Man from ministry bans Potter

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Pax vobiscum!

I have read all of the Harry Potter books and they are some of my favorite books. There is nothing in them that is anti-Catholic or even anti-Christian. There is magic in Lord of the Rings and Narnia, too, but no Christians ever complain about those. The Harry Potter books are great and I am sad that this priest (who has probably never read them himself) took them out of the school library.

In Christ,
Rand
 
Pax vobiscum!

I have read all of the Harry Potter books and they are some of my favorite books. There is nothing in them that is anti-Catholic or even anti-Christian. There is magic in Lord of the Rings and Narnia, too, but no Christians ever complain about those. The Harry Potter books are great and I am sad that this priest (who has probably never read them himself) took them out of the school library.

In Christ,
Rand
 
In the Potter books power is sought after a generally positive
In The Lord of the rings power is a corrupting force
Huge difference
 
In the Potter books power is sought after a generally positive
In The Lord of the rings power is a corrupting force
Huge difference
Power is sought by Lord Voldemort, the bad guy. For Harry, the good guy, love is the greatest force. Have you read the books or are you just going by what someone has said?

As for the OP, if they are going to ban Harry Potter than they need to ban EVERY kind of fantasy book out there. This of course would include Lord Of The Rings. The Harry Potter books are very Christian in there main theme. Especially the last book. Rowlings pulled out all the stops on that last book.
 
I can’t say I’m any fan of HP, but dh is; loves to watch the movies each time they come on the boob tube, I mean TV. He just bought the entire set. They come in a box painted to look like a traveler’s chest.

He says there is not a reason why people of faith cannot enjoy these books. They are fiction. If one isn’t mature enough to separate fiction from reality, then do not read them. They may not be good fare for impressionable children or those who may be led into the occult world.

I think far more harm is done by people not living out their faith; not making the committment to being active in parish doings, not supporting programs for children - say, for instance a program on chastity. More harm is done to the Catholic faith by people who are lukewarm members. (To that charge, I must say I’ve been guilty in the past, but trying to make amends.)

God bless,
Mimi
 
The Potter books are full of themes of love, redemption, self-sacrifice, and loyalty. I doubt most “critics” have read them, at least not without preconceived notions. The last book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) in particular has VERY OBVIOUS Christian themes. Harry comes out as a very Christ-like figure. And contrary to Gus’ assertion above, in the end Harry, unlike Voldermort, relinguishes ultimate power not wanting to be corrupted (particuarly, he discards the “unbeatable” wand that was rightly his) and is willing to sacrifice everything, including his own life, for his friends. The magic of Harry Potter is nothing like real magic of the occult. No greater powers are at any point invoked, but rather their form of “witchcraft and wizardy” comes across more as a science in which they simply learn to master this abstract power (magic) in the same way that we, through certain testable methods, master forces in nature such as electricity.
 
I’m surprised nobody brought upt the recent news about the Harry Potter books. The author herself admited that the books have homosexual characters and are anti-christian.
 
Catholic school bans Harry Potty book series. Well, Well! Finally, someone standing up for the Catholic faith.
I don’t really understand the problem. I do trust Fr Roderick’s interpretations of the Harry Potter books and they are very positive, he even runs an audio commentary entitled the Secrets of Harry Potter and has produced almost 2 dozen episodes that discuss the positive Catholic/Christian themes that run through the books.

You can hear them by downloading them from his Harry Potter page at the SQPN website: sqpn.com/?cat=10

He also does audio reviews of the Secrets of the Lord of The Rings: sqpn.com/?cat=34

The Catholic themes in Pirates of the Caribbean: sqpn.com/?cat=12

And even the Star Wars series has Catholic/Christian themes and he does a series about those: sqpn.com/?cat=19
The author herself admited that the books have homosexual characters and are anti-christian.
I’ve not read the books but have watched all the movies. I’ve never seen a homosexual character in the movies. My daughter has the books and we’ve discussed them, the topic of homosexuals has not come up in any conversation. As for being anti-Christian, there is no doubt that some messages exist in those books that are mildly anti-Christian but there are also many many positive Christian messages woven through the tales so if the author thinks they are anti-Christian then she did a bad job of writing that theme so that people grasp it.
 
When considering an author of anything, it is most important to consider his/her presuppositions. Why is this person writing what he or she is writing? Just *what *is being said in ways that perhaps only the author says? Tom Marvolo Riddle or “I am Lord Voldemort”? Albus Dumbledore or “Male bods rule, bud”? Hey, I didn’t figure it out. It was in an LA Times article. Seems like a fascinating coincidence if Rowling didn’t intend this. Yet she said that she wrote the 7-part series as a treatise on tolerance. How many more youths are more open to witchcraft and homosexuality thanks to Rowling’s enchantments? The Church’s opposition to these books is becoming more and more intelligible the more we find out about Rowling and the skeletons in their closets.
 
The Church’s opposition to these books is becoming more and more intelligible the more we find out about Rowling and the skeletons in their closets.
The Church does not oppose these books, that is the opinion of just one nutty Priest. I think the primary reason people fear the HP series is because kids WANT to read. How can kids possibly sit down to such large books and enjoy them?

The answer is far less sinister than what the fear mongers would have you believe. Kids read them because (gasp) it is a good story.

Nohome
 
Up until last week I didn’t take a stand against the books but after the author declared this,
*"She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds “true love.” *
*“Dumbledore is gay,” the author responded to gasps and applause. *
She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. “Falling in love can blind us to an extent,” Rowling said of Dumbledore’s feelings, adding that Dumbledore was “horribly, terribly let down.” " and it was reported for this reason:*Rowling, finishing a brief “Open Book Tour” of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a “prolonged argument for tolerance” and urged her fans to “question authority.” *
Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason. time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1674069,00.html?imw=Y

It has become obvious that she is thumbing her nose at the Church and christians in general and is using her writings to hurt the Church through capturing our children hearts in order to cast a shadow over the Church, the Church teachings and Her authority. The so-called “prolonged argument for tolerance” is another way of her saying tradition and faith is wrong.

When I told my son (who I gave the last book to for his birthday acouple of weeks ago) about what she said about "Dumbledore is gay", he expressed feelings of being let down and betrayed. And so do I.
 
Censorship…freedom of speech…

Challenging and questioning authority can be good in certain situations. Some people in authority abuse their power. This applies to priests, too! (anyone remember the sexual abuse scandal??)

Some Christian groups are far less welcoming of people than others. Some so-called Christian groups think it is OK to be violent against gays (Aryan nation is a Christian group who has been violent against people).

This priest is Boston has some issues. If kids want to read the books, they can get them from public libraries. In my Catholic school experience, the school library isn’t very big anyway, and most kids use public libraries.

I think it will spur MORE interest in the series (not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion) because the “forbidden” is suddenly of interest.

I see nothing wrong with Harry Potter. I think it is a wonderful series that has encouraged a whole generation of kids to READ!!

Most people who over react have never even read the books!
 
Oh for goodness’ sake! Don’t we have anything better to worry about than a fictional character’s sexual orientation?! So what if she says he was gay, so what is she promotoes tolerance? Last time I checked, tolerance was not a bad thing. There is no sin in the text of these books, there is no sin even implied in the texts of these books. And if “magic” is the worry, then I want to see Grimm’s fairy tales removed from the shelves as well. Our over-censorship is creating a generation of kids who can’t think for themselves because the older generation consideres them incapable of doing so.
 
I have never been able to get pass the idea of cursing someone. It is hard not to get a spine chill when fortune telling is used. Why is it that this is never discussed. Witches have traditionally been understood to be evil. Yet here we have a book that turns that on its head. Each time there was curse, a class in using the occult or someone being called a witch, I cringed. Did I enjoy the books yes. Do I think they have no harm in them no. A Catholic school should not have them in the library. The priest was right.
 
Pax vobiscum!

I have read all of the Harry Potter books and they are some of my favorite books. There is nothing in them that is anti-Catholic or even anti-Christian. There is magic in Lord of the Rings and Narnia, too, but no Christians ever complain about those. The Harry Potter books are great and I am sad that this priest (who has probably never read them himself) took them out of the school library.

In Christ,
Rand
The difference is that in the Lord of the Rings, the greatest strenght does not reside in magical creatures, but in the lowest of the low, hobbits.

The Harry Potter books fall for one of the oldest of the heresies, Gnosticism.

In Gnosticism, only those who were ‘in’ on the secret Knowledge (hence the name Gnosis - Greek for Knowledge) could lead or have power. One could not aquire this on their own, but had to be born into it.

Harry Potter is much the same, only those who were born or Wizards\Witches could weild true power. ‘Muggles’ are entirely outside the picture. “Squibs” are to be looked down upon.

Power is something to advance to, even for Harry.

In the Lord of the Rings, power is completely secondary to being pure hearted. The powerful are undone simply by the hero being of pure heart and performing acts of Mercy.

Contrast this to H.P., where even Harry justifies using the Cruciatus Curse; indicating that the ends somehow justifiy the means, completely contrary to Christian morality.

Harry tried using that curse on Bellatrix Lestrange;. Does anyone think that inflicting torture on someone is somehow justified? Is that something that our children should be taught to sympathize with? “Well gee, Bellatrix is really bad, she killed my godfather, so it’s OK to try and torture her

And then he used it again on Carrow, why? Because he spat at Professor McGonagall, ah yes, there’s a great example of when to torture a person :rolleyes:

When exactly does one see Frodo or Samwise trying to torture someone? He had more reason to rake Wormtoungue over red hot coals after the cleansing of the Shire than Harry ever did to Cruciatiate Carrow. But did he?

Which is the greater example of Christian behavior? ( I’ll give you a hint, it was the one writtten by the father of a priest )🙂
 
Censorship…freedom of speech…

He didn’t burn the books and the writer is free to continue to write whatever she wants and the books are available for purchase at any secular bookstore.

Challenging and questioning authority can be good in certain situations. Some people in authority abuse their power. This applies to priests, too! (anyone remember the sexual abuse scandal??)

Well, are not Christians allowed to queston Rowling’s authority and ideas?

Some Christian groups are far less welcoming of people than others. Some so-called Christian groups think it is OK to be violent against gays (Aryan nation is a Christian group who has been violent against people).

**If you think the Ayran nation is anything close to being christian then you don’t understand Ayranism nor Christianity. I didn’t read where this priest advocated violence. **

This priest is Boston has some issues. If kids want to read the books, they can get them from public libraries. In my Catholic school experience, the school library isn’t very big anyway, and most kids use public libraries.

**And the parents are responsible for their children’s choice of reading material and if they want to allow them to read Potter they are free to allow them. But the priest is responsible for what he thinks is proper within the school for which he oversees and he made the proper choice to remove the books from that library. It isn’t like he is leading a march to the public library to burn books. **

I think it will spur MORE interest in the series (not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion) because the “forbidden” is suddenly of interest.

That is alot of thinking.

I see nothing wrong with Harry Potter. I think it is a wonderful series that has encouraged a whole generation of kids to READ!!

Maybe if parents took more of an interest in their children’s education they would have an interest in reading despite of Harry Potter. My eldest son read the first Potter book when he was 7, but he was already a lover of books and reading by himself at 5.

Most people who over react have never even read the books!

**I’m not most people and a friend of mine last month, age 53 just finished re-reading the first two Potter books, she is was upset about Rowling’s statement also, she felt deceived and she feels that the children were deceived. It really is not so much about of what she wrote, but what she insinuated, that she fooled people and she is proud of fooling people. Otherwise deceit is good. Is that a “Christian” message we should teach our children? ****I didn’t take the books from my children, but they are disappointed in Rowling and don’t understand why she said what she did. She raped their innocence with her misguided statements inorder to promote a misguided idea of what she considers tolerance, which in reality is intolerance of other’s people’s ideas and beliefs. So much for tolerance.😦 **
 
I. Each time there was curse, a class in using the occult or someone being called a witch, I cringed.
That one I took with a grain of salt, after all, I really don’t have an objection to Glindia being included in “The Wizard of Oz”

http://www.digicamhelp.com/photo_collection/mgm_new/images/good_witch.jpg

But, if you read my post above, the themes of Harry Potter are not Christian in any sense other than the most basic, Good vs Evil.

And even then, the ‘Good’ often use evil means.
 
Why ban a book that promotes tolerance and sees past stereotypes and into people’s hearts? the school needs to grow up.
 
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