[Aquinasfan]

I've done plenty of reading of the nasty things the real occult does. Which is one of the reasons that I know with absolute certainty that anyone that thinks HP or D&D or heavy metal leads to the occult is a complete fool.

Am I supposed to take your word over the Chief Vatican Exorcist?

ROME'S CHIEF EXCORCIST WARNS PARENTS AGAINST HARRY POTTER
North American Coverage Downplays Priest's Warnings

NEW YORK, January 2, 2002 (LSN.ca) - In early December, Rome's official exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, warned parents against the Harry Potter book series. The priest, who is also the president of the International Association of Exorcists, said Satan is behind the works. In an interview with the Italian ANSA news agency, Rev. Amorth said "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil."

The exorcist, with his decades of experience in directly combating evil, explained that J.K. Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, "the satanic art". He noted that the books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil."

In the interview which was published in papers across Europe, Rev. Amorth also criticized the disordered morality presented in Rowling's works, noting that they suggest that rules can be contravened and lying is justified when they work to one's benefit.

Of note, the North American coverage of Rev. Amorth's warnings about Potter significantly downplayed the warnings. The New York Times coverage by Melinda Henneberger which was carried in Canada's National Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and on Yahoo Daily News left out most of the information in the European coverage which is quoted above. It only quoted Rev. Amorth as saying that "If children can see the movie with their parents, it's not all bad." The Times report also fails to mention that the movie version has significantly cleaned up Harry's image, making it less troublesome than the books.

[discostu]

Given that the Chief Vatican Exorcists statements clearly demonstrate that you've read more of Harry Potter than he has then you should. he might know all about the Devil and the occult, but he doesn't know a single thing about the books he's condemning.

Simply his line about the rule breaking in HP shows he knows nothing about the books. They don't break rules for their own benefit, they break rules to stop the most evil person in the world of Harry Potter (Lord Voldemort). In the HP books when they break rules for the normal childish reasons is when they are most likely to be caught and punished, they only manage to get away with it (by telling the truth if they get caught, not by lying) when what they're doing is for the good of the school and all mankind. That right there shows he's working from a position of absolute ignorance.

[Bella_Bru]

Well, that works for you, but not everyone is Catholic or cares what the RCC teaches.

Some of us actually strive to make decisions for ourselves.

[steve-b]

they suggest that rules can be contravened and lying is justified when they work to one's benefit

Yes, like all reasonable and moral writings they take the position that rulebreaking and lying are justified when the alternative is worse. You've already conceded as much.