Some Christians Still Denounce Harry Potter as Dangerous

[irishpatrick]

**Questions for all:

Do you believe the Devil exists?

Do you believe Demons exist?

If you believe in either: do you believe that the Devil/Demons have the ability to tempt people away from Christ and towards bad actions?**

[those questions–imo–are fundamental to the discussion about HP. Many people do not believe in any of the above…or they hold a very neutral belief at most]

 

[CountrySinger]

That’s exactly the same effect The DaVinci Code had on me. In fact, learning more about Catholicism played a part in my returning to the Church.

I bought The DaVinci Code for the reason of the whole dig deal about it being anti-Catholic (this was before I reverted, and I hated the Church). If people didn’t fuss about it, I would have never known. I drove my devout Catholic mom nuts.

 

[irishpatrick]

I bought The DaVinci Code for the reason of the whole dig deal about it being anti-Catholic (this was before I reverted, and I hated the Church). If people didn’t fuss about it, I would have never known. I drove my devout Catholic mom nuts.

So what? There are very likely many more stories of people on the edge with the faith who left because they thought the stuff in the book is real.

 

[bbarrick8383]

So what? There are very likely many more stories of people on the edge with the faith who left because they thought the stuff in the book is real.

So what? There are very likely many more stories of people on the edge with the faith who came back because the book was brought to public attention by Christians who denounced it from the day it was released.

Not a very good argument imo.

 

[CountrySinger]

So what? There are very likely many more stories of people on the edge with the faith who left because they thought the stuff in the book is real.

If a fiction book does that, then I’m sad for humanity. Either people are too weak to take responsibility for their actions, or people are putting too much power into a fiction book.

 

[utah_rose]

“The more I read the books, the more I realized how spiritually dangerous the material is,” he said. “Even though it’s fiction there is a lot of reality woven in it. My warning is that Harry Potter is a major contributor to Wicca."
christianpost.com/article/20101119/some-christians-still-denounce-harry-potter-as-dangerous/

I don’t think some of the movies are a problem as they are clearly fantasy type things and action movies, but I began reading the books, and they definitely emphasize occult type things and take it for granted that these things (spells, etc.) are okay. I was amused to see that “dark magic” is forbidden, where all of the magic things they are learning are definitely not okay.

Now, if she had written these books as children learning to be magicians (and there are plenty of tricks in these) she could have made them just as interesting, but dabbling in the occult definitely is not.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Either people are too weak to take responsibility for their actions, or people are putting too much power into a fiction book.

Exactly!

People without God don’t believe in nothing - they believe in anything, as G.K. Chesterton once said. HP does loads for those people, I’m sorry to say.

I’m sad for humanity too.

 

[bbarrick8383]

But it would not matter whether or not HP was written or not for those people. As IrishPatrick said himself, if a person has a tendency to want to watch porn it is going to take a considerable amount of self control just to get on the internet. The internet itself is not an evil thing, it’s what people does with it.

If HP had not come out, those people would be hopping on the first train they find to take them where they want to go. And for the most part, it is totally up to them to find their way. A Christian in their face telling them a book is evil because it has magic in it, is only going to make it even more popular.

Harry Potter could have tanked, the DC could have tanked. Neither one of those scenarios would make these peoples lives any better off. They either need to find what they are looking for and realize for themselves that it’s a joke, or they will never find their way even with someone trying to tell them they are wrong.

I’d be interested to see what our resident ADF druid has to say on this topic. I play World of Warcraft, I happen to play a Druid on WoW. I have no intention to ever go digging around with the ADF druid business just because that game portrays druids in such a cool way.

 

[Apollos]

That is simply not true. Some kids will be more open to the suggestions in HP< while others are not.

Ok, so being more open to suggestion is the cause. Now how to we make kids less open to suggestion?

 

[bbarrick8383]

"Dreams of my Father "

LOL.

I concur.

 

[PRmerger]

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Hi bbarrick8383,

I respect you and love reading your posts on abortion/life issue threads; I’m sorry this has to be a topic we disagree on.

The question I posed before was what those outside of the Church would think of us (faithful Catholics) raising HP up, not criticizing it. They would be even more confused, wouldn’t they? Yes, in the end, people will choose their own path, but Catholics promoting this series are doing a lot more damage for people’s views of Mother Church than anything. Entertainment for Catholic adults or not, people tend to just walk away with “Harry Potter” and “Catholic.” We may have best interests at heart, but God knows not everyone has a formed Catholic conscience and they may be thinking something completely different.

For the record, I am not trying to win a debate here, OP irishPatrick - Simply going off of experience with anti-Catholic relatives.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Not you too, PR!!

 

[irishpatrick]

So what? There are very likely many more stories of people on the edge with the faith who came back because the book was brought to public attention by Christians who denounced it from the day it was released.

Not a very good argument imo.

…

 

[bbarrick8383]

Hi bbarrick8383,

I respect you and love reading your posts on abortion/life issue threads; I’m sorry this has to be a topic we disagree on.

The question I posed before was what those outside of the Church would think of us (faithful Catholics) raising HP up, not criticizing it. They would be even more confused, wouldn’t they? Yes, in the end, people will choose their own path, but Catholics promoting this series are doing a lot more damage for people’s views of Mother Church than anything. Entertainment for Catholic adults or not, people tend to just walk away with “Harry Potter” and “Catholic.” We may have best interests at heart, but God knows not everyone has a formed Catholic conscience and they may be thinking something completely different.

For the record, I am not trying to win a debate here, OP irishPatrick - Simply going off of experience with anti-Catholic relatives.

Thank you for the kind comments, I enjoy reading your posts as well.

Well, I’ve been around protestants all my life. Some of them were avid church goers, some were not. I’d like to think that my perception of Catholicism is different than most protestants, but I’d also like to think that my understanding of the perception that protestants have of Catholics is in tune with how they feel.

That being said, I’m not even sure I came across as how I wanted it to, what I remember from the days of The Davinci Code coming out, it seems like Catholics were at the front leading the voice of disdain for that particular book.

People who are a long way from Church teaching are going to ignore Catholics when they do this, and they are going to go buy that book. It is nothing but a free plug for that author.

The closest comparison I can share is traditional Catholic radio and television.

If you haven’t had the chance go listen to Lino Rulli. Every once in awhile he will poke fun at other Catholic shows by speaking in a low monotone voice for a few minutes. I don’t know how many ex Catholics and non Catholics he has attracted to his show by his change of pace/humor. He may push the limits sometimes, but you can not expect everyone to listen to some of the other stuff, even on his radio channel.

The point is, some of the things he says are questionable. He barely got hired to the Catholic channel. But he has brought many people back to the Church, or at least given the Church a new face by adding some humor and entertainment to it.

 

[PRmerger]

Not you too, PR!!

Afraid so.

I think that this is something that good Catholics can disagree on.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Thank you for the kind comments, I enjoy reading your posts as well.

Well, I’ve been around protestants all my life. Some of them were avid church goers, some were not. I’d like to think that my perception of Catholicism is different than most protestants, but I’d also like to think that my understanding of the perception that protestants have of Catholics is in tune with how they feel.

That being said, I’m not even sure I came across as how I wanted it to, what I remember from the days of The Davinci Code coming out, it seems like Catholics were at the front leading the voice of disdain for that particular book.

People who are a long way from Church teaching are going to ignore Catholics when they do this, and they are going to go buy that book. It is nothing but a free plug for that author.

The closest comparison I can share is traditional Catholic radio and television.

Peace to you and thank you .

Many people will rebel as they always have. A friend of mine picked up The Davinci Code because it was so far from Church teaching. They do that. We shouldn’t “cast our pearls before swine” anyway. (No, my friend is not a swine, but we know what Matt. 7:6 meant by that) And Jesus told us we would be hated because of His name. But there are those out there simply searching…searching for truth. We will invite them home first and foremost with our actions, but also with our words. Being critical of HP if it is accomplished in the most charitable way will help others see where we stand without turning them off to the Faith. My views go as far to say that the books/movies should be outlawed entirely, but I know there are those of you adult fans who would only have it outlawed for impressionable children and teens, or am I mistaken? I haven’t been following the whole thread, I’m afraid.

If you haven’t had the chance go listen to Lino Rulli. Every once in awhile he will poke fun at other Catholic shows by speaking in a low monotone voice for a few minutes. I don’t know how many ex Catholics and non Catholics he has attracted to his show by his change of pace/humor. He may push the limits sometimes, but you can not expect everyone to listen to some of the other stuff, even on his radio channel.

The point is, some of the things he says are questionable. He barely got hired to the Catholic channel. But he has brought many people back to the Church, or at least given the Church a new face by adding some humor and entertainment to it.

I wonder if he might have a site with a few clips for me?

Speaking of someone who brings Catholic humor and entertainment into the discussion, Patrick Madrid, a revered Catholic apologist, not only keeps his words in line with Church teaching, but keeps them uplifting and interesting. But I’m sure you’ve heard of him.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Afraid so.

I think that this is something that good Catholics can disagree on.

I will agree with that. I do only know you from these forums, but like bbarrick, I can say my respect for you and your posts is enough to say that our disagreements all come down to Catholic conscience. My conscience has me stepping a bit away from the HP arena, but it is different for others. It does not make one conscience better or worse than the other. What else can I say?

 

[rlg94086]

I don’t want to derail the conversation into a fine point of logic, but** if HP were a cause, then all kids who read HP would dabble**.

No. That is a logically invalid argument. It is possible that HP could lead some kids to dabble in the occult and not lead other kids to dabble in the occult. There is no reason to believe that a cause results in the same effect 100% of the time.

For example: sending a text while driving is a cause of car accidents; however, not every text while driving results in a car accident.

 

[estesbob]

Are there kids who read Harry Potter and dabble in the occult as a result of doing that reading? VERY LIKELY.

BTW, to set you straight, I never said anything should be banned.

There is no evidence whatsoever that reading HP makes one very likely to dabble in the occult.