Within four or five years, after the last of the books come out, and after all the movie adaptations have been filmed, we will no doubt look back at all the trouble over the theological implications of Harry Potter and wonder if it was really worth all the bother. Perhaps then it can become, simply, a popular series of books for children instead of a cultural wedge issue. Perhaps then the ongoing nonsense of parents fighting for their removal from school libraries will end and Laura Mallory from Georgia will become famous as the last notable opposition to fantasy literature on the grounds that it “teaches” children the evils of “witchcraft”.

Mallory, who took her objections to the Gwinnett County school board and the Georgia Board of Education, has finally been given the message that these objections are laughably paranoid and bespeak a small scared faith unable to survive in a plurality of viewpoints. To underscore her defeat, the Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff writes a scathing editorial in regards to this crusader’s misguided campaign against a fictional children’s story.

“Was any of this really necessary? Granted, Laura Mallory had every right to appeal to the Georgia Board of Education after Gwinnett County’s school board denied her request to remove Harry Potter books from school shelves. But all the state board did was back Gwinnett’s decision. Ms. Mallory’s request shouldn’t have even come before Gwinnett’s school board because it’s so ludicrous. It’s hard to believe that there are still people out there like Ms. Mallory clinging to the notion that the wildly successful Harry Potter books – filled with spell-casting, intrigue and fanciful fun – somehow draw children into paganism and witchcraft.”

Sensibly, the paper urges Mallory (and no doubt others just like her waiting in the wings) to focus on some true evils in this world, and to leave Harry Potter alone.

“Ms. Mallory mentions television, movies and video games as other portals of evil open to our kids. She’s right. That’s why parents need to take care of those negative influences first – the violent, misogynistic rappers; the movies with immoral and amoral messages; TV shows at their most tasteless. Those are the things that are far more likely for children to internalize as being real – not some work of fiction about a bespectacled teen who plays the occasional game of Quidditch. Ms. Mallory and her ilk are tilting at the wrong windmill. Go fight the real enemies to our kids.”

Perhaps I’m naive, but I’d like to think this is the nail in the coffin of this particular kind of “news”. Maybe now the culture warriors can go back to analyzing “demonic” song lyrics. No doubt someone will pop up in opposition once the last book comes out, but if we are lucky, no one will be listening any longer.

Tags: Christianity, Harry Potter, Paganism