I don't disagree that HP can dispose mushy young minds towards being accepting of witchcraft.
Everything is context. The books are pure fantasy and great fiction. For kids who have Christian parents to put things in context I don't think there is a problem. However for heathern kids or kids whose families are nominally "christian" but are unchurched and unlearned it does at least open them to thinking positively about words like "witchcraft" and the idea of spells, potions, etc. Probably the vast majority of those people also keep HP in context as fantasy and not related to reality but I am sure there are a few it leads astray just as any number of things can do.
I very much agree with this. It is about context. The question is whether kids are going to start practicing withcraft after readin it or view it as an interesting piece of fiction. We can't shelter our kids from everything. Sometimes that does more harm than good if we have too long of a list of thou shalt nots.
My son will be getting his copy today or tomorrow. We have watched all the movies. I think there is a difference between young kids who don't know the difference between corcery and prayer seeing it and older kids who do know the difference but just appreciate the books/movies for their good vs evil battles. I would not want my kids reading it or viewing it if they were too young to understand this. In my mind, it is no different than Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia.
You know that Lewis was a satanist.................
__________________ "I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."
I survived watching almost every episode of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie so I think I will survive.
Oh, and I have seen the Wizard of OZ many times!
There are some very clear differences.
first with Bewitched and Jeanie, these were not fantasy shows. They were lite comedy and clearly were not driving a witchcraft world view.
Wizard of Oz while clearly fantasy, the fight between good and evil showed that good wins.
Harry Potter, is both fantasy and never do you see clear victory for the good guys. in fact, as I understand it, there is no real line between good and evil. the view promotes witchcraft as an art and a faith, and blurs the line between good and evil...
Honestly I dont know that there is any more harm in a harry potter book than a Tom Clancy book when it comes to simply reading something. but I do think care is in order when you are considering the audence which is very young kids. Well balanced Parents who know their kids are the key.
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A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a documentary on the occult. one of the points was that there has been an increase in interest in the occult in Brittian as a result of the Harry Potter deal.
they were not making a value judgement on practice of Wicca, or occult. Simply that there was more of it because of HP.
I wonder how they documented that 'fact'.
__________________ "I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."
I have a problem with the Harry Potter books and movies too for the same reasons outlined by others.
I was walking by a bookshop one day and there was this huge display set up in the window featuring the occult, witchcraft, magic, sorcery, etc. and right in the middle of that was a display featuring the HP books.
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I survived watching almost every episode of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie so I think I will survive.
Oh, and I have seen the Wizard of OZ many times!
Good point, and one I was going to make as well.
A friend and I with our children recently saw this at the IMAX theater and it was great. I've seen most of the movies, although I don't read the books.
My daughter is big time into these books, but she loves them for the literary content, not because they are 'full of witchcraft'. Any book she reads is done in that light.
She is 13 and recently bought 16 books with her own money. None of these books are less than 500 pages long. She loves to read and learns a lot from her reading.
My daughter can separate herself from the subject matter and see it for the literary work it truly is. And like CC said, it's no different than Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, or Wizard of Oz.
Let's face it.......most of us were brought up on fairy tales that spoke of magical beings and places, potions and spells, fantasy and amazement, yet how many of us dabbled into witchcraft because of all that?
I'm thinking NONE of us......so why do we think it will happen with Harry Potter movies and books?
I used to be against Harry Potter wholeheartedly......until I wanted to educate myself on exactly what I was speaking against. Turns out, everything I was saying about the series (which I'd been told by others without checking it out for myself) wasn't even true.
Some of you speaking against HP clearly don't know what you are talking about. I wonder how many of you read any of the books or watched an entire movie.
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I've gone and done it now! I'm on Facebook!!!
I have a problem with the Harry Potter books and movies too for the same reasons outlined by others.
I was walking by a bookshop one day and there was this huge display set up in the window featuring the occult, witchcraft, magic, sorcery, etc. and right in the middle of that was a display featuring the HP books.
I have heard of things being promoted that guide children into witchcraft and such, and those things I'm against, but my daughter doesn't care about that stuff.
Some of the quotes that Barb posted from the site are really no different than kids wanting to be Spiderman or Superman and want to fly and 'catch the bad guys'. My mom got rid of our TV after I kicked my cousin in the head acting like Wonder Woman. Then again, I was 6, and didn't understand the difference in reality and fantasy. Some of these kids being quoted apparently don't either. (And yes, I know this has nothing to do with your post, but I'm on dial up and not dealing well with it....LOL!)
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I've gone and done it now! I'm on Facebook!!!
I have heard of things being promoted that guide children into witchcraft and such, and those things I'm against, but my daughter doesn't care about that stuff.
Some of the quotes that Barb posted from the site are really no different than kids wanting to be Spiderman or Superman and want to fly and 'catch the bad guys'. My mom got rid of our TV after I kicked my cousin in the head acting like Wonder Woman. Then again, I was 6, and didn't understand the difference in reality and fantasy. Some of these kids being quoted apparently don't either. (And yes, I know this has nothing to do with your post, but I'm on dial up and not dealing well with it....LOL!)
HO, you REALLY see no difference in Spiderman and teaching children about divination?! There is a big difference in trying to catch the bad guys and wanting to put a hex on someone, IMHO.
I didn't read the books and only watched two of the movies. One thing I noticed and I don't know if it carries this throughout the whole series, but the kids were represented as being fallible and that evil never wins.
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