Objections to Harry Potter??
Moms View Message Board: The Kitchen Table (Debating Board): Objections to Harry Potter??
With the last book coming out tomorrow, and the movie out, I thought that this would be a good time to ask this question. I know that we have some Moms on the board who object to Harry Potter. I also have a "non-cyber"  friend who forbids her kids to read the books or see the movies. However, she lets them play the "Grand Theft Auto" video games, that promote violence, the shooting of police officers, and stealing cars.
I know that "Harry" is about magic, but it is FANTASY, like fairy tales. However, on a deeper level, it is the theme of good vs evil that has plaqued mankind since the Garden of Eden. Harry is the 'hero', trying to battle the dark, evil forces, while recognizing the dark side of himself that we all have. Real life has Heavenly angels and "Dementors", or the fallen angels (demons),too.
Even the Bible is full of super-natural, larger-than-life feats (remember the parting of the Red Sea?).
I am not judging. I am truly interested to hear the reasons why some people object to "Harry". Thanks.
I am a Christian who used to be one of those that was totally against the witchcraft, etc of Harry Potter. Then I broke down and read the first one from the debate of a friend. How can you condemn something without knowing anything about it? I read it with a closed mind but never could find all of the things that people said was bad and evil about it.
Although the book is about witchcraft, it does not promote kids to go out and be witches and sorcerers. That was one of the reasons I had been told to not read them. Per the book, you are either born one or not. You can't got out and be one. Some muggles try, but never really succeed.
And it's a fantasy world with a hero that is just a common kid whose had the short end of the stick most of his life. Everybody loves a hero like that. And hopes for him to win over all.
It's not about the witchcraft. It's about good vs evil and we all deal with that in our real lives every day.
And something I have always wondered. For all of those people that are so totally against "HP", how many of you loved watching "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeanie" when you were a kid? And if you loved those, what is the difference between HP and the two shows if the argument is related to promoting magic.
I could go on but I'm getting ready to go get my book!!!! I love the story. Rowling has really developed the characters. It's a good story line. I hate to see it over. But there's always the reread to see what I missed on the way to the finale. But it's just a fiction book and won't affect my life one way or the other if I never got to read it. But I'm sure looking forward to it.
Oh, I'm not judging either. This is all purely mho. I know it is hard to read someone's intent, but this was all written light heartedly.
Harry Potter Midnight Magic Party!
My family and I attended the party last night and had a ball! It was held at the Barnes & Nobel store and it was sooooo fun! The store staff done a fantastic job! The coffee shop had the "candles" floating in the ceiling, there were different "classes" held every 1/2 hour (with instructors dressed as the real teachers), there was also trivia, and "the weird sisters" band played "live" at the ball, he who should not be named was a guest DJ, you could make socks for the house elves, you could also make your own pretzel wand....YUM! The whomping willow lived up to its name... ouch! There was people everywhere dressed as their favorite characters and they even had a sound feed of "moaning mertyl" in the bathroom! The house elves also took around the "trolley" filled with goodies to purchase. When we was leaving the party the store had filled to capacity (at 10:00) and the police had to put up a sign and gaurd the door and no one could get in......so.....the line began outside to get in!!! I could no believe it!!! The line went on, and on, and on, and on...just to get into the store!!! We were tired and glad we were on our way home and not standing in the line outside!!! My daughter will get her book in the mail today and she can wait!!!! I know alot of people don't like Harry Potter...my daughter has a "friend" and their family is VERY against it! I think Harry Potter is great and last night what I saw was FAMILIES doing something FUN together and that is always GOOD!
Debbie, thank you. That is exactly how I feel, but my friend feels otherwise, and will not even read the books to see what she is objecting to. This woman is also against Yoga, but her husband, who is a very domineering "head of the house", is a very shady businessman, who claims to be a Christian.
My DS Mike bought and read a book called "God and Harry Potter". I forget the name of the author. He read it in response to all of the leaders of my boys' youth group, who object to HP. It was written by a Christian pastor who was very "against", then decided to read the books for himself. As you so profoundly said, how can you be against something and know nothing about it? After reading the books, he wrote his book to show the parallels between HP and the story of the human condition, that the Bible is all about.
Mike really enjoyed it.
Love Harry Potter and see absolutely nothing wrong with it with relation to Christianity or religion. It's fiction so it's not in question for me!
In reading the book today, something caught my attention. After one harrowing experience had concluded, several of the characters exclaimed "Thank God." Not "thank the gods" or some other variation. And dh and I discussed remembering something to that same effect in previous books. Something like "only Heaven knows" or "God's will" or something like that. Can't remember right now and not going to look it up b/c I'm spending my spare time reading Book 7.
I was reading some stories on the internet about how families are reading it out loud together--families who haven't done anything together in awhile. Teens that wouldn't sit still for anything with their folks will sit and read or listen to the story being read. I just don't get bad vibes from it.
Yes, and it gets kids READING instead of watching TV, playing video games, or spending hours on the computer. They can even read OUTSIDE...a novel idea for a lot of kids today (getting fresh air and sunshine).
I saw a young lady on TV last year who was an editor's apprentice in England about ten years ago. It was her job to look over manuscripts when they came in and either take them to an editor, or throw them away. She saw a manuscript in the trash and thought it deserved a second look. She brought it home and read it, then brought it to the attention of her editor. It was the first Harry Potter book!
Imagine!! I hope that JK Rowling compensated that young woman handsomely! JK was a divorced Mom on welfare at the time.
I can't wait until we get home on Tuesday and can go buy the book! It's driving us crazy to have to wait a few days! My kids both love to read, but did even before Harry Potter came out!
Dawn-why not buy the book where you are and read it while traveling? We did that with the 6th book. We stayed the night on our way to Myrtle Beach, got up the next morning and bought the book, then I read out loud to everybody while traveling. Made the last 5 hours of our drive go so much faster.
I started really thinking about this after you started this post. And I did a search for JK Rowling and Christian and several other things. There is one article that was originally published in a satirical mag called ONION, I think, that started all of the furor according to one article. There was a clip from the article on one site that was what I remembered as my reasons for not reading any of the books. But as I read the clip, I was thinking "but none of this is actually in the book".
Then I found some other articles that compared her Potter series to CS Lewis in the Christian symbolism. One article stated that she was well educated and had some knowledge of ancient Christian symbols and they are used throughout the books. And I also got to thinking about how, if you wanted to, you could make the book fit various elements from the Bible. Things like the favored son falling from the good powers grace because he had ambitions of ruling all much like Lucifer. The "trilogy" fighting evil. I have not finished the last book nor have I peeked at the end. But what if Harry does die to end Voldemort's reign of terror? Wouldn't that correlate to the death of Jesus to save us all?
I could find no articles stating whether JK Rowling is a Christian or not. And none regarding her belief system. No official quotes from her. Mostly just speculation from writers and such.
Just some thoughts. I would be interested to hear JKR's thoughts on the subject though. I would love to know where she's coming from.
Great observations and parallels, Deb! I agree with you.
Okay well I am going to post, but be gentle with me
I am not a hp fan. I have read the first two books and seen the first movie. I have not forbidden my children to read the books, but I did make them wait till they were a little older.
So here are a few reason's I don't like them. Studies show that the writing style used is perfect for dyslexic readers, there are some known hard words, when her books are all rated through dylexia programs they just win top notch awards. Again, not for interest content, but actual writing style and word choices. Okay cool, right, but when this was pointed out the JR, she said she had no idea, didn't know anyone who was dyslexic and did no studies on that.
Secondly, there are a lot of witchcraft spells, books, etc mentioned. The portrayals are very accurate, real books, real spells etc. Again JR claims to not have studied this, the names and such just came to her.
Third, most people I have met just have an odd "addiction" to HP, kids who refused to read, can't put it down, spending 24 hrs obsessing over what happens to who, etc. I don't really like anything for my kids that grabs hold of them that strongly. Reading or not, you have to be able to seperate fiction from reality.
For me when I add those things up, it just gives me the heebie jeebies. I can't quite explain it. I just feel like they have a supernatural pull to them.
For me this means, I feel this way, and for me the best choice is most avoid HP. That does not mean I condemn them or really even think much about it. My middle son was read the books in third grade, this was hidden from the parents, because she knew there would be objections, etc. That didn't make me very happy. If my children have wanted to read them, and asked, I have let them. My youngest just started book 1. However, I have held them off, I do not think they are great books for young kids. I think they are pretty violent and scary and meant for the preteen group. I have prayed about my children when making these decisions. My youngest has really been on the fence about Christianity and has recently accepted Christ, that is part of what made me feel like it was okay for him now, kind of like he is "protected" from the "evil".
There has been an increase of interest in the occult since these books have been out. Could be a coincindence. But like most books and movies, when people saw apollo 13, kids wanted to be astronauts, wanted to learn about space etc. So I think that is natural. But that is also the part that concerns me.
But all that being said, my niece wanted the HP book for her bday and I took her to the midnight release and waited in line with her for 2 hours to get her copy. My older two children went to see the movie with her for her party. I kept my 9 year old home, because it just isn't age appropriate. And as I said once my youngest has just started reading the first book.
I did state with him, my fears are him not being able to put the book down and be part of our world. And if he can't seperate then he won't be allowed to read anymore. If he can read it for interesting literature and me not have to live with all things harry, then it is fine. It does still give me the heebies, but through prayer I can get past that.
I personally would prefer not to have that in my house, but I know that we reached a point that if I were to forbid it, then they would just seek it out more and hide it. I think as long as the parents are part of the experience, then it is up to you.
What I do hate is somehow we think these books are meant for elementary students. Yep the Bible is graphic and scary, but that is not what we have the read in Sunday School. We have just blurred the line between violence these days. They are graphic and scary (book one is not soo bad), but the later books are intense and there are great books for this age, full of imagination and less scary for younger kids. But we pull them in with a couple of easy books and movies, but by number three the movies are pg 13 and the books should be too, in my opinion.
As I said, be gentle, someone asked, I thought I would try to explain.
I can see your point. I haven't dealt personally with the overcrazed HP addiction. I like the books but I don't disregard the rest of my work day to read it. It takes me so long to read the book b/c I get to read for an hour or so in the evening or maybe in the car when we are riding somewhere.
Kids do get caught up in things. My boys drove me crazy with video games. I had to lay down the law with them. I know I drove my parents crazy because I wouldn't come in from playing. We as parents have to act as their protectors and guides and as a parent, I would be furious with someone for stepping over my personal boundaries for my child.
I don't think the first 3 books are so bad but I am amazed that they are still being called children's books. Book 4 and on are definitely not children's books. And there is some rude language in this last one along with the blossoming teen attractions. So definitely not a children's book.
My dd watched the 1st 2 movies and part of the 3rd. With the 3rd she decided it was too scary. She's 6. I think if she ever decides she wants to read the HP books that I'd read them with her just so I can discuss anything with her that I thought needed to be discussed.
I hope this comes off as one mom to another and "gentle". It was certainly intended that way.
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