Harry Potter:Harry Potter:

And the controversy within ChristianAudience communities

Today: Potter as Menace

The HarryPotter Saga

• Story of young boy who discovershe is a wizard, destined to fightevil, covering the seven years (age11-18) that he spends at Hogwart’sSchool of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

• All seven books now published:– Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s

(Sorcerer’s) Stone -1997– Harry Potter and the Chamber of

Secrets - 1998– Harry Potter and the Prisoner of

Azkaban - 1999– Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

- 2000– Harry Potter and the Order of the

Phoenix - 2003– Harry Potter and the Half-blood

Prince - 2005– Harry Potter and the Deathly

Hallows - 2007

J.K. Rowling• J.K. Rowling (b. 1965)• 2004, US dollar billionaire

(1st person ever tobecome a billionaire bywriting books).

• Degree in Classics andFrench, worked forAmnesty International,later unemployed.

• Idea for Harry Potter cameto her on a train, she wrotefirst book on lunch breaksand while unemployed.

Harry Potter as a “menace”

• Argument 1: The bookspromote occultism andwitchcraft

• Argument 2: The bookspromote moral ambiguityand un-christian ethics

• Argument 3: The booksare inappropriate forchildren

J.K. Rowling… modern witch?• “(J.K. Rowling remarked,)

‘I don’t believe in magicin the way I describe it inmy books.’...Many peoplehave completelyoverlooked the obviousqualifiers in thesestatements... Is thereanother ‘sense’ in whichRowling does believe inwitchcraft?” (Richard Abanes, “HarryPotter and the Bible, Pp. 22-23)

What’s in a name?• Nicholas Flamel -

alchemist (14th c.)• Adalbert Waffling (author,

“Magical Theory”) =Archbishop Adalbert ofMagdeburg (8th c.)?

• Cassandra Vablatsky(author, “Unfogging thefuture”) = HelenaBlavatsky, founder ofTheosophy?

J.K. Rowling

Helena Blavatsky

Historical accuracy =contemporary occult practice?

• “More significant is the fact that noteverything in the Potter series isimaginary. During a 1999 interview,Rowling admitted that she had studiedmythology and witchcraft in order towrite her books more accurately”(Abanes, p.23)

• “What Rowling fails to mention isthat a vast amount of the occultmaterial she has borrowed fromhistorical sources still plays asignificant role in modern paganismand witchcraft. Consequently, herwritings merge quite nicely withcontemporary occultism.” (Abanes, p.24)

Image by Nathaniel Dailey

Magical Practices

• “It is neither absurd nor laughable,to suppose that the Harry potterbooks might lead some childreninto the world of occultisms sincethe series contains actual beliefsand practices associated withwitchcraft and paganism,including: divination, astrology,numerology, familiars, pagangods/goddesses, spell-casting,potions, necromancy,mediumship/channeling, crystalgazing, palmistry, charms,arithmancy and magick.” (Abanes,p. 173)

Harry Potter’s birth chart, from:www.astrologyalive.com/

J.K. Rowlings’ pagan beliefs?

• “Magic… is obeying lawsthat the observer has notyet understood. ASixteenth centuryscientist, for example… ifhe could have seentelevision might well havebranded it assupernatural.” Janet andSteward Farrar, “TheWitch’s Bible Compleat”

• “I don’t believe in it(magic) myself [but] weshouldn’t be too arrogant.Some stuff we believetoday will be consideredrubbish in years to come,and things we think of asrubbish now will beconsidered true.” J.K.Rowling.

J.K. Rowlings’ pagan beliefs?

• “The number seven wasconsidered sacred not onlyby all cultured nations…the astronomical origin ofthis number is establishedbeyond doubt… hence, innearly all the religioussystems we find sevenheavens…” HelenaBlavatsky.

• The number seven “is amagical number, amystical number.” - J.K.Rowling.

• Release date for finalbook:

• “Dumbledore tells Harry that they are not afraid because to them(Nicholas Flamel and Perenellle) dying will simply be “like going bebed after a very, very long day.”... Such a position echoes currentpagan/Wiccan thinking [where ] death is not an end; it is a stage in thecycle that leads on to rebirth... To Christians, of course, this is aninaccurate and spiritually dangerous view.” (Abanes, p.27)

= Reincarnation beliefs?

Death in Harry Potter

• “The threefold moral message that Rowling presents through hercharacters is clear: 1) rules are made to be broken if they do notserve one’s own self-interests; 2) rules need not be obeyed if nogood reason seems to exist for them; and 3) lying is an effective andacceptable means of achieving a desired end.” (Abanes, p. 38)

PotterEthics

PotterEthics

• “…cruelty/vengeance are presented as acceptable. Hagrid, forinstance, performs an illegal spell against Harry’s cousin,Dudley… [In the Potter series’ it is appropriate to return evilfor evil, and treat others well only if they treat you well…contrast this approach with what Scripture says…” (Abanes,pp.40- 41.)

Harry Potter as Wiccanimmoralist?

• “This is consistent withmodern-day Wicca, as theWiccan Creed says: “If it harmnone, do what you will. Thecreed would apply to suchthings as unbiblical sexualencounters, use of illegal drugsand lying…. Whether Rowlingrealizes it or not, she ispromoting witchcraft/occultism/Wicca in the form of ethicaland moral subjectivism.”(Abanes, pp.38-39.)

• “Rowling apparently feels that adult-oriented material is perfectly suitable forchildren, which may explain why forty-three percent of her books sold in 1999were to readers older than fourteen…” (Abanes, p. 39)

PG-13?

PG-13?

• “But adult Harry Potter fans need not scan the Internet for “mature” material,especially when it comes to scenes involving gratuitous violence, gruesome images,cruelty and humor that often borders on perversity…” (Abanes, p. 40)

Harry Potter as demonic?

• “Occultism provides access to certainpowers that are demonic in nature and assuch are spiritually deadly… the enemy isnot J.K. Rowling, the American publicschool system, Harry Potter fans, pro-Potter journalists or the publishers of theHarry Potter series. The true enemies arethe spiritual forces of darkness seeking toovershadow Christian values and virtueswith occult myths, practices and morals.But this should come as no surprise. Godwarned believers long ago that therewould appear many deceitful spirits anddoctrines of demons to draw people awayfrom truth.” (Abanes, p. 273.)