There\u2019s nothing like a hot quote about Satan to grab a reader\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s absolute rubbish to protest children\u2019s books on the grounds that they are luring children to Satan,\u201d said Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, according to an email message that keeps circling the globe. \u201cPeople should be praising them for that! These books guide children to an understanding that the weak, idiotic Son Of God is a living hoax who will be humiliated when the rain of fire comes \u2026 while we, his faithful servants, laugh and cavort in victory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Truth is, Rowling never said that. This email alert \u2014 with its YOU MIGHT WANT TO SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FLOCK headline \u2014 claims that Rowling bared her soul in a London Times interview. Actually, this bogus quotation is a cleaned-up snippet from a satire published by the wicked pranksters at TheOnion.com.<\/p>\n\n
So stop and think about the Zen-like nature of this cautionary tale. What we have here is a case of humor-impaired Harry Potter critics circulating \u2014 as fact \u2014 bites of a satire making fun of how humor-impaired many Harry Potter critics are getting these days. Got that?<\/p>\n\n
Life will only get more complicated for culture warriors now that \u201cHarry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone\u201d has rolled into 3,672 motion-picture sanctuaries.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cChristians are now spreading this parody on the Internet with their own scriptural commentaries on how we need to stand for truth,\u201d said youth pastor Connie Neal, author of \u201cWhat\u2019s a Christian to Do with Harry Potter?\u201d Naturally, journalists are howling because the \u201cpeople who are spreading it haven\u2019t checked it out to even make sure it\u2019s true!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, believers who are using Potter-mania as a chance to rip into each other should get out their Bibles, said Neal, in a BreakPoint.org interview. They should turn to St. Paul\u2019s letter to the Galatians, in which a passage that condemns sorcery also condemns strife, anger, selfishness, enmity and jealousy. And lying remains a sin, as well.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s time to lighten up, she said. There are anti-Potter mothers who have stopped talking to pro-Potter mothers.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt is one thing to say, \u2018I personally choose not to read Harry Potter because to me, this equates to real witchcraft and therefore I want nothing to do with it,\u2019 \u201d said Neal. \u201cBut we step over the line when we say, \u2018Because I think the Potter books equate to real world witchcraft, I insist that everyone else adopt my interpretation \u2014 even though the author has made it clear that she did not mean it as real-world witchcraft.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, Rowling remains a member of the Church of Scotland and keeps saying, \u201cI believe in God, not magic.\u201d She also has stated that the magical elements in her books come from her studies in British folklore. This means she is trying to tap some of the same wellsprings as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and even Charles Dickens.<\/p>\n\n
Last year, Rowling told a Canadian reporter that she is a Christian and that this \u201cseems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I\u2019ve been asked if I believe in God, I\u2019ve said, \u2018yes,\u2019 because I do. But no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that and, I have to say that does suit me. \u2026 If I talk too freely about that, I think the intelligent reader \u2014 whether 10 or 60 \u2014 will be able to guess what is coming in the books.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Scores of believers \u2014 on the left and right \u2014 unapologetically adore Rowling\u2019s work. Others have offered cautious praise, even as they worry about witchcraft\u2019s rise as a force in popular culture. There are a few who consistently attack all works of myth and fantasy.<\/p>\n\n
There are valid issues to debate. But things are getting nasty, as issues of power, fundraising and institutional survival take over.<\/p>\n\n
If this debate must continue, noted Douglas LeBlanc of Christianity Today, \u201cWe should argue honorably, neither caricaturing each other\u2019s interpretations nor ignoring Rowling\u2019s treatment of the occult. And if advocates on either side grow frustrated they should try something truly daring: Writing better stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s nothing like a hot quote about Satan to grab a reader\u2019s attention. \u201cI think it\u2019s absolute rubbish to protest children\u2019s books on the grounds that they are luring children to Satan,\u201d said Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, according to an email message that keeps circling the globe. \u201cPeople should be praising them for that! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n