hitler was not a really traditional christian, incidently, he was christian, but didn’t embrace everything of it. so it depends on the person more or less, but the religions aren’t really to blame (Except the stupid parts in the religious texts) its people who twist things negatively. (usually)

To be honest, there were less christian themes in the HP series than there were of a few other belief systems.

(BTW, I make a particularly frightening SNAPE!)

LOL! I can SO see you as Snape, Siamang!

I have no doubt I have met a Quaker and not known it. Odds are good that I’ve met a few, living in a politically liberal city.

I’m sure you have. They’re very liberal and very political, at least the ones I know, and pretty much opposite of evangelicals and fundamentalists in every issue except for – you know – the gospel and all that.

The American Friends Service Committee is very involved with justice and sanctuary for Central American refugees, and other pro-immigrant causes – quite the unpopular issue, these days!

Re: the Quakers

The only Quaker I know is my aunt, who converted. This particular aunt switches religions on a fairly regular basis, which has always amused me. She never seems to be “regular” Christian, though, and she was raised as such.

I hope I didn’t come off as really caring one way or another about what religion JK is. I just think its funny that every time the Christians burn her books, we laugh over her Christianity, and yet I personally had no idea if she was actually religious or just a checks-the-box Christian. I was just speculating, based on how little religion is in the book.

Hi Jen, no, actually I didn’t think you did once I took a good look at what you said. I was just asking if it would matter to you but I probably didn’t phrase it right. Sorry if I sounded rude. I agree with what you said above. It is quite ironic isn’t it? I’ve scared many fundie Xtians by telling them she is one herself……..

Maria, as soon as I read that JKR was a fan of Jessica Mitford I knew she couldn’t be a bad egg.

Who is Jessica Mitford? Sorry, don’t know…..can you tell me please?

You know, Olvizi, I’ve never MET a Quaker. They’re vanishingly rare.

True enough, they are rare. I have met some. They are very nice, at least from my experience. They actually remind me a lot of the Bahai’s-another very peacful (and very persecuted, especially in the Middle East) religion. Does anyone here know any Bahais? Just curious, I know it’s off topic but just wanted to ask. I’ve met some and was pretty impressed by them-I went to a meeting with a friend who is Bahai. They knew my beliefs (or lack thereof) and didn’t seem to mind it. We had a mutual respect of one another.

Looking for Biblical symbolism in Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings is kind of like looking for faces in the clouds. With enough imagination you can see anything you want. Some of the symbolic allusions I’ve heard proposed are really a stretch worthy of an Olympic gymnast.

If you must see these works as anything more than a white hat/black hat western then it’s much easier to see a historical symbolism of the period just before World War II. Both stories center around the aftermath of an unfinished war where a great evil was put down but not destroyed. It is returning and now the children of those killed in the first war must take up the fight again.

Why not just enjoy a wonderfully told tale and forget about finding faces in the clouds?

well said!

I have no doubt I have met a Quaker and not known it. Odds are good that I’ve met a few, living in a politically liberal city.

I see that they also welcome nontheists to be Friends. Quite a forward-thinking group.

http://www.nontheistfriends.org/

Well, she’s a member of the church of Scotland and evidently cared enough to have her daughter baptized. In the second article she quotes that she is indeed a Christian who believes in God. just wondering, why does it matter? would it bother you if she was religious? would you consider her the same as Pat Robertson? Does a person have to be non-religious for you to respect them? Personally I don’t care. I pay attention to who the person is and what they do. some of the best attacks on the religious right have come from liberal believers who support secularism.

I hope I didn’t come off as really caring one way or another about what religion JK is. I just think its funny that every time the Christians burn her books, we laugh over her Christianity, and yet I personally had no idea if she was actually religious or just a checks-the-box Christian. I was just speculating, based on how little religion is in the book.

Pretending that the majority of people who call themselves Christians are actively engaged in doing you wrong is not only vastly unrealistic and unjust, it’s paranoid.

Did I use the word “majority”?

No I didn’t. I said “I will bring to bear the larger group of Christians who in my experience have unleashed nastiness and wielded political power sufficent to draw the negative attention of atheists.”

I confine my criticism to that group of Christians who have done nastyness and wielded political power destructively. I think it is a minority group of Christians who have done this, but I do think that this minority is a larger group than the entire number of American Quakers, of which there are about 100,000 in the United States.

Please respond to the things I write, and not to the things you imagine I may be writing.