Some Christians Still Denounce Harry Potter as Dangerous

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faithfully said:
The first book came out in Nov. 2001. We are 9 years out.

Statistics PLEASE on the number of children who have joined the occult because of Harry Potter… Or not even because of, but have read it…
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The American Religious Identification Survey gives Wicca an average annual growth of 143% / 11,454 for the period 1990 to 2001 (8,000→134,000 - U.S. data / similar for Canada & Australia).[1][22]
[edit] Non-Religious

The first HP book came out in 1997.
 
Holly3278 said:
I do not think that Harry Potter is “satanic” but I do think that for certain children and teens, it could lean to an unhealthy curiosity of the Occult. That said, I don’t think this is likely to happen with most teenagers and children who are considered to be mentally stable.
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If it happens with even one person, isn’t that too much?
 
faithfully said:
The first book came out in Nov. 2001. We are 9 years out.

Statistics PLEASE on the number of children who have joined the occult because of Harry Potter… Or not even because of, but have read it…
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This is really an excellent point. Argument is not evidence. So where is the evidence of HP-induced wickens?
 
Reservoir_Dog said:
One would have to have a tenuous grasp or no grasp of the concept of Christianity to get pulled into wicca by HP. Even stone cold atheists laugh at this idea.
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There are a great many “Catholics,” especially children, who have at best a tenuous grasp on their faith. Someone spoke of a five year-old child reading an 870 page HP book…that has not even reached the age of reason, and yet the child is filling its mind with HP to a much more dense degree than the faith.
 
DawnInTexas said:
Whom shall I follow for the truth?

An Agnostic and Charmed Anglican -or- Catholic Exorcists and the Pope?

God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
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A himSince neither read the books I don’t think eithers is opinion is very useful
 
irishpatrick said:
WE are, after all, call to avoid things that even “might” pull us into sin.*

While this is true… It seems we have to discern what MIGHT pull us. AND if we can’t do that, then we should avoid

Public school is a hot bed for drugs, and wild teenage sex, and the list goes on. But we send our children anyway. UNLESS, we realize there is NO WAY our child can handle it. We pull them out. Some just fear the place all together, and home school out the gate…

What about work? How many people are exposed to less than appropriate business acts. The entire Stock Exchange should be shut down. We KNOW that many are lured to insider trading. And many go to prison for just that. The Stock Exchange offers a ripe breeding ground for the weak to damage their souls by breaking the commandment… Thou shalt not steal. Look at Martha Stewart… and now one should reconsider whether or not they allow themselves to be pulled into a pretty home. And look at how the CEO’s of Enron destroyed hundreds of lives… from a financial perspective.

Regardless… for the adult, If you’re not able to read something without being drawn into it as if it were real. In the case of HP, out looking for wands, and how to make potions, then you should not read these books. The lure may prove too much.

If you’re an adult considering allowing a pre teen/teen to read, well, you have to determine whether or not that child thinks they can do what cartoon characters can do. In all reality, I don’t let my small children watch otherwise harmless cartoons that show superhuman abilities. I don’t want them jumping off the roof to mimic this behavior. But they are 5. However, whenever reading material involving dark topic I think it can be an opportunity to have a discussion about important topics, while discussing something they are interested in. The conversation becomes richer and more memorable. I really enjoyed HP. I can see sitting with them, and reading them later… and talking about the good and the bad. If at that age they seem too immature… then we’ll pass.
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irishpatrick said:
There are a great many “Catholics,” especially children, who have a best a tenuous grasp on their faith. Someone spoke of a five year-old child reading an 870 page HP book…that has not even reached the age of reason, and yet the child is filling its mind with HP to a much more dense degree than the faith.
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A kid’s going to have imaginary friends, monsters in the closet and get scared when the wind blows through the eves, so reading HP isn’t anything more than what it means to grow up.
 
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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I didn’t realise Fr. Thomas Euteneuer had also spoken out against it. It seems to be a lot of exorcists are speaking out against it:eek:. I *really *trust Fr. Thomas’s judgment aswell.

Oh well I have been pilloried on a similar thread for keeping HP from my son…it’s meant to be profoundly Christian according to some??? Oh well I am confused but I guess my gut instinct may be correct afterall if Fr. TE has spoken.

Peace to all
 
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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I was wondering if the show Bewitched set off as big a controversy in it’s time?
 
irishpatrick said:
And you are entitled to your opinion.
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Come on, IrishPatrick, you can do better than that. The issue is whether the HP series turns children to witchcraft. This is something potentially verifiable.


  1. *]Are there kids who have read HP who now dabble in witchcraft? Yes.
    *]Are there kids who have read HP but ***don’t ***dabble in witchcraft? Yes.
    *]Are there kids who ***haven’t ***read HP but dabble in witchcraft nonetheless? Yes.
    *]Are there kids who haven’t read HP - ***and ***don’t dabble in witchcraft either? Yes.

    #2 establishes that HP is not a cause. #3 establishes that HP is not ***the ***cause. #4 establishes that there ***must be a cause ***somewhere.

    So IrishPatrick, what do you think the cause is?
 
Apollos said:
Come on, IrishPatrick, you can do better than that. The issue is whether the HP series turns children to witchcraft. This is something potentially verifiable.


  1. *]Are there kids who have read HP who now dabble in witchcraft? Yes.
    *]Are there kids who have read HP but ***don’t ***dabble in witchcraft? Yes.
    *]Are there kids who ***haven’t ***read HP but dabble in witchcraft nonetheless? Yes.
    *]Are there kids who haven’t read HP - ***and ***don’t dabble in witchcraft either? Yes.

    #2 establishes that HP is not a cause. #3 establishes that HP is not ***the ***cause. #4 establishes that there ***must be a cause ***somewhere.

    So IrishPatrick, what do you think the cause is?
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  1. Are there kids who read HP and than dabble in the occult? Very likely.

    Nuff said.
 
faithfully said:
The first book came out in Nov. 2001. We are 9 years out.

Statistics PLEASE on the number of children who have joined the occult because of Harry Potter… Or not even because of, but have read it…
Click to expand...
I’d be interested in seeing the stats on that, too. I read the first book, and watched part of one or two of the HP movies. I can see both sides of the debate. The stories are about witchcraft and it made me a little uncomfortable but at the same time, they are fiction.
 
irishpatrick said:
Are there kids who read HP and than dabble in the occult? Very likely.

Nuff said.
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And you can prove they would NOT have dabbled in the occult if they hadn’t read HP? How did so many people get involved in the occult before these books were published?
 
Gift_from_God said:
As kids, we all read the books. There were times when I’d be up at 3:00AM on a school night still reading. I know people that have read them a dozen times and we all turned out alright. We didn’t become Satan worshipers and I’m still Catholic, so it’s harmless. It’s called differentiating between fact and fiction
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Definitely.
irishpatrick said:
WE are, after all, call to avoid things that even “might” pull us into sin.
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I’ve said many times that if you have trouble telling fiction from reality, then you have a problem, and you need to speak to a psychiatrist, of a GP or someone about it. In that case, you have a serious mental health problem that needs to be diagnosed and taken care of for your own safety and the safety of others.

Most people on the other hand are intelligent enough (actually, scrap intelligence, just “street smart” enough) to differentiate between fiction and reality and what is right and what is wrong.

Just to look at how ridicules the argument is, here’s a good read. Some guy actually took spells from HP (and our other favourite “John Chick say’s it’s evil” game, D&D), and pretty much proved how stupid the argument is. Yep, HP is such a lead in to the occult that people will bore of it in a couple hours if they actually try :rolleyes:
irishpatrick said:
The American Religious Identification Survey gives Wicca an average annual growth of 143% / 11,454 for the period 1990 to 2001 (8,000→134,000 - U.S. data / similar for Canada & Australia).[1][22]
[edit] Non-Religious

The first HP book came out in 1997.
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And that proves nothing because the statistics are from 1990-2001. You don’t have anything that says “most of this was in the 1997-2001 period”, so at the very least all you’re trying to do is manipulate statistics for your own end (this is the reason why we say “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics”).
 
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