fact that Harry does make mistakes and do bad things sometimes,well does not that prove that Harry is a human being? Does that not make the child realize that its okay for kids to make mistakes? Or why do we send children to Confession?
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It’s not the fact that he does bad things, but that he is encouraged to do them by a seemingly very wise man. Nor does he really express contrition, but rather takes it as a fact of life that sometimes lying is necessary

I appreciate people providing their points of view on this. It is my opinion that the resemblance Harry Potter’s world bears with the real one, and the fact that children are very likely to **identify **with him (and secretly **wish **that they could be like him, powers and all) presents a special danger.
 
Miles_Mariae said:
It’s not the fact that he does bad things, but that he is encouraged to do them by a seemingly very wise man. Nor does he really express contrition, but rather takes it as a fact of life that sometimes lying is necessary

I appreciate people providing their points of view on this. It is my opinion that the resemblance Harry Potter’s world bears with the real one, and the fact that children are very likely to **identify **with him (and secretly **wish **that they could be like him, powers and all) presents a special danger.
Click to expand...
They WISH their parents would be murdered and the murderer was still after them – that they lived with an abusive aunt and uncle and a terrorist cousin and that someone was always trying to kill them?

You must know some really odd children.
 
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