Yawn.
I can't believe how long it's taken this time around for the "outrage" over Harry potter to resurface. One day before the U.S. release? The paranoid crowd is getting slow...
It's fiction. Pure and simple. Need I remind anyone (again) that the well known Christian apologists C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein both had "good" charcters who use magic in their fantasy series?
It's fiction. Pure and simple. It's a little more than fiction -- I think if you look at them critically, you can see that Rowling may be engaged in some religious allegory.
Note, for example, that the HP books have pretty much the same moral message as LOTR and the Narnia books. Indeed, Rowling has adopted many aspects of those universes. For example, many of the HP magical creatures are characters in Lewis's Narnia. The Dumbledore/Gandalf connection is likewise obvious. And of course, we could paint the kids as either Lewis's Pevensie children, or Tolkein's Hobbits....
The symbolism of the houses is suggestive, too -- Slytherin, home of the dark side, is represented by a serpent. Can't think where else the dark side is shown as such... ;-) Gryffindor is symbolized by a lion. (Aslan, anyone?) The Raven (Ravenclaw's symbol) has some interesting and suggestive Christian meanings, and the Badger (Hufflepuff) is likewise suggestive.
Need I remind anyone (again) that the well known Christian apologists C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein both had "good" charcters who use magic in their fantasy series?
One difference between Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings is in HP power for good and evil emanate from the same source and there is no real good and evil, its all moral relativism. In TLOTR good and evil are distinct. Also while TLOTR has magic and wizards it is not the main focus, in fact those that try to use the magic of the rings are consumed by the evil and become wraiths and servants of the ultimate evil. What was Frodo's task? To use the magic for good, or to destroy it?
(from an article) ...Christian fans of Harry Potter insist that the series is no different than C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
It is true that both authors create fantasy parallel worlds involving young British children who encounter magical creatures. Both develop admirable characters and evil villains. But this is where the comparison ends.
The difference between the two hinges on the concept of authority. From a Christian perspective, authority and supernatural power are linked.
When we read Rowling’s series, we find that she effectively divorces power from authority. There is no sovereign person or principle governing the use of the supernatural.
Magical power is gained through inheritance and learning. It is not granted by a higher authority, because there is no Higher Authority — at least none higher than Harry’s mentor, Albus Dumbledore, and the evil Lord Voldemort. The two are equal, antagonistic and unaccountable to a higher authority.
In C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, power and authority are welded together. That authority is Jesus, in the character of the great lion Aslan — creator and sovereign ruler of Narnia, son of the Emperor Beyond the Sea. Good power is power that is bestowed by Aslan and exercised in accordance with his will. This good power is at work when the children Peter, Susan and Lucy use gifts bestowed on them by an agent of Aslan.
Evil power, on the other hand, is power that is seized or conjured — rather than bestowed — and exercised for selfish ends. Those who resist the temptation to use such power are commended, as was Digory, in The Magician’s Nephew. But those who wield it (such as Jadis, also in The Magician’s Nephew) and the White Witch (in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) are eventually vanquished by Aslan.
Despite superficial similarities, Rowling’s and Lewis’ worlds are as far apart as east is from west. Rowling’s work invites children to a world where witchcraft is "neutral" and where authority is determined solely by one’s cleverness. Lewis invites readers to a world where God’s authority is not only recognized, but celebrated — a world that resounds with His goodness and care.
source:
www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/coverstory/a0019032.cfm
also see
Lord of the Rings' has resounding ring of the Christian Lord, Southern prof says