His Holiness and Harry Potter...Perfect Together??

I saw an article in the newspaper yesterday.

Apparently The Vatican has reviewed the Harry Potter books and determined that they are acceptable because they clearly show good vs. evil.

I was surprised by this because I thought that all of the witchcraft stuff would be unacceptable to the RCC.
What are your thoughts? Is Harry Potter a Champion of Good or just a warlock to be avoided?---Marc

Anyone that claims that Harry Potter is some device of the devil clearly has both a) not read the books, and b) a very distorted view of reality. It's just another fantasy novel. There have been plenty in the past that were written at a children's level. The only reason people cry out about HP is due to its popularity. In fact, several fringe religious groups have outright exploited the "HP is evil" viewpoint to gain attention and push their agendas.

It doesn't suprise me that the RCC has made this statement. Most of the large religous groups have the same opinion about HP (in that it is not considered "evil" just for its magical content). Most people that spout off about HP have done it with preconcieved notions. It's this inability to approach things with an open mind that leads to most of the problems of the world.

-Darin

Even Dr. Laura liked the books.

When I 1st heard this about the HP series, I thought it was a joke. Then low & behold, I found out these people were serious. Just about laughed my a** off. Well, this should cut out about 80% of the clasic children's tales. Some people are too much in-touch with reality, I guess. TX

I think it's the height of hypocrisy that some people in this world still need the church to tell them what to think, read, watch, say, do etc. I don't need an old man in a pointy hat and all of his minions to tell me the difference between good and evil, thank you very much. I figured this one out all by myself!

Originally posted by Sasha:
I think it's the height of hypocrisy that some people in this world still need the church to tell them what to think, read, watch, say, do etc. I don't need an old man in a pointy hat and all of his minions to tell me the difference between good and evil, thank you very much. I figured this one out all by myself!

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Amen

I was thrilled to hear sane, normal, regular thinking come out of all this. They actually said that there is nothing wrong with a bit of fantasy and that people have grown up with ledgends and stories of whiches and goblins and trolls and what have you for ever.

I would get even more yucks out of it if they would say what they have to really be thinking which would be something along the lines of "What? Why would it be bad? It's a novel? Get a life? can't you tell the difference between fantasy and reality? It's a childrens book you silly ***!"

I was proud of them!

Originally posted by Sasha:
....I don't need an old man in a pointy hat and all of his minions to tell me the difference between good and evil, thank you very much....

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Sasha---
Dumbledore = Man in pointy hat
Snape, Magonagal, etc. = Minions

That's what you meant, right?

Originally posted by MicroE:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by Sasha:
....I don't need an old man in a pointy hat and all of his minions to tell me the difference between good and evil, thank you very much....

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Sasha---
Dumbledore = Man in pointy hat
Snape, Magonagal, etc. = Minions

That's what you meant, right?

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Precisely!

Actually, the Catholic Church has always been pretty comfortable with a lot of pagan-type beliefs and practices (Except of course during the Inquisition eras); Indeed many of the Catholic holidays and festivals are Pagan Festivals with a slightly different name and dedicated to one Saint or another.

If I remember correctly, it was mostly (no offense to anyone meant here) some of the really fudamentalistic like the Baptists that said you were going to go to hell if you read Harry Potter.

just another form of extremism...

i am a christian, but to say the harry potter or anything else is "evil" without biblical proof is ridiculous.

extremism is a horrible thing no matter what side you are on. the only thing they accomplished by telling people this was pushing them further away.

Now we are discussing religion? Let's leave this stuff off CPF.

Well, heck, if we can't discuss anything of substance here, just petition David to shut down the whole Cafe. I personally don't care to read the frivolous, waste of time threads; But you don't see me telling the people that want to read and contribute to them that it is inappropriate.

Admittedly there are many forums made for discussing religion, politics and the like, but I like discussing those kind of things here because we CAN have an intellectual discussion here, rather than a single prevailing point of view and "flames" to any dissenters that exist on most other specialized forum.

Actually, we had this discussion about a year or so ago, back in the "good old days" of about 1000 registered users when CPF was more of a "Family" than a bunch of disparate people who wanted to censor topics rather than either ignore them or enter into the discussion.

We can discuss this as long as it stays Civil. Arguing over weather we should discuss it or not is a fine way for it to become uncivil I see sparks--hope they don't turn into flames.

I consider myself a conservative Christian (most would probably consider me a WAY-OFF to the right Christian). My wife and I both read and enjoyed the Harry Potter Series and look forward to the new book.
But (knew that was comming) we would not let our younger (pre-teen) children read them. The children's general attitudes toward Muggles and those in authority is not something we would want our children to emulate in dealing with those less 'talented' or 'gifted' or those in authority over them.
Our children enjoy other fantasy literature and know about many mythological creatures and ledgends of witches etc. but the HP books (IMHO) are not appropriate for children who would want to live a Christian life.
There is also the putting a stumbling block in front of others, so I would not encourage others to read them but neither I would condemn them. That would be way too hypocritical for me

See, That is why I like these discussions here: You get reasoned, logical posts rather then just ranting "just because that's the way I feel" stuff.

Even an opinionated "old dog" like me can learn "a new trick" or something else worthwhile, or a point of view that I hadn't previously considered.

Hey Silviron are you calling my post reasoned and logical? I thought we wouldn't be doing insults here
But seriously, if you are addressing me-Thanks

Yup!

Hallelujah! A reasonable religious discussion.

Mind you I'm still wearing a nomex suit as I gingerly creep out from under my rock.

I have to agree with almost everything here. And as long as it stays civil there is no reason it can't be talked about here in the off topic section. One does have the right not to read it which I choose to exercise rather then get all angry about something I know I won't be able to debate civilly because I'm backed into a corner by a zealot.

Whether they are wearing pointy hats or sitting in a pulpit wearing a suit telling me that I'm going to Hell directly contradicts the book that they both claim to be following. You know the old "Judge not lest ye be judged"

I was brought up fundamentalist. My grandfather was a minister (one of the few that concentrated on enriching ones life as opposed to Hell and Damnation). My grandmother on the other hand I could swear was the model for the church lady on Saturday Night Live. Not that she was bad or intentional about it. But she was so judgemental as to be pretty unapproachable by the very people that needed to be reached out to. Also the particular denomination I was in was quite against the RCC and there were many an Easter and Christmas sermon on how wrong it was adopting those pagan holidays as religous holidays. Needless to say that pretty well wipes out most of the rest of Christians too. Which is pretty lame considering that all these disparate groups are reading the same book.

Anyway my experiences and own readings have left me especially wary of organized religions and people that proclaim their beliefs too loudly. I have trouble calling myself a christian anymore because of all this and I prefer spiritual. Whether it is Christ of Buddha or Mohammed or Yahweh that one looks to it seems that every major religion more or less boils down to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", the triumph of good vs evil, and living your life to the fullest.

Rothandir, no offense intended, but I find biblical proof to be pretty nebulous. There are just too many things open to interpretation, selective reading, creative paraphrasing, and taken out of context. And just about every priest, minister, false prophet, or con man has done it to prove why you should follow their particular belief. Besides if I remember my lessons correctly the bible does tell you to question and not take mans word for it. Of course that got me into trouble for not just blindly following along. Please don't call me on the particular verse since I don't remember for sure or have a concordance (I think that's what it called) to look to. And I totally agree it's the zealots and extremists of every religion that have really screwed it up for a lot of people.

Wits End, good post. I'll admit your signature raised some red flags with me but that was well reasoned and that was a decision you made for raising your own family. I have to respect that. Even though I do have issues with organized religion I do have my kids in a christian school and I strive to highlight the good things that are there and keep their minds open and questioning, but also to not just blindly follow.

MicroE, just so I don't completely hijack your post I would have to say that Harry Potter is overall a champion for good.

Whew. That was a lot. This thread struck several chords at once and I waxed way philosophical. Hopefully I did not offend anyone.

I've read the books. I enjoyed them. I know a (English) teacher who is a long time family friend. Unlike my parents who are fairly unrestrictive when it comes to what I read, she is very very restrictive--not just over what her kids read. She let her kids read HP because even though Harry does some stoopid things he (generally) gets caught and gets in trouble.