Some Christians Still Denounce Harry Potter as Dangerous

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irishpatrick said:
Nice slam. Quality, very un-Christian-like slam. Thank you very much for that.
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I’m sorry, but I’ve had it with the “Harry Potter is satanic” people. The only “problem” they have with HP is separating fact (truth) from fiction (things that are not real).
 
curlycool89 said:
I’m sorry, but I’ve had it with the “Harry Potter is satanic” people. The only “problem” they have with HP is separating fact (truth) from fiction (things that are not real).
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People are entitled to their opinions, as are you. It certainly does not belong in the category of being “news for crazies” to question HP.
 
irishpatrick said:
People are entitled to their opinions, as are you. It certainly does not belong in the category of being “news for crazies” to question HP.
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They are entitled to their opinions, but let’s get a grip here. People like this who question everything as "satanic/dangerous, etc " water down the terms.

Curlycool was being sarcastic and having fun. There is nothing wrong with that.
 
“The more I read the books, the more I realized how spiritually dangerous the material is,”
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So how about stop reading the books, That’s like going into a restaurant and complaining about the quality of the food and also complaining about the small quantity.
 
Most people know that I don’t find the books themselves to be great literature, or even good literature in the strictest sense, especially in the later books.

But “Satanic?” Hmmm. Certainly there is a subtle quality of ambiguity in everything from the idea of ‘witchcraft’ itself to the focus that J.K. puts onto moral aspects which could be read as morally problematic. Since anything which is not ‘good’ is ultimately ‘of Satan’ instead of, ‘of God’, in that sense, there could be elements in the book which have, consciously or not, a possible interpretation which could lead to evil.

But there are also elements which when interpreted (again, I note there is often an ambiguity, meaning that if a person looks at a situation with one focus the treatment appears at least neutral if not good, and if a person looks at the situation with another possible focus the treatment will appear bad) from a particular point of view do not appear evil at all.

While I don’t necessarily agree with the “Harry is a Christ figure” approach, when one examines some (not all) situations with the idea that Harry is a Christ figure, at least SOME of the decisions/situations/ treatments etc. appear morally good or at least neutral.

And for me, this is one reason why the series itself, despite its failures and lack of literary merit (IMO), is causing such a great deal of attention.

If this series had been less ‘ambiguous’ overall, if Harry had been presented without the ‘perception’ of being a Christ figure and presented instead as a ‘Wizard’ figure, even a mythological ‘god like’ figure, we’d see a lot less of people arguing over the morality of the series incidents.

Once a character has been identified with Christ, criticism of the character is, sometimes consciously and sometimes not, seen as criticism of Christ Himself. Further, criticism of the character is seen as criticism of the intelligence, integrity, and any ‘Christ like characteristics’ of the person who espouses the ‘goodness’ of the character.

Think about it. Do many of you get upset if you are fans of Spongebob Squarepants and somebody tells you that the show is really kind of boring? You don’t start to squeal that by god, Spongebob is the greatest literary figure on Nickelodeon and those who disagree are moral reprobates, right? Because Spongebob isn’t a Christ figure, and criticism doesn’t reflect poorly on YOUR OWN character. (Unless of course you are a real ‘superfan’ and have identified yourself as Spongebob.)
 
Rascalking said:
They are entitled to their opinions, but let’s get a grip here. People like this who question everything as "satanic/dangerous, etc " water down the terms.

Curlycool was being sarcastic and having fun. There is nothing wrong with that.
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There is also NOTHING wrong with questioning HP.
 
Reservoir_Dog said:
So how about stop reading the books, That’s like going into a restaurant and complaining about the quality of the food and also complaining about the small quantity.
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It simply took time to come to the opinion that HP is not morally sound. That is an opinion, not a mandate. If I recall correctly, our current Pope, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, did not have profoundly positive things to say about HP, and nor did the so-called chief exorcist of Rome.

Opinions abound and trying to stifle opinions just because you find them offensive is not wise.
 
irishpatrick said:
It simply took time to come to the opinion that HP is not morally sound. That is an opinion, not a mandate. If I recall correctly, our current Pope, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, did not have profoundly positive things to say about HP, and nor did the so-called chief exorcist of Rome.

Opinions abound and trying to stifle opinions just because you find them offensive is not wise.
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I don’t find opinions about HP-as-demonic “offensive” so much as I find them “ridiculous”. If you’re looking to be offended, you can easily find “not profoundly positive things to say” about every book, movie, website published.
 
Reservoir_Dog said:
I don’t find opinions about HP-as-demonic “offensive” so much as I find them “ridiculous”. If you’re looking to be offended, you can easily find “not profoundly positive things to say” about every book, movie, website published.
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And you are entitled to your opinion.
 
It leads to Wicca.

Now, there are those who will poo-poo me, and say Wicca isn’t big-well, I beg to differ.

Naturalism and Wicca are everywhere.

Me, in my little world-hanging with Catholics here, e-mailing friends, reading news, etc. didn’t realize…but wow. When I found I had Breast Cancer almost 3 years ago, not knowing anyone who’d ever gone through this-I found a great group of ladies on Yahoo!

They would “send energy,” which is something those going through treatment lack. Their signature reads “Blessed Be.”

I would send prayers. I would ask God to Bless them.

Then, discussions would include things like Reiki-energy sending techniques. I would post “if anyone here is a Catholic, you cannot have anything at all to do with this.” I got jumped on, big time. I told them in return, to ask their Priest.

Do you think any did?

Yoga and centering prayer is big too. I again posted if there were any Catholics in the Group, the exercises were one thing, but we cannot center pray. Ripped me up one side, and down the other. I posted links to articles from Catholic Authorities.

It’s everywhere.

Some Christians Still Denounce Harry Potter as Dangerous

…the trend toward witchcraft, vampirism, and occultism among teens has rapidly increased since the Harry Potter Craze began in 1997 in the United Kingdom. Written by J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series explores sorcery, witchcraft, and Wicca, noted Wohlberg…

I have a nephew who once-during a conversation started talking to me about “The Guff.” I said, the what? He explained they learned about it at CCD classes-from the Priest at their (Catholic) Church.

What?

Oh Really?

Searching, I found it in a movie with Demi Moore called “The Seventh Sign.” I asked him if he’d seen the movie, and he said yes. I explained the Guff is not a Teaching of the Catholic Church, it’s something he saw in that movie.

Hence, teenagers sometimes cannot keep what they’re learning straight, and are influenced by what they watch and are exposed to.

We all are.

God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
 
Tantum_ergo said:
Most people know that I don’t find the books themselves to be great literature, or even good literature in the strictest sense, especially in the later books.
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And even though I love the books, I’d say that’s a fair opinion. If someone wants to criticize the literary merit, that’s fine (although still subjective and opinionated, like any branch of the humanities). The problem is with those people who want to label it “satanic” is that they don’t seem to realize that this is their “opinion” and not “fact” (I guess you can call that a second time they have trouble separating fiction from reality). Some of them have this idea that all people who disagree with them are “deluded” or something.
irishpatrick said:
It simply took time to come to the opinion that HP is not morally sound. That is an opinion, not a mandate. If I recall correctly, our current Pope, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, did not have profoundly positive things to say about HP, and nor did the so-called chief exorcist of Rome.
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When he was speaking in the opinion of Cardinal Ratzinger. He was not speaking on behalf of the Pope, when he was Pope, or on behalf of the CDF.
irishpatrick said:
Opinions abound and trying to stifle opinions just because you find them offensive is not wise.
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Sure, but that doesn’t make their opinion any less ridicules. If people want to say the earth is flat they can, but we’re not going to say their opinion is equal to those who say it’s round (in this case, their opinion is simply wrong). Allowing different opinions does not mean that all opinions are equal; some are better, some are worse, and some are just plain wrong.
Reservoir_Dog said:
I don’t find opinions about HP-as-demonic “offensive” so much as I find them “ridiculous”. If you’re looking to be offended, you can easily find “not profoundly positive things to say” about every book, movie, website published.
Click to expand...
Exactly. If you’re looking to be offended you’re going to find something offensive.
 
DawnInTexas said:
It leads to Wicca.

Now, there are those who will poo-poo me, and say Wicca isn’t big-well, I beg to differ.

Naturalism and Wicca are everywhere.

Me, in my little world-hanging with Catholics here, e-mailing friends, reading news, etc. didn’t realize…but wow. When I found I had Breast Cancer almost 3 years ago, not knowing anyone who’d ever gone through this-I found a great group of ladies on Yahoo!

They would “send energy,” which is something those going through treatment lack. Their signature reads “Blessed Be.”

I would send prayers. I would ask God to Bless them.

Then, discussions would include things like Reiki-energy sending techniques. I would post “if anyone here is a Catholic, you cannot have anything at all to do with this.” I got jumped on, big time. I told them in return, to ask their Priest.

Do you think any did?

Yoga and centering prayer is big too. I again posted if there were any Catholics in the Group, the exercises were one thing, but we cannot center pray. Ripped me up one side, and down the other. I posted links to articles from Catholic Authorities.

It’s everywhere.

Some Christians Still Denounce Harry Potter as Dangerous

…the trend toward witchcraft, vampirism, and occultism among teens has rapidly increased since the Harry Potter Craze began in 1997 in the United Kingdom. Written by J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series explores sorcery, witchcraft, and Wicca, noted Wohlberg…

I have a nephew who once-during a conversation started talking to me about “The Guff.” I said, the what? He explained they learned about it at CCD classes-from the Priest at their (Catholic) Church.

What?

Oh Really?

Searching, I found it in a movie with Demi Moore called “The Seventh Sign.” I asked him if he’d seen the movie, and he said yes. I explained the Guff is not a Teaching of the Catholic Church, it’s something he saw in that movie.

Hence, teenagers sometimes cannot keep what they’re learning straight, and are influenced by what they watch and are exposed to.

We all are.

God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
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My view of this is that I am not certain whether HP leads to Wicca, or not. However, if there is even the slightest chance, than why bother allowing children to read them? They are novels and NOT required reading.

After all, as Catholics, we are supposed to work hard to avoid all things that even “might” lead us into sin. I think a great many Catholics forget that, today.
 
I don’t have anything profoundly positive to say about this fear mongering.
 
irishpatrick said:
My view of this is that I am not certain whether HP leads to Wicca, or not. However, if there is even the slightest chance, than why bother allowing children to read them? They are novels and NOT required reading.
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The kid likes to read.
 
Priest Says Harry Potter Helps Devil, Evil

Excerpts of the Article from Father Mendoza, an Exorcist:

…“I think a book like this does a lot of damage,” the priest told us. “At its core it is about sorcery. I am sure that is not the best use of a child’s mind.”…

…”If you put all these ideas in a child’s head, that he can become a wizard, the child believes that, and that is opening an avenue through which the devil can get in,” Mendoza said Friday – the eve of the release of the series’ final book…

…“There are many demonic influences, curses and forms of witchcraft,” he said. ”And it’s in that field that the devil is able to work.”

“We should not accept sorcery or wizardry as a good thing when there is so much good in the world to embrace.”…

…Another priest with parallel views is Father John Corapi who says, “It is just not wise to place yourself or your children in the near occasion of evil.”…

Why take the chance, says I?

Ouija Boards have received a big resurgence in popularity with all the Ghost-hunting on TV.
When attempting to connect, people can end up with Demonic Attachments they didn’t bargain for.
—Back in 2003 in a letter to to a German critic of the Harry Potter novels, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed serious reservations about the novels. In this letter dated March 7, 2003 Cardinal Ratzinger thanked the author for her “instructive” book Harry Potter – gut oder böse (Harry Potter- good or evil?), in which she says the Potter books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy. “It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly,” wrote Cardinal Ratzinger.

—In September of 1996 the Vatican’s chief exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth condemned J. K. Rowling’s fictional boy wizard as downright evil. In fact his exact words were, “Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil” These books contain many positive references to the satanic art, falsely drawing a distinction between black and white magic.

—Fr. Thomas Euteneuer from HLI, who is also an exorcist, in several recent interviews said that letting our children read/watch this stuff (Harry Potter, Twilight etc.)is equivalent to giving them poison. In his newsletter dated 10/31/07 he states, “Fundamentally, Harry Potter indoctrinates young souls in the language and mechanics of the occult. The fact that the fake curses and hexes are not able to be reproduced because the “ingredients” are pure fantasy is beside the point. Curses are not pure fantasy. The fact that “curse” as such, and other elements of witchcraft, are presented in a glorified state throughout the Harry Potter series means that our kids’ minds are being introduced to and imbued with occult imagery. 337 million copies of occult imagery are being consumed by our youth in the Harry Potter series alone. The books may be good writing, but the writing is about something dark dressed up as something fun. That’s a great way to get kids hooked on the occult.”
That’s enough for me!
God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
 
Reservoir_Dog said:
I don’t have anything profoundly positive to say about this fear mongering.
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Why must you take it as fear mongering, rather than simple questioning?

Should we not, as Catholics, be choosing things that build children up in the faith at every chance?

I am not one who agrees with the notion that kids reading HP is good just because they are reading…I think that is a silly point of view.
 
DawnInTexas said:
Priest Says Harry Potter Helps Devil, Evil

Excerpts of the Article from Father Mendoza, an Exorcist:

…“I think a book like this does a lot of damage,” the priest told us. “At its core it is about sorcery. I am sure that is not the best use of a child’s mind.”…

…”If you put all these ideas in a child’s head, that he can become a wizard, the child believes that, and that is opening an avenue through which the devil can get in,” Mendoza said Friday – the eve of the release of the series’ final book…

…“There are many demonic influences, curses and forms of witchcraft,” he said. ”And it’s in that field that the devil is able to work.”

“We should not accept sorcery or wizardry as a good thing when there is so much good in the world to embrace.”…

…Another priest with parallel views is Father John Corapi who says, “It is just not wise to place yourself or your children in the near occasion of evil.”…

Why take the chance, says I?

Ouija Boards have received a big resurgence in popularity with all the Ghost-hunting on TV.
When attempting to connect, people can end up with Demonic Attachments they didn’t bargain for.
—Back in 2003 in a letter to to a German critic of the Harry Potter novels, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed serious reservations about the novels. In this letter dated March 7, 2003 Cardinal Ratzinger thanked the author for her “instructive” book Harry Potter – gut oder böse (Harry Potter- good or evil?), in which she says the Potter books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy. “It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly,” wrote Cardinal Ratzinger.

—In September of 1996 the Vatican’s chief exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth condemned J. K. Rowling’s fictional boy wizard as downright evil. In fact his exact words were, “Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil” These books contain many positive references to the satanic art, falsely drawing a distinction between black and white magic.

—Fr. Thomas Euteneuer from HLI, who is also an exorcist, in several recent interviews said that letting our children read/watch this stuff (Harry Potter, Twilight etc.)is equivalent to giving them poison. In his newsletter dated 10/31/07 he states, “Fundamentally, Harry Potter indoctrinates young souls in the language and mechanics of the occult. The fact that the fake curses and hexes are not able to be reproduced because the “ingredients” are pure fantasy is beside the point. Curses are not pure fantasy. The fact that “curse” as such, and other elements of witchcraft, are presented in a glorified state throughout the Harry Potter series means that our kids’ minds are being introduced to and imbued with occult imagery. 337 million copies of occult imagery are being consumed by our youth in the Harry Potter series alone. The books may be good writing, but the writing is about something dark dressed up as something fun. That’s a great way to get kids hooked on the occult.”
That’s enough for me!
God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
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From your entiure post I pull out what I think is the most important line: “Why take the chance…”
 
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