Warnings about Harry Potter

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Brooklyn

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Next week a new Harry Potter movie comes out, and I thought it would be a good time to re-warn everyone about this series. There was a thread previously on this forum about Harry Potter, and I was amazed at how many people defend these stories.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=340846&highlight=HARRY+POTTER

Father Gabriel Amorth, the Vatican chief exorcist, has warned about Harry Potter time and again. For example:
The Vatican has never been a fan of Harry Potter, but its chief exorcist has gone one step further and condemned J. K. Rowling’s fictional boy wizard as downright evil.
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“Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil,” Father Gabriele Amorth, the Pope’s “caster-out of demons”, said.
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The books contained many positive references to the satanic art, falsely drawing a distinction between black and white magic, he told the Daily Mail in London. Father Amorth also said he was convinced that Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were possessed by the devil.
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Last year the Pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger, described Harry Potter as a potentially corrupting influence. The Vatican’s criticism comes as two Australian academics suggest a new generation of spiritual seekers are using popular fiction and medieval myth to add magic and enchantment to their lives. Lynne Hume and Kathleen McPhillips, editors of a new collection of essays on popular spiritualities, said sacred religious texts and scriptures were in many places being superceded by medieval myths, comics and fantasy literature.
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theage.com.au/news/arts/harry-potter-satanic-popes-exorcist/2006/08/31/1156817037586.html

Another:
In early December, the Diocese of Rome’s official exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, warned parents against the Harry Potter book series. The priest, who is also the president of the International Association of Exorcists, said Satan is behind the works. In an interview with the Italian ANSA news agency, Father Amorth said, “Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil.”
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The exorcist, with his decades of experience in directly combating evil, explained that J.K. Rowling’s books contain innumerable positive references to magic, “the satanic art.” He noted that the books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction “does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil.”
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In the interview which was published in papers across Europe, Father Amorth also criticized the disordered morality presented in Rowling’s works, noting that they suggest that rules can be contravened and lying is justified when they work to one’s benefit.
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Of note, the North American coverage of Father Amorth’s warnings about Potter significantly downplayed the warnings. The New York Times coverage which was carried in many other media outlets left out most of the information in the European coverage which is quoted above. It only quoted Father Amorth as saying, “If children can see the movie with their parents, it’s not all bad.” The Times report also fails to mention that the movie version has significantly cleaned up Harry’s image, making it less troublesome than the books.
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homilia.org/Potter/exorcista.htm

I’ve recently read two books on exorcisms, and they both warn about Harry Potter. Please, parents, don’t take your kids to see this movie, and keep these books out of your house. The devil is real, and he don’t play.

Mary
 
Oh Dear God! Please not this AGAIN!

:bigyikes::ouch:

Proud Squib logging off now to go wait in line for my HBP tickets! :rolleyes:
 
SaltySirena said:
Oh Dear God! Please not this AGAIN!

:bigyikes::ouch:

Proud Squib logging off now to go wait in line for my HBP tickets! :rolleyes:
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Curious as to why you would discount what the chief exorcist has to say about this?
 
His OPINION is not official Church teaching, and therefore not binding upon me.

I am able to judge for myself what is good for my children and what is not.

I also think his opinion is based on ignorance of the books’ real content and an unthinking, reactionary prejudice against any literary portrayal of magic.
 
These HP threads have gone on and on ad nauseum. At this point everyone has heard all angles I think and made their decisions.

It’s good of you Brooklyn to be concern and warn people and give info, I just don’t think engaging in more arguing on yet another thread about it is going to yield any results:)
 
SaltySirena said:
His OPINION is not official Church teaching, and therefore not binding upon me.

I am able to judge for myself what is good for my children and what is not.

I also think his opinion is based on ignorance of the books’ real content and an unthinking, reactionary prejudice against any literary portrayal of magic.
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Did you read the excerpts from the articles:
Last year the Pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger, described Harry Potter as a potentially corrupting influence.
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You are, of course, free to do as you please. But I would ask you to at least give it some thought. Do you believe the devil is real? He truly is our enemy, and we have been warned by those who face him in exorcisms every day that he works in many ways, and these exorcists tells us that one of the reasons why demonism is on the rise in the world is because of Harry Potter books.

I tend to believe those who are on the front lines.

Mary
 
Brooklyn said:
one of the reasons why demonism is on the rise in the world is because of Harry Potter books.
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Okay, that’s it. I’m out. It’s obviously hopeless.

A bunch of teenagers muttering made up Latin-inspired phrases in a fictional work is a cause for the rise in demonism in the world.

How do you prove a “rise in demonism” anyway? :rolleyes:

And with all due respect to the Holy Father, the Bible is a “potentially corrupting influence” if you follow the wrong examples in it or interpret the message incorrectly. Just as it seems many people do with Harry Potter.
 
SaltySirena said:
Okay, that’s it. I’m out. It’s obviously hopeless.

A bunch of teenagers muttering made up Latin-inspired phrases in a fictional work is a cause for the rise in demonism in the world.

How do you prove a “rise in demonism” anyway? :rolleyes:

And with all due respect to the Holy Father, the Bible is a “potentially corrupting influence” if you follow the wrong examples in it or interpret the message incorrectly. Just as it seems many people do with Harry Potter.
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Here is an interesting article on it from last year:

paranormal.suite101.com/article.cfm/cases_of_demonic_possession_soar

A couple of quotes from the article:
At that National Paranormal Convention UNIV-CON in 2007, Father James LeBar, exorcist for the Archdiocese of New York, claimed that one in every 10 Catholics in the United States has either witnessed or been part of an exorcism. That’s not just an American trend – exorcisms are experiencing a revival the world over, particularly within Catholic traditions. Concerned by a growing interest in the occult and demonology, the Vatican began serious preparations as recently as 2007 to take on Satanism
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According to Father James LeBar, “Ten years ago I had no cases and now I have three hundred.” What’s behind these dramatic numbers? Father Thomas Williams, the Dean of Theology at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome, stated on The Early Show in February of 2008 that, “There may be two reasons. One is that there’s an increased interest in the occult, even in Satanism. Where I live in Italy, Satanic worship is actually on the rise. And this is true for a lot of places in Europe. And the second reason I think is because people are less careful. Honestly, they maybe pray less. They play around with things they shouldn’t play with, and then they get into trouble…. Anyone can be possessed, but I think you really have to open yourself up to it. You have to be un-careful. And I think the spiritual demons, or bad angels, do exist, and I think it’s an extreme thing, but it happens sometimes.” Williams acknowledged that many cases of demonic possession in the past turned out to be the psychological diseases of today. For instance, Tourette Syndrome, schizophrenia and epilepsy were all thought to be caused by demonic forces at one time
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In December of 2007, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI began organizing exorcist squads to tackle the rise of Satanism and demonic possession. Even as the Catholic Church currently takes measures to equip itself with a larger number of trained exorcists, people all over the world who feel they are under the oppression of the demonic go without help. Pope Benedict XVI hopes to combat this problem with his exorcist squads. When the training has reached completion, each Bishop will have a number of priests who are properly trained to deal with demonic possession. According to Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist, “You have to hunt high and low for a proper trained exorcist. Thanks be to God that we have a Pope who has decided to fight the Devil head on.”
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SaltySirena said:
How dare you! That was a prayer! As in, Oh dear God, give me strength to deal with this ridiculous nonsense all over again.
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Do you believe in Satan, or do you think he is just a figment of our imagination?
 
Here is my take on the matter: Almost everything you can think of in our world has the potential for good or for evil. The Harry Potter books also have the potential for good or for evil.

If the book is read as an allegory, the book can be a powerful tool for good. If it is taken at face value (and you believe that the Harry Potter world is real), then it can be a tool for evil, drawing those poor misguided individuals who are attracted to the occult.

Detractors often miss the core struggle of the novels, the battle of good against evil. The books portray real evil in its villains, and real Good in its protagonists. Read as an allegory, Magic can be seen as representative of one’s gifts or talents, and the boy wizard, Harry, though untrained, defeats the evil and self-serving wizard Voldemort by means of the most powerful magic of all: Love. Good wins over evil. This is the core theme of the novel and the allegory operates in much the same way as in Tolkien and in the books of C.S. Lewis.

Peace and Blessings,
Terrysa
 
Brooklyn said:
Did you read the excerpts from the articles:

You are, of course, free to do as you please. But I would ask you to at least give it some thought. Do you believe the devil is real? He truly is our enemy, and we have been warned by those who face him in exorcisms every day that he works in many ways, and these exorcists tells us that one of the reasons why demonism is on the rise in the world is because of Harry Potter books.

I tend to believe those who are on the front lines.

Mary
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:rolleyes: Most people who are against the HP series have NEVER EVEN READ ONE BOOK!
Not one…NOT ONE…spell in the HP series is real! They are plays on Latin words, mostly.
I will be seeing the HP movie with my kids. I also read all the HP books with my kids. They have certainly never shown any signs of “demonism” or wicca or witchcraft.
 
Brooklyn said:
Do you believe in Satan, or do you think he is just a figment of our imagination?
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Of course I believe in Satan.

I also think it is a form of idolatry to pay so much attention to him that we have no room for anything else! The best defeat of Satan, most of the time, is to IGNORE him!

And that really is my last comment.
 
Just posting the obligatory “that’s-not-what-the-Pope-really-said” reference that should be included in all Potter-related threads:

Pre-16 on Harry Potter [Akin]

Many news outlets have regrettably clung to this belief that the Pope condemned Harry Potter (or even commented directly on the series at all). Alas, this is a misrepresentation of the facts. I think this irritates me more than anything related to Harry Potter: when people ascribe to the Pope words or sentiments he has not expressed.

Fr. Amorth is deeply involved in spiritual happenings which most of us cannot begin to comprehend. I would expect him to be overly-sensitive to things like this. He also is pretty harsh towards rock music for the same reasons. I greatly admire him and the work he does and I immensely enjoy his books, but I respectfully disagree with his take on Potter (and rock music).

If one is looking for an unequivocal condemnation of these books from the Church, there simply isn’t one. There are good Catholics who fall on both sides of the issue. We can all argue our points, but in the end, no one on either side can argue from Church authority.
 
Oh My Goodness.
Dearie me.

I, and every single one of my friends regardless of age, race, colour or creed has read the Harry Potter books, one of my friends is even in some of the films, and I can quite safely say that not one of us has been corrupted by evil and are in the need of an exorcism.

They are fantastically written books about an imaginary world of Magic!
I fail to see the link between a book that has no real basis in reality, and has in no way inspired any of my friends to start waving around 9 1/2 inch Hawthorn wands shouting ‘avada kedavra’ at each other, and the depths of evil and exorcism…!
 
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