I have to say, I'm a big fan of Harry Potter. I've read all the books, many times each. They're terrific stories, and so far, they are good-quality myths for a modern age. But as with so many other things in humanity's history, there's a fly in the ointment. Once again, that fly is Christianity. Honestly, this is just tiresome.
Every time a Harry Potter book comes out, every time there's a movie release or a DVD comes out, or J.K. Rowling goes on a book tour, there are the Christians. Well, the idiotic, pathetic ones, at least. Ther're the ones who can't bear the idea that kids might find something more attractive or entertaining than the dusty, dull, idiotic stories from the Bible. I have a bit of advice for such people: Get a grip, OK?
Here in Greensboro, North Carolina, we have 2 cable stations that are all GAWD! all the time, and one that has religious programming about 70% of the time. At least once a month, these mouth-breathing, single-eyebrowed knotheads put on a show about the "dangers" of reading Harry Potter. They claim that children read it and they start trying out the spells from the book. Yeah... you know you're in trouble when your little girl walks up to you with a stick in her hand and says "Crucio!" Well, Ok. If that happens, there really is something wrong, but not what these idiots think.
The thing that amuses me to no end is the fact that these dim bulbs actually seem to think that there really are witches in the world, ones that can cast evil spells and perform miraculous feats of supernatural power. WTF???
These people ought to be ashamed of themselves. Believing in demons and goblins, witches and ghouls as REAL things should have been left behind when their age slipped into the double-digits, fer cryin' out loud. But NO! Here are a bunch adults (in body only) who actually think that if you say a stupid little poem or utter a special word in bastardized Latin or whatever, that "magic" will happen. I bet Penn and Teller are nothing short of terrifying to these losers.
And this infantile superstition, supported by reading the Bible(!), is what is making these brain-dead ignoramuses work so hard to keep children from reading a certain bunch of fantasy stories. The Chronicles of Narnia are fine, according to these mental pygmies. Those fantasy books were written by a Christian! Forget the fact that those books are as dull as the Bible they attempt to re-tell. Sheesh!
One has to wonder at the view these people have of the world they live in. Were they worried that the Apollo astronauts would disturb the angels as they flew to the moon? Do they expect to see ghosts when (if!) they visit Monticello? It must be a world of weirdness and confusion. You'd expect that sort of mental chaos from a toddler, who's still working out exactly what to make of the world they joined only a few years before. But adults? Come on!
The real problem for these people, I think, is that they honestly believe the magical elements of their religion. There are Christian denominations that teach their followers to believe in miracles, demons, angels and sorcery. I've seen a room full of Christians swallow without question stories told by missionaries about amputated limbs growing back, deformed babies being "fixed" supernaturally. All sorts of crap is handed them, and they lap it up without blinking an eye or asking for suppporting evidence. No wonder these cretins are convinced that the Harry Potter fantasy world is not only possible, but presents a real problem to protect their children from and to attack.
There is some doubt about the leaders who stir up these fears. There are, I think, many shysters who callously manipulate the fears of the ignorant for their own advantage. After all, the Church isn't symbolized by sheep and shepherds for no reason. It's very possible that many leaders are so set against the Harry Potter books because they see them as a danger to their mental grip on the children that they want to control.
In any event, it is gratifying to see the number of kids who hear this fuss and ignore it. It isn't universal, true. There are far too many kids who will never have a desire to think for themselves, to be independant of their parents' control. Those are near total losses to the human race, because they had they ability to think for themselves leeched away from them too early in life. So the victory over blind obedience and superstition is not complete... I suppose it never will be.
But one can always hope. Long live Harry Potter!