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Harry Potter again...

I've been reading around on the web about the interaction between Christianity and Harry Potter. Many of the reactions seem to be something like "Harry Potter will get children interested in magic and paganism and worse, and we should not let our children be corrupted!" One of my favorite reactions seems to be about the pope: Pope John Paul II supposedly said that the books were OK, Pope Benedict said that they were very bad (back before he became pope, anyway). Since I read it on the web, it must be true =)

Here (http://decentfilms.com/sections/articles/2567) is an article that manages to respond thoughtfully and respectfully to the magic dilemma. I like it for a few reasons:
  • he doesn't just dismiss the biblical and traditional prohibitions against magic as old fashioned,
  • he doesn't say that all magical fiction is bad,
  • he has read and thought seriously about many works I really like.
I don't always agree with him, but I appreciate the thought he put into it. My favorite line in the article refers to the fact that the magic presented by Tolkein and Lewis can't be easily imitated:
...a young Tolkien fan who might be taken with the idea of creating fire with a word quite simply has no viable course of action.

C. L. Hanson had a post I appreciated here: (http://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2007/08/harry-potter-vs-jesus.html). She points out the parallels between Harry's story and the Christ story, which I am more interested in than the debate about the proper depiction of magic in the stories. Although the world they live in does not contain any overt Christian references, the story reflects the Gospel closely enough to give parents and children something to talk about, and everyone something to think about.

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
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